Politiwatch

In a country where people are more politically inept then ever, at a time where we need expedience, a simple app will be the key to helping people become informed about the issues.

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Inspiration

After the 2016 election and the chaos that came both before and after it, I got more interested in politics and the political spectrum. I eagerly awaited the 2018 elections and now await the 2020 elections. I have seen the effects of political inexpedience and lack of knowledge regarding politics, and want a concise, easy way to access knowledge about the political world.

What it does

There are four tabs: news, representatives, elections, and bills. News shows you the most popular 20 news articles from various sources related to US politics. Representatives shows you your representatives based on your location, ranging from the President to your county sheriff. Elections shows you upcoming elections and allows you to easily navigate there. Bills shows you the most recent 20 bills being discussed in the US Congress right now.

How I built it

I used Android Studio to build the app for Android, using various APIs such as the ProPublica Congress API and the Google Civic Information API.

Challenges I ran into

Many, many things were challenging. I ran into problems creating the lists of various information in separate fragments in the app, which I eventually solved after two hours by putting it in the main activity. I ran into various layout problems, and even saw myself having an error for half an hour due to a spelling mistake.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I got much of the base application to work. The information displays properly, the application looks good, and the images appear nicely, just as I wanted.

What I learned

I learned a lot about how long app development can actually take, and the limits of Android app development and how various things in Android can be arranged.

What's next for Politiwatch

In the future, I plan to make the overall application smooth and make more information in various tabs available. I also plan to submit this application into the Congressional App Challenge and possibly my final project for my Mobile Apps Development class in school.

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