Ripples

Inspiration

Was looking for anything other than a constant stream of depressing news. One thing that I realized was just how socially connected we all wish to be. I’m a fan of the term ‘Physical Distancing’ instead of ‘Social Distancing’. One thing that I’ve come to appreciate are the messages and contacts with my friends, relatives and even strangers who invariably end conversations with ‘Stay Safe’!

So, I thought of creating Ripples, a web application designed to share messages of hope with your social circle and those physically nearby, as well as provide context and location sensitive information.

What it does

Allows users to share how they feel, and 'ping' those nearby, thus spreading messages of hope. Signing in also allows the user to see location specific information gathered from official websites (where they exist) on stay-at-home guidelines, curfew etc.

How I built it

The scaffolding was built very quickly using Angular on firebase

Challenges I ran into

Coding is easy. Writing this story isn't! The primary challenge was identifying reputable 'official' sites, and parsing context specific information that may be helpful to the logged in user. Even in the USA, the quality varies significantly from state to state.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I don't code as much as I used to. So I'm proud that I was able to get the basic concept designed and built over a weekend.

What I learned

How cool firebase was, and the amount of scaffolding, code libraries, and open / freely available data sources (particularly as it relates to Covid). Also was surprised by just how accurate and how much information Google's GeoCoding APIs provide!

What's next for Ripples

To extend it with significantly more location specific news, and improve natural language parsing, then provide a way for users to 'like' news. Also improve the 'spread hope' messages with more / different words of encouragement.