Inspiration
CRM tools/government service complaint tools
What it does
The tool is designed to act as a means for the public to voice and organize their collective concerns about issues directly impacting them, in this case, focusing on the municipal services of Kingston, Ontario including Transportation, police, healthcare, power, water, sanitation and teaching. The goal of the application was to create a friendly platform that encourage people to express their opinions on issues as simply as possible through the usage of our complain posting/subscription system.
How we built it
The initial design of the project consisted of a multi-database cloud application that ran on Django and React.JS. This proposed structure quickly became apparently faulty due to the complex nature of integrating different programing languages and frameworks. As a result, due to the web nature of the application, we decided to switch to an all Node.JS solution, using a Firebase database with a React.JS and later WIX.com front end.
Challenges we ran into
Due to our inexperience with JavaScript, finding efficient solutions to data related challenges was difficult and forced our team to divide and conquer different aspects of the project, which given time frame, made it near impossible to successfully integrate all parts. We did however create our own API-like framework that we will come back to in the future.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
As beginners in the MLH world, building the shell of a complex product in such a short amount of time is something we are all proud of. We all learnt some new skills involving the creative/software development process as well as exposure to a variety of new and powerful tools with the goal of making a positive impact in the community.
What we learned
React.JS, Firebase, Firestore, Firebase authentication/OAUTH providers, WIX.com, Django, communication skills, software/web design structures and the difficulty of integrating so many moving parts in such a short amount of time.
What's next for VoiceBeHeard
We would like to create a mathematical model designed to assign levels of urgency to different issues/complaints posted by users as a function of the type, duration and popularity of the issue. NLP models that would allow for better recommendations in the interest oriented feeds, including news updates and subscriptions. Scalability of this platform to other towns/cities that don't have the infrastructure to support a proper public to government communication platform.
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