SpeakEasy

Landing page UI - easy for seniors!
Main Dashboard View of Webpage
API response from Node.js
CockroachDB - user call history table

Inspiration

With the fast-pace of modern life, seniors have been relegated to the backseat for far too long. With the COVID-19 pandemic, seniors have become even more isolated from the rest of the world. Personally, as a generation that grew up on our smartphones, we've had little trouble transitioning to virtual communcation. However, the same can't be said for most of our elderly populations with only 27% of those 65+ owning a smartphone as of 2017 (Canadian Journal of Communication Vol 42, p.g. 331). Our team set out to connect seniors to new people and new conversations on an accessable web platform.

What it does

Our web application, SpeakEasy, lets seniors sign up for a timeslot/date after submitting very basic information (name, email, and interests). It then matches the senior with an available caller and transitions the two into a Zoom meeting where they can see each others interests. From there, the conversation goes where the wind blows!

How we built it

The database for our web application runs on CockroachDB. Using multiple different relational SQL tables we were able to create a database that was fast, secure and easy to use. Tables included storing data for our users, their interests as well as legacy data for call history and usage. Additional CockroachDB SQL queries were used in order to filter through our users and find ones that had similar interests and pair them up in the meetings.

Using CockroachDB's seamless integration we were able to connect the database with our Node.js backend using PostgreSQL. This Node.js backend primary acted as an integration layer between the frontend and the database. Using express, body-parser, and async we were able to create a REST API that translated clicks and keystrokes on the frontend to data for the database. Furthermore the frontend was able to use the REST API to fetch customized data (e.g. pairings for calls based on interest) from the CockroachDB with the backend taking care of the business logic and heavy lifting. This made the web application light, fast and thus more interactive for our users.

The frontend for the web application was made using React. The frontend displayed a simple yet elegant UI to allow for ease of use for our target audience (i.e. seniors). With simple buttons allow users to sign-up, sign-in, meet with someone new, or view their call history in case they want to reconnect with a past caller. The frontend is able to be streamlined as fast by using API calls to the backend to retrieve selective data instead of implementing logic on the client-side. For example the frontend is able to make an API to find a person with matching interests and then use the data retrieved from the backend to link users to the correct zoom meeting.