NipIt

Inspiration

Seeing how poorly we have done previously and we are currently doing during this COVID19 outbreak, seeing the number of lives we have lost and are still losing daily with the numbers shooting up and projections even worse, still there is no obvious headway in sight after several weeks of the outbreak. It is almost like the whole continent is gambling on humanity. All these just shows that the world is ignorant of the severity of a viral outbreak until we are faced with one. "A last-minute resort is never advisable". Those whom we have lost to this pandemic did not foresee dying, they had plans, they had goals and a whole life ahead of them but were suddenly cut short. They definitely don't deserve the sudden death they met.

It is almost as though, no one cares until people start dying. The truth is most of this Viruses are already discovered, scientist are well aware of the severity of an outbreak but nothing stringent and evident is being done " If this was not obvious beforehand, how poorly we have done so far during this COVID19 outbreak makes it unavoidably obvious... All countries resorting to last-minute research, control measures and possible cure is not the best route to follow if we intend saving humanity". Hence it a global, human and survival necessity to pay absolute attention to the research of the various existing virus and finding an effective control or possible cure prior to a breakouts.

Viruses are extremely dangerous to the body system, this is not because it doesn't have a cure or it's impossible to discover one but because most cure/findings are usually as deteriorating to the body as the virus itself. Do you know what is more dangerous? Acting like those viruses do not exist until there is a breakout.

NipIt is a perfect solution to the above observation... "We need to Nip It before it blooms, for humanity to blossom'. NipIt is a hub for researchers, targeted at actively researching scientist "works are verified of course", it is a platform where they can share knowledge, collaborate and put out their research goals or already researched cases for funding. The researchers are expected to continuously evolve and update their research findings. The platform is also meant to project on future outbreaks using data analysis, knowledge of the existing virus and machine learning.

Let's save humanity while we still can, the time to do that is now and we cannot afford to take chances.

What it does

Database for actively researching scientist (specific to viruses and other critical diseases)
Researchers can Source for funds on the platform
Bank Research findings for public knowledge
Project up to ten(10) years possible outbreak using data analysis, existing virus, peak period and machine learning
Foster Contribution to research findings and collaboration with other researchers
Database for critical diseases and emergency response bodies for all countries

How I built it

From problems earlier listed and how we are currently lacking in research which is extremely risky to humanity, I got an idea on Nipping the problem (Virus) on the board to which I sketched a rough plan of my execution process while planning I initially had several choices of technologies I wanted to adopt in executing the project but along the line, I decided to start simple is always best it gives room for scalability as the platform evolves, hence I had to let go of some technologies I felt might not be required at the moment for proof of concept but might come in handy later on in the development, for simplicity purpose in other to overwhelm the concept the platform is about. I further decided a good design would be great in engaging the audience, focusing on designing an engaging user interface at the moment was best, reasons because most of such sites are usually bland and uninviting living people uninterested in the content of the platform. Nipit is intended to curb the stereotype or belief "that a site must be boring and bland to be scientific or educative", it is a platform targeted at engaging the audience. The features are purposely minimal at the moment cos it is a platform that is intended to scale based on people behavior, engagement and demand. The app is meant to deal big on database, we would be collecting authentic database for analysis and live projections.

I used Bootstrap framework built-in JavaScript, jquery ,CSS and some plugins were used to provide nice user inter-phase and subsequently experience. Javascript/JQuery was used to make client-side dynamic. PostgreSQL DB hosted on Heroku cloud is used for storing the application data, node express js is used at the back-end to develop the server. JSON manages the dependencies. Heroku is used for deployment for presentation purposes and the repository is on git for everyone's review to which feed-backs and contributions will be well accepted and appreciated.

Challenges I ran into

Finding a teammate: I had issues finding a teammate who was as equally passionate and invested in the project as I was. This has resulted in a last-minute change in my project but I do understand everyone had other responsibilities before now and they had different challenges which could not be sorted within the short period for this project. I would also appreciate people not indicating interest in anything they would not make out time for.
Last-Minute Change: I had to change my project due to reasons earlier stated and at the time it felt as though it was going to be impossible to meet the closing date, seeing that I am individual and faced with my challenges. I put in my best and came up with an MVP

3.New technology: Coupled with the short time, teammates challenge and other personal challenges I had to learn a new technology I believed would give me better results in time. That's what developers do, learn on the job, navigate challenges and deliver

Power Outage: I had to deal with power outage resulting in several unwanted breaks, anxiety and pressure to meet the deadline but again I pulled through

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Never achieved so much in such little time and I am proud of what I have done
Learning new technology to beat time and have at least an MVP before the closing date is one
Coming up with a project idea last minute was also a proud moment for me
Coming up with an MVP despite the short time, dropping teammates and changing projects. I did what I needed to do when I needed to and was not phased or overwhelmed

What I learned

Decision Making: while faced with challenges I was able to decide whether or not to go ahead with an idea, I changed technique but the goal remains the same (impact) and I and My team mates who dropped were completely understanding of each other's plight.
Machine Learning: I am aware if algorithm and data analysis to an extent but haven't previously consciously worked with machine learning, this is yet to be implemented but it will be eventually and I am looking into it

What's next for NipIt

Implementing the live projection feature
Integrating Funding and payment feature
Taking care of all the edge cases and fixing possible bugs
Building Researchers
Database and Critical Diseases Emergency Response Contact for different Countries
Scaling to a MVP for public use