equalyzer

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  Example meeting in process

Inspiration

During the opening ceremony, Dr. John Gates, the University of Virginia's School of Engineering's Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, spoke about how achieving true diversity means more than casting a wider net of inclusion. No matter how wide a net of inclusion, there'll exist some form of exclusion. Hence, it's important that the battle for diversity involve both greater inclusion and engagement.

Our team thought about what it meant to more fully engage underrepresented or otherwise disenfranchised members of the community. In doing so, we thought up of roundtable discussions, and how they involve a few major players dominating the conversation, with others wishing the time away. This dynamic prevents teams from achieving their full potential. They're missing out on the ideas and insights of valuable team members.

What it does

Meeting leaders utilize Equalyzer in order to better moderate group discussions. The web application keeps track of those speaking, noting on-screen frequent interruptors and absent voices. These prompts assist leaders in more objectively understanding the dynamic of their team, and concerns they should address.

How we built it

We added features onto IBM Watson in order to create a React web application that was capable of acting as a discussion secretary, of sorts.

Challenges we ran into

We were all inexperienced with React, and IBM Watson was not particularly suited to handle the challenge of identifying multiple speakers overlapping one another at once.

Built With

• express.js
• ibm-watson
• node.js
• react