Inspiration
Following the recent election, a lot of news coverage fell on the filter bubble: the growing isolation of our knowledge base within our comfort zones. But it's been a problem for a lot longer than that. The goal here was to create a news source that
What it does
Incomplete Build Like most news aggregation sources, upon selecting your preferences it collates news to keep you in the loop, the added twist is Karma. The app aims to limit you to a ratio (3:1) of how often you stick within your bubble, steadily suggesting more diverse topics as you stray deeper into your comfort zone. Initially it was going to enforce this rule, but it seemed unappealing as a user-feature.
How I built it
I initially worked on the log in page, to try and create some semblance of personalization so later I could integrate better with the backend.
Challenges I ran into
Having initially searching for a news api, I failed to find anything for free, thus setting about building my own using RSS. Around 90 minutes before the deadline, after hours of slaving over an RSS parser, I stumbled upon a free resource. (NewsApi, I haven't had time to reference them within the app yet but I will!). This clearly illustrates the need to spend more time researching before simply diving in.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
That the work isn't done yet. Whilst I'm very happy with the app I've built, I fully intend to complete it's backend/database integration (currently hooked up to another client's backend for testing)... I'm proud to have been inspired by the Hackathon, regardless of the final product, as I came into it feeling like I might not be able to keep up with everyone else's skills.
What I learned
What's next for Karma Filtra
What isn't.
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