Inspiration
There is one place where knowledge is guaranteed. Sure you might say school and it would totally be understandable. But, no. There is one object, which everyone can own, and is very affordable that can be a source of all human knowledge throughout our history. You might have guessed it by now, its a book. In my home country, Ethiopia, writing and publishing a book is a great deal of work as it is throughout the globe. There isn't an option for authors but to use online platforms. This intern creates a slop content where AI generated books or books that hasn't been audited get published and cost real money.
What it does
Thats why I have built Xobia. Named after the first fiction in Ethiopia, Xobia aspires to create a digital platform for authors while also taking care of quality content. I dont aspire to win this hackathon or get money. This project is a passion project, and mentorship is all I require. Xobia is an application where authors publish their works, readers can buy publications and most importantly communities can review books and put a community note on the quality of the publication which will be visible for anyone interested. It has a built in reader page, similar in feature to Apple's Book store. It also has a social media interface where contents, preferably about books, can be shared made story and posted. It has a messaging features to connect people, and also includes a location based in person activity planning. While digital innovation is incredible, I believe it should foster social connections in real life. That is the current feature of the application. There is a possibility of integrating it with another app, Lukari, which my friend is currently working on. More details will be provided about that if requested.
How we built it
I used Antigravity to build the application, with the help of Gemini for prompting, and system checks. I am actively using Expo go to test the application on my mobile phone since the first version of the application is an app for a phone.
Challenges we ran into
Publication challenges. There was no financial support to publish it in Google playstore, so the project is largely a local application right now. Other than that, prompt writing is also a bit difficult, specially for an intricate app like Xobia. I am actively working on both problems.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
To see a possible embodiment of what I had in mind is the greatest accomplishment I could ask for. If you could help me make it a reality, it would be a dream. Like I said, a mentorship is all I need.
What we learned
I have learned that AI coding can give an opportunity for people with little coding background, like me, to give a good shot at any dream of building personal projects for millions to use.
What's next for Xobia
With your help, Xobia can be improved and published for book lovers worldwide.
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