Resonate

Blind people use computers by voice-overs. Dating apps show images and tiny bits of text. They often don't support voiceovers. On Resonate you describe yourself with voice and can use voiceover

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Inspiration

Resonate project started with a long brainstorming session where we tried to find something aligned towards the theme. Most of our earlier ideas already existed with not much room to improve or one up them. When we accidentally stumbled across dating site for blind people we saw an old, unused and fairly simple web page. We dug some more and discovered that there isn't anything like a modern dating apps. Thus the idea of a dating site focused on sight impaired people was born. And from there it was not difficult to move forward.

What it does

The basic premise is a dating site filtering potential matches based on your interests, your location and personal preferences. What is unique about our site is the focus on audio message as a first impression instead of the picture format, to make it more accessible towards sight impaired people. Additionally, there is a functional chat app built into our site when two people match. Finally, we have also tried to add informing alt texts on the site to help people with sight impairment navigate everything with ease.

How we built it

In the early stages of this project we decided to use the Django python library for the whole app. The process included learning how to use certain APIs such as Google Maps API, figuring out the visual design and just having a lot of fun. The bare template of a dating site was quite simple to create. Over the course of the week we were adding new features to make our site stand out. We split the work based on our strengths and helped each other when someone got lost in their own work.

Challenges we ran into

The whole project can be considered challenging because managing what each member does and how it might affect others contributions when merging was a constant struggle. The parts that took us most time were most likely distance based filtering and location integration because of a API we never used before. What's more is the backend of chat communication which had to be redone at least two times because of not working as intended. Last but not least, is the visual and functional aspect of the site, which proved to be a tough nut to crack. Luckily we overcame most obstacles with a functional product

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Being able to work together made us realize it can be more beneficial to divide the work instead of hoarding it and having uneven distribution. Some other accomplishments include all of the challenges, since the biggest achievement is to overcome problems and learn something new.

What we learned

The whole hackathon was an unexpected surge of new information. From understanding the importance of teamwork, through discovering hidden gems in the Django library all the way to going completely blind into APIs and deployment of our work. All of these were equally eye opening and it was an unforgettable experience.

What's next for Resonate

Since the project is functional and ready to be used, we believe the next updates would include a more innovative matching algorithm as well as adding voice messages to the chatting platform. Minor bug fixes and some other quality of life changes are to be expected. This hackathon made us create an unconventional idea and it would be shame to see it end with the hackathon.

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