The MicroAgress Test

Inspiration

Our team wanted to build a project that empowered minorities in the workplace. Through extensive research, we learned that one of the largest problems facing minorities in the workplace is microaggressions; but as expansive of a problem as it is businesses have difficulty targeting them and addressing it. Our team members has experienced microaggressions first-hand, such as being continuously ignored as the only woman in the room or even having our intelligence invalidating because of our race. Microagressions are subtle yet hostile behavior with the intent of isolating or emphasizing a co-worker's differences. In order to achieve equality in the workplace and create a safe environment, microaggressions need to be addressed in an effective way.

What it does

Our website is a tool for businesses to target microaggressions in the workplace. Employees would take a test and agree or disagree with statements based on their interaction in the workplace. From their answer, they'll receive a specific paragraph that explains the role of microaggressions in their workplace and the safety of their work environment for them. Based on their answers we include specific tips on how they can help make their office safer for themselves or others. We also include a guide for businesses on general rules to follow on combatting microaggressions. This guide can be downloaded as a poster to put up in the workplace

How I built it

We used repl.it to build our code with html5, css3, jquery, and javascript. We first sketched out designs for each of the pages, and then transformed it into website.We divided the work amongst our members and utilized forms, slideshow mechanisms, and inputs to ensure maximum user accessibility

Challenges I ran into

We had challenges as a team both technically and strategically. For majority of our team it was our first hackathon, so we had a lot to learn in terms of pacing out work and working together. Also, one team member had to drop the hackathon within the first day and we lost communication with the team member in charge of the database on the second day. On the technical side we had to troubleshoot with CSS and HTML on ensuring uniformity on different screens. There were a lot of problems with the css in our code, but luckily mostly everything eventually got sorted out. We also had to learn where to compromise certain parts of our project due to time constraints.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Norah - This was my first hackathon so I'm just proud for showing up! My team was amazing, and I'm really proud of the fact we were able to work so well together. I'm also really proud of creating a product that could seriously have an positive impact on workplaces for thousands of people. From my own experience, I know how negatively microagressions can affect someones confidence, so I'm really proud that we were able to create an effective tool to combat that. I never would have believed I was capable of creating a finished project in two days that can be utilized by businesses to combat a real problem.

Eliana: We've gotten a TON of things done in the span of 2 days, so I'm really proud of that. We've put together our skillsets and created a pretty cool project. I could not have asked for a better team. This worked out super great and I had so much fun this weekend.

Katie - This was also my first hackathon, and it was proud of how quickly we created something that would have taken me days longer...well, not that long ago! I am also proud that our project could improve peoples' experience at work, where they spend a large portion of their time.

Kriti - It was really great working in this project. I'm really proud of my team. Though being in different timezone, they've helped me alot. It was really amazing working with my team.

What I learned

Norah- Firstly, I gained loads of confidence by being able to create a finished project in just two days and successfully applying my skills. I learned to trust in my capabilities as a coder. While I may be a beginner when it comes to coding, after this hackathon, I'm inspired to learn more about coding in order to create real-world solutions. I also learned about the millions of intersections between coding and social justice. Through this hackathon I was able to utilize technical skills in order to influence the social atmosphere in businesses. Creating my project opened the door to thousands of new opportunities. On a technical level, I learned about different capabilities of input

Eliana: My teammates definitely helped me improve my html coding skills. Learning from them and their code was a great part of this competition.

Katie: I learned about the whole process of bringing a product from an inkling of an idea into reality. I hadn't worked on any projects with front-end product design in a while, so it was a welcome experience. I relearned various aspects of html, css, and javascript that I hadn't touched in a while. Also, I learned that repl exists and is a really useful tool for collaborating on web development.

Kriti: I learned about how we can work in a team virtually. I got to learn about repl.it and monday.com.

What's next for The MicroAgress Test

We hope to fully implement our business code idea, in which specific companies would get unique business codes. Then users can enter a code before they enter the test so that results of tests would be scored in specific databases for their company. This way individuals won't just get the results, but businesses as a whole will have raw data they can interact with in order to understand which minorities are being specifically targeted.

Built With

• css
• html
• javascript
• repl.it