RemoteBox

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  The RemoteBox Team

Inspiration

We think that we don’t really need another app that it is supposed to be the definitive solution for the remote working, but a place in which people can find software proposals/suggestions/solutions for every kind of scenario, free tutoring, and where one can share the experience.

We envision it as an independent portal, which must be simple, open-minded, with an honest analysis of pros and cons, with serious attention to privacy - but also offering solid info to prevent paranoia and the spread of fake news - with an analysis of costs (direct and indirect) and benefits, with attention to different operating systems, slow connections and all the problems that those who work from remote know very well.

What it does

RemoteBox is an independent European portal guiding remote workers to adequate solutions for their specific working scenarios:

• an intelligent, guided search takes people to appropriate approaches and tools for their working scenarios and limitations
• easy to use and understand - also for digital newbies
• links to simple tutorials and documentations provide quick-start support
• continuously updated with latest information from new tool releases and patches
• editorial content provides additional information on adhering topics (e.g. privacy, legal aspects, )
• country specific implementations to follow national regulations and solutions
• content maintained by and for the community (Wikipedia-style)

How we built it

Major activities have been the consolidation of the idea, the development of scenarios and user stories, and the implementation of a first portal show case.

Programming Languages/Platforms: Joomla, Typeform, Customized PHP, JavaScript, MySQL Collaboration Tools: Google Doc, Google Slides, Miro Hosting: Lightsail

Challenges we ran into

The ambitions have been high to create a compelling show case, while we knew on the other hand side, that we cannot run for perfection. Major things we stumbled upon throughout the hackathon have been:

• to create a website that reflects the needs pointed out by the group
• maintain a platform built 100% on open source solutions
• connecting the TypeForm solution with our own backend logic (design templates, database queries)
• the collection of a large set of data for more use cases (not fully addressed)

Accomplishments that we are proud of

• we managed to become a functional team from seven people with different backgrounds, professions, and nationalities within a single weekend
• communication was always in a respectful and productive way between all team-mates
• everyone was fully involved and work has been distributed properly between all team members
• we managed to deliver a result "in time"

What we learned

• convert abstract ideas into concrete applications and tools
• experiencing directly the difficulties and opportunities related to remote working
• to work with new tools, which never have used before

What's next for RemoteBox

• move showcase into a fully functional portal implementation
• plan a pubic beta and a roll-out into first three to five countries
• search funding (private or public) to get it started and creating an active community to make it live!
• consolidate a team for next stages

Built With

• customized-php
• javascript
• joomla
• mysql
• typeform