POVbyWOC

Just because you feel like the only "one" doesn't mean that you're alone

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Inspiration

Inspiration. Representation. Affirmation. These are three of many things that add to a healthy relationship with one’s self and the people in society. Inspiration opens your mind to ideas that need a little nudge, representation lets you know that you're heard, seen, and acknowledged while affirmation gives you a pat on the back for a job well done or a lack thereof. As young minority women in society, our group, HelloWhoRunsTheWorld was formed to create a platform where other minorities could get in touch with their heritage, develop technical and interpersonal skills, all while drawing motivation from people they see themselves in.

Personal Story from one creator: "As a first-generation Togolese American going to school in the South I was one to two people of color in a class of 30 students and it really caused a struggle with my identity. I didn't know how to express myself and I didn't connect with others when it came to my racial identity so presence always felt temporary. I think that it's important to let young girls know that they can wear their skin and identity with a badge of honor even if they can only look to themselves. This web application is meant to provide a space to know that people have felt what you felt and continue to feel it, so by building a community we become stronger and greater."

Experience from another creator: “Currently as a third-year engineering student taking my core engineering courses, I am usually one of the few ladies and people of colour present in my classes. Transferring to my current school which is a predominantly white institution, it was sometimes easy to feel like my course wasn't for me or to feel like my other classmates knew a lot more about it than I did. Moving forward, I was able to increase my confidence by believing in my abilities and looking at other minorities who have succeeded in fields dominated by people who don't look like them. I’m really happy about this project because it serves as a platform where people can draw inspiration and support from others because sometimes, those are really all you need to take the next step.” -Laurel

What it does

This project is a website dedicated to sharing the stories of minorities, creating a safe space for people to ask and answer questions pertaining to their daily lives, discussing their mental health and teaching skills as it has different sections for educational as well technical tutorials and videos.

How we built it

During the brainstorming phase, the general idea was to have a main page celebrating and welcoming minorities, and then a collection of webpages with a similar idea of showcasing the traditions, stories, and excellence of each group. The pictures below are rough sketches of the central idea with a home page and secondary pages with different but ultimately similar content. For this web application, some of the technology used includes Repl.it, which was our resource for collaboratively developing the code for the project. Other resources include HTML, CSS, and JS which were the primary languages used. Bootstrap was also used for responsiveness and front-end design. Anais- Set up HTML pages and helped with auxiliary pages CSS but primarily worked on homepage set to provide an easy user experience by utilizing bootstrap for better responsiveness, HTML, and CSS. Raiza- Worked on auxiliary pages of the website, helped with HTML and CSS design. Laurel- Worked with HTML and CSS, incorporated some media and text into the home page. Additionally worked on the documentation for the project.

The process of creating this website continued by identifying the features that would be incorporated into it. This includes the main web page that has mini-stories and short clips of women of colour, a Q&A section at the end of the page which has questions from viewers and readers which are answered by someone who was confidently chosen to address them. On this first page, there is also a sign-up section where people could input their contact details to get updates, newsletters, and general motivation from the group, there is a social media section where readers can get information to follow the group on other social media platforms, and there is a section which displays upcoming events and series so readers could RSVP for them and stay in touch with activities. In order to view other web pages that are dedicated to individual identities, there is a section on the home page that redirects the user to the selected identity.

Challenges we ran into

Weren't able to implement firebase from Google Cloud because of time constraint. We also had issues with page alignment that were later fixed. Had trouble knowing how to host a domain.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Have multiple pages of a website that works together seamlessly. Also that the site is meant to look welcoming and calming for users.

What we learned

Learned more about bootstrap and the capabilities of Firebase and how to utilize Google Cloud

What's next for POVbyWOC

Moving further, ways to upgrade and update this project would be to use Firebase through Google for app development and data management. This would allow us to create a sign-in system, RSVP system, and discussion forum with security. We could also use Firebase hosting to host the project on the web. Expand to have more technical portions to help Women of Color build skills as well.

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