Inspiration
College textbooks are the 3rd most risen cost since the 1990’s, and we find it unfortunate that many times, once a student purchases a textbook, it is an additional cost to purchase an audiobook for that as well. We believe that our service provides exactly the same service at no cost at all to the student, and we also intend to service students seeking to improve their grades and those who wish to enrich their out-of-class learning experience
What it does
Next Gen Text converts any textbook from a .pdf format to an audiobook format for play on both on the web and on Android devices.
How we built it
Using a python module to parse pdfs, we combined it with Firebase (for authentication) and Digital Ocean (for hosting) as well as Google Cloud (for text-to-speech) to make an API with FastAPI. Then, we developed the front-end with HTML, and CSS, and used Javascript to make these pages responsive. The Javascript makes calls to the API, and then API returns the attributes, which are then displayed and reflected in the HTML.
Challenges we ran into
We ran into challenges when it came to develop the backend API. There was some trouble with coordinating the pdf process with the javascript front end calls, but we were able to solve them and provide the complete user experience.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We successfully developed a website and Android app within one hackathon.
What we learned
We learned how to parse .pdfs and create responsive JavaScript to suit html. In addition, we learned how to transform that into a functional Android app to complement the web service.
What's next for Next Gen Text
Improving the functionality step by step by testing it out for real students
Video
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_YwyhYmYSMrv8Aevy4EwpAV831DFzgBs?usp=sharing
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.