SmallTalk

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  This is where users can put in their interests and specifics

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  Just a basic layout of the teams app

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  This is the smalltalk page

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  This the screen where you can choose which team member you'd like to have talking points on

Inspiration

While looking at this years challenges I saw there was this sweet spot of intersection between them. Empowerment through technology an building inclusivity and a welcoming environment work very well hand in hand. I truly believe the best way to be inclusive is to understand your teammates and where they come from because nothing is more empowering than being appreciated.

What it does

The app is meant to act as an extension for company based chat services such as Microsoft teams. The objective of the app is to analyze the data from a users/team members profile page and create a smalltalk page that layout strong broad talking points that would allow one to start a conversation that a user may value very much. Topics such as important holidays or festivals that occur from a users home city or cultural delicacies would appear on the smalltalk page. By bringing up these talking points it can allow a new employee or intern from a different country/culture to ease into transitioning into a new team and feel secure.

How I built it

I built many of the frames in figma which is a ux/ui design application that builds these frames in real-time using C#. These frames are then translated into flutter code which is essential for creating the front end. This in unison with azure app service as a backend was able to support a lot of neat functionalities. By using visual studios you are then able to add your app by using the add new app button. And since we are using flutter we can ignore some of the documentation that may appear in studios but you have to make use of the id assigned to your app. Then we make use of the flutter plugin and inorder to cutdown on harsh long building you can create a pipeline that makes use of the Azure DevOps plugin

Creating a smalltalk page would work by extrapolating data from the users profile using entity recognition and language detection which are cognitive skills from the cognitive services API. This allowed us to create an indexing pipeline that takes data from inputs that are stored in Azure Blob storage.

Challenges I ran into

In all honesty I was expecting to work with my last years team but none of them were available so I had the privilege of tackling this hackathon alone. It was definitely a daunting process as my main area of work revolve around creating ML models, design, and presenting. Talking about ML models, the midnight challenge was very fun but I realized the reality of things in a cramped timeline. I spent a majority of the time simply importing pandas, different applications just to realize there was an issue with the program at use and I had to start over completely with Anaconda to build my learning model. And when I finally was able to finish my model I was battling for time. Also I spoke wrong in my video, I actually had to make use of css for the figma code .

I also had a lot of fun having an all nighter and while making my demo video my accents changed due to my coarse throat, but I suppose lack of hydration does that. One thing I am disappointed with is that I wish I could make a better demo with far better functioning. One of the reasons I enjoy hackathons is that we get to interact with new technologies and get help immediately. So I had to make do with the devices at my hand which would be very troublesome when dealing with visual studio. So I believe some of my code will probably need far better editing and improvement. The challenges really worked me physically and mentally so I hope I can keep my eyes open when explaining in further detail but nonetheless I feel I have better tools and experience by my side for future hackathons.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I was pretty proud at my approach to the heart of the challenge presented by the companies. Inclusivity, Empowerment, and Diversity are very important to me and I feel I presented an idea that is simple ,fast-to-use, and practical for developing better team relations. I feel the objective of many companies it to present an environment where hard-working and talented individuals can find a home to push their skills to the limit and create a lasting impact that can be accelerated by the company's resources. And creating a sense of belonging only strengthens that notion. I also enjoyed finishing my midnight challenge learning model, though I would enjoy playing around with it more before I submitted I enjoyed what I made.

What I learned

I definitely learned more about API implementation during Dr. Sunderaman's lecture. Also learning Azures platform which was provided a really nice range of connections and mobiltiy, and Azures storage easy access was appealing when deciding what to work with. I also brushed up on my UI skills using Figma so I am excited to build more applications through that.

What's next for SmallTalk

I hope that the idea can perhaps spark more approaches to empowering employees and building inclusivity and if I can get an opportunity to learn more about technologies through company programs i'd be able to grow more and perhaps build even better applications that can be used for pressing issues.

Built With

• azure
• blob
• cognitiveserviceapi
• figma
• flutter