litbit

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Inspiration

In our Design Thinking Session, we hit upon the decline in long-form reading as a problem we'd like to solve. Devon pointed out that he could read a bunch of short pieces in a row for hours, but he struggled to stay put and read longer pieces. We agreed, it's easier to read longer when we feel like we're accomplishing something. But if we gamify long-form reading, we can get that sense of accomplishment.

What it does

litbit allows you to track your reading progress, the amount of time spent reading, and it allows you to set goals for yourself.

How we built it

We created a web application with a Javascript backend. Firebase holds the user data and Vega (a visualization grammar build on D3) renders the graphs.

Challenges we ran into

It was difficult to use Firebase's built-in time function to get the current date. Dropdown menus did not work as intended.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Creating multi-line graph visualizations from Vega-Lite and generating card visuals.

What we learned

How to render JSON

What's next for LitBit

v.2 Data Visualizations

e.g., Graph for pages read each day; Graph for minutes read each day, Graph for Questions answered

v.3 Social, Goals and Challenges

Social

Friends list, Cheer friends

Set your own goals

e.g., Number of pages read; Book challenges; Class assignments; Questions for specific texts

Challenges

Badges for where you read: Commuter; Out and about; Reading alone at a bar; Curled up by a fire - winter badge; Reading at the beach - summer badge; Reading poolside; Vacation reading

Badges for why you read: Reading for classes - Class act!; 50 Book Challenge; 75 Book Challenge

Badges for how you get books:Public library fiend; Library user; Amazon super user; What you read:Rainbow badge; Global reader; Non-fiction wunderkind; Bad romance badge

v.4 Integration with e-readers for automated data collection

Kindle iBook Other e-reader devices / platforms