Concept

Status:

Programming languages:

python

Frameworks:

CouchDB

NoSQL

End user environments:

RHoK Global December 2012

What RHoK event this project is being submitted for:

Images and Video:

Language Lesson Solution

Summary:

Originally this project was a concept of a tool for teachers to expand their reach beyond face to face interacts by allowing them to easily create computer lessons they could distribute to their students via flash drives. NOTE: THERE IS CURRENTLY NO CODE REPOSITORY WE WILL TRY TO CORRECT THIS SOON

Why we are working on this problem:

See the problem page: http://www.rhok.org/problems/language-lesson-generator-offline

What we accomplished during the event:

Much of our work this weekend was discussing the concept of the project and working out the best platform for design and delivery within the restrictions of our problem definitions. Roughly it was decided to write a browser based system that could run offline. The ability to upload pictures and cross reference these with the appropriate word, word pairs, and audio recordings was accomplished. CSS, Java Script, HTML were used.

Team members for RHoK '12

Blain Logan

Winston Yang

Eduardo La Hoz

Errin Calhoun

Next steps:

- Evaluation of the concept and the methods/platforms used to accomplish the project

- Preparation of next steps; should we continue building from this demo/concept or use this only as demonstration/proof and rebuild. How best to do this. (Problem author- Blain Logan: I am a user with the need for a tool. I know what I need it to do, and I know how I need it to act to be useful for our user base but I lack any programing knowledge)

Code Repository:

http://www.rhok.org/problems/language-lesson-generator-offline

Category:

Status:

End user environments:

http://github.com/dvankley/marta_feedback.git

Windows

Mac

Images and Video:

MARTA Feedback Solution

Summary:

Team Members:

Dan Van Kley

Nachiket Kumar

Adam Levenstein

Richard Rissanen

Landon Reed

PURPOSE

Communicate to MARTA

General Complaints
Problem Reports
Compliments & Thanks
Riders Care About System

Identification of Problems

Bus Routes
Safety Issues
System-wide Problems
Problem Mapping

Empower Riders

Save Complaints from MARTA “Black Hole”
Allow Riders to Contribute to Larger Project via Reporting

Generate Data for Transit Advocacy

Consistent Problems
Problem Areas (by Route, by Geographic Area)
Track Rider Suggestions

COMPONENTS

Web Site – Desktop

Feedback Form

Specific Problem
General Problem
Compliment or Thanks

View Feedback

Map
List
-Search

Latest Feedback

Get App

Background & Related Resources

Web Site – Mobile

Feedback Form
View Feedback
Get App
Background & Related Resources

Mobile App

Feedback Form
View Feedback
Link to Mobile Web Site

Example:

Examples - Riders

Problems riders might run into:

Bus consistently late or inconsistent
Bus driver making unannounced stops for food, beverage, cigarettes or bathroom
Out of date route listing on a bus shelter -- it says buses 1, 2 and 3 but route 2 no longer services that stop.
Bus driver making rude or inappropriate comments.
Distracted bus drivers - talking on phone, chatting with passengers or MARTA staff.
Bus driver not driving safely -- running red lights, speeding, etc.
Inadequate assistance given to a person with disabilities.
Train rider stranded when no announcement is made about train being the last train.

Things riders might want to compliment MARTA on.

Good bus drivers -- puncutal, well-informed about route, polite.
Assitance from bus drivers beyond the call of duty.
Renovations at train stations.
Assistance at train station from a MARTA employee -- help with Breeze machine, turnstiles, or directions.
Train operators who make their own stop announcements, better than the recorded ones.
Help to a person with disabilities who needs extra assistance boarding and existing the bus.

How system would help:

A rider fills out feedback form -- via web, mobile web or app. The form captures all the details -- location, time, description, individuals involved, even photos or video, plus rider's own contact information.
Rider's comments delivered electronically to MARTA customer service. Could also possibly be copied to Citizens for Progress Transit (CPT).
MARTA customer service follows up on complaint or compliment according to their own process.
Rider can meanwhile view his feedback on the web site and update it with any follow up, changes, etc.
Riders can also monitor system problems to see what other riders have reported, i.e. "Is it just me or is this bus messed up?"

Examples - MARTA

How the system could help MARTA staff:

Identify problem areas at a glance with a map or a table of problems listed by route or station.
Create an additional avenue for riders to send in feedback -- problems and compliments.
Management (new CEO?) could get a real idea of the state of the system and issues faced by riders.

How the system could improve MARTA:

Public listing of problems motivates MARTA to act on issues -- simply because they don't want to look bad.
MARTA management gets a ground level look at system issues that might not filter up through customer service, bus garage, etc.

Example - Transit Advocates and Public Watchdog

How the system could be of use to advocates and watchdogs:

When advocates interact with MARTA they will have specific examples of problems.
Live, updated inventory system problems in a public institution.
Raw data could be used to create report on system problems.
Raw data could be basis of good investigatie journalism.
Neighborhood groups could use map or search to see how system is working (or not working) in their neighborhood.

Code Repository:

Category:

Status:

http://prezi.com/8pbukodyubg8/edit/#8_4581160

Images and Video:

Using data to change more young lives

Summary:

Keyfund was set up as a charity twenty years ago with a vision of all young people believing they can achieve their ambitions. They make this happen by by enabling young people to build personal skills and confidence, by accessing their brilliant model of youth engagement and development.

Keyfund's problem was that they had a lot of data but no expertise or tools with which to analyse it.

The challenge tackled at the Rhok was to visualise Keyfund's demographic data by overlaying it on top of maps shaded to depict the levels of deprivation in an area.

The variables we chose to analyse were by

Franchise and date,

Individual data - age, ethnicity, gender, disability

Group data - Project type, facilitator type, group size

Why we are working on this problem:

Keyfund have developed a social licensing model which is enabling them to roll their work out to young people across the country. However, in order to do that they need to ensure that they have the technology, processes and systems in place to assure the quality and consistency of the service each young person recieves regardless of who's delivering it. They also need to make sure these systems are gathering and storing vital data so that they can use it to continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the charity.

Code Repository:

https://github.com/RHoKSoton/KeyFund.git

Category:

Status:

http://causecompass.herokuapp.com/

Images and Video:

A tale of two projects : "Cause Compass"

Website/App store links:

Summary:

Non profits invest unnecessary resources “chasing” funding.

Donors need to capture appropriate cause with an immediate impact. Potential donors get frustrated with donation sites because they lack precision and almost always post multiple overlapping input boxes with redundant information. This discourages successful transactions. The goal is to simplify and elucidate the process.

Team Cause Compass members:

Igor Kozlovski

Luxmi Saha, AirWatch

Nikhil Bendre, AirWatch

Rohit Bhat, EcoStar

Yolanda Davis, AdvancED

Rosario A. Robinson, Student

Scott McManus, Student GA Tech

Jamil Bonnick, Freelance UI designers

Naim Hurst,

GQ Lewis, Independent

Devraj Mehta, Student GA Tech

Promita Bose, Emory University, Dept of Human Genetics

Rose Robinson, Anita Borg Institute

Why we are working on this problem:

We are mapping the various types of charity organizations based on the category of support and area of operation.

The aim is to construct a simplified, robust, reliable, secure donor portal.

We project to:

Minimize the noise from philanthropic sector.
Eliminate confusion and reduce click throughs
Reduce the research that donors have to do before giving up $$$
Provide clear path for donors to GIVE and impact their cause immediately

Traction:

Implementation

Analysis

– Merged 2 causes into 1 (Donate Compass and Find A Cause)
– User scenarios
– Functional design

Design

– Logo, color scheme, theme and functionality
– Functionality is clean, easy flow and direct

Development
- Java Script (JSON), MySQL, HTML5
- APIs: Google Map, REST PHP
- Twitter Bootstrap (mobile accessible)
- Open Source Technologies
- Available on Github

Testing

Next steps:

Future Enhancements:

- Import data from trusted agencies

- Extend to mobile applications

- Social Media Integration

Community help:

Sourcing reliable data and pure, true statistics

Code Repository:

https://github.com/YolandaMDavis/causecompass

Category:

Status:

Java; python; JavaScript; PHP

Programming languages:

End user environments:

Web

http://www.rhok.org/causecompass%40googlegroups.com

Server requirements:

PHP, MySQL, JQuery, Twitter bootstrap, CSS

What RHoK event this project is being submitted for:

Atlanta, GA, USA

Images and Video:

Seeking people with skills in:

Mailing list:

Issue Tracker:

http://www.rhok.org/Trac

Adolescent health in Kenya - Jipange Web app

Website/App store links:

http://jipange.herokuapp.com

Summary:

To recap the problem, process and solution: How do we make it easier for young people to access and reach reproductive health information and services? This is a current project by the Centre for Study of Adolescence a local NGO in Kenya in 4 districts of western Kenya: Rarieda, Teso, Siaya and Busia to increase the uptake of contraceptive use.Initially the idea was to develop a phone application to communicate family planning and reproductive health messages to young people. But as this application would not work on all types of handsets that the end users have. Therefore, the idea of creating a web app that could be accessed from mobile phones with internet access was devised. The app would be used primarily by peer educators to access IEC material in a more instant and efficient manner. This was created using Django and featured an SMS list message service to send text messages to the young people that the peer educators interact with as well as host manuals and other information, education and communication materials. In addition, a referral service where users could access information about health clinics and support groups in their areas.

Why we are working on this problem:

There are a number of reproductive health issues among young people in western Kenya. These include HIV and AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, and most importantly lack of access and knowledge to reproductive health and family planning services. Also, we thought it was an interesting problem which enabled us to use Django development to create the app.

What we accomplished during the event:

Created a web app, accesible through mobile phones that can be used to send messages to different group lists. This will be useful to the youth groups that serve as support networks to be able to communicate more effectively with their members. The app also serves as a repository of information education and communication materials (IEC) such as the manual for peer educators and a referral feature where contacts and locations of health centres can be accessed.

Developed CMS and messaging system

Traction:

The web app is live, and the functionality can be used (tested the SMS messaging service effectively.) When it is fully up and running, it will be used in the first instance by 30 peer educators in western Kenya as well as staff at the Centre for the Study of Adolescence in Kenya who will be able to reach more than 4000 young people with family planning and reproductive health messages and services.

Mobile phone usage in Kenya is wide and the app will enable the Centre for Study of Adolescence to be able to scale up their programs quicker to other parts of the region and country

Small environmental impact. The web app will reduce the need for large printed educational materials for the peer educators thus reducing printing costs and the amount of paper used.

Next steps:

Adding reply capability to the messaging service
Content addition
Field testing it to confirm functionalities in Kenya

Code Repository:

http://github.com/rhoksoton/jipange

Category:

Status:

Programming languages:

python

Frameworks:

django

End user environments:

Web

https://github.com/benfitzpatrick/podders

Server requirements:

Built for Heroku but anything that can support Django

What RHoK event this project is being submitted for:

Southampton, UK

Images and Video:

Lego Legends for physical digital solutions

Summary:

The solution is an interactive space allowing young people to indicate theie choices using coloured bricks and a spinning wheel. The machine then genrates a relevant career video based on these choices. A hologram is used to attract attention and draw people in to play the game. A motion sensor is set up to trigger the hologram when somebody walks past.

Why we are working on this problem:

Careers guidance and information are online in great formats for interaction and with video/case-studies, games and tests. But at the crucial time of decision-making, in choosing GCSE or college subjects, these resources are not necessarily being used. This is particularly the case for the more disadvantaged either because of socio-demographics reasons, life events, or lack of confidence.

The first step is to get young people thinking in a structured way of the options available to them, the next immediate decision to be made, and the opportunities to continue to grow their awareness and experience. By placing the information in front of young people with relevant information, we can help motivate action on future work and careers.

What we accomplished during the event:

We built a mock up "pod" using lego blocks, with a webcam and image recognition to read the selections made, and a video hologram to attract attention. Using a very small selection of 3 subjects to "love" or "hate", and just four job categories to choose from, we used a very simple algorithm to connect these to just one "favourite" and link to a career video. This video automatically played when the choices were made.

Next steps:

Take all the ideas generated during the weekend and work with a product designer to refine the scope and design the user experience. Work with content providers to build a large database of career videos and information. Work with developers to build the final product and set up a pilot project in schools.

Code Repository:

Category:

Status:

https://github.com/rishabhsrao/indiahikes-app.git

Images and Video:

The Green Trails Project solution

Summary:

The Objective:

Trekking trails across the country are increasingly getting littered. There are many who contribute to the litter. Trekkers, trek organisers and the locals who service the trekkers.The purpose of the application is to encourage and motivate trekkers and community at large to:

- practice green habits while trekking
- Leave trails in a better shape than how it was found.

In order to achieve this we are developing an application that incentivises trekkers to follow green habits. Here is how we are doing it:

Any trekker, by following green habits can earn reward points. For example, carrying their own water bottle to the slope could earn them 50 green points. Doing something big, like carrying garbage down, could earn them 500 green points. These rewards points can be redeemed for trek vouchers or trek goodies (like headlamps, backpacks, trek shoes etc).

A checklist of the important green habits to be followed and the rewards points associated with them is always available on a dedicated website for this. This helps them to prepare in advance.

To earn rewards, the trekker has to just click a picture of the effort taken (for example, picking up litter on the trail) and upload it to the website. This picture can be uploaded through a web based application or an android application which further gets integrated with flickr.

To achieve the above:

- We have developed a web based application, through which the pictures taken by the trekkers gets integrated with flickr.

- We have developed an android application which will help trekkers upload pictures via their mobiles and just in case there is no internet connection available, it will be a deferred upload, wherein as soon as the network is available, the upload will resume automatically.

- The moment the pictures or proof of intent is confirmed by the administrators, reward points for the effort is released. This automatically shows up on their Facebook profile along with a short description of the effort taken by them.A picture of the goodies or voucher earned also shows up:

For example: I earned 50 reward points and a cool headlamp for carrying my own water bottle on the Kedarkantha trek and not buying any bottled water. This is my contribution to the Green Trail project.

- hopefully this message spreads across to his friends and an awareness is created. If friends comment on his effort then the reach is even higher.

Future Technological Prospects of the project.

We are aiming at being able to map the trails that require more attention for clean ups.

- The information on trails that require efforts for cleaning can be uploaded on the green trails project website (via web based or android application)

- Any trekker visiting the trail later on (and if registered with the Green Trail project), will be sent an automatic text or email on the effort required. This will help them to prepare for the trek.

Code Repository:

Category:

Status:

http://rhok-plan-generator.herokuapp.com/

Images and Video:

Automated Bushfire Survival Plan

Website/App store links:

Code Repository:

https://github.com/jkelabora/rhok-plan-generator.git

Category:

Status:

https://github.com/jumpinjackie/rhok-spatialtruth

Images and Video:

Spatial Truth

Summary:

Provides a proof-of-concept web mashup of the Vicmap API against assorted victorian and international spatial data sources

Why we are working on this problem:

There is a need to be able to compare various spatial datasets against data from the Vicmap API to allow the user to easily ascertain which spatial dataset is the most truthful.

What we accomplished during the event:

A basic proof-of-concept map viewer application built on jQuery/Bootstrap/OpenLayers that allows the following:

Use of responsive layouts/design to support various browser display configurations from smartphones / tablets to desktop browsers
Support for geolocation and address search using Google's geocoding APIs
Ability to overlay/compare assorted spatial data sources together:
- Google Maps
- Bing
- OpenStreetMap
- Vicmap API
- GeoRSS feeds

Next steps:

Possibly a better UI. Twitter Bootstrap was chosen simply because of the 2 day deadline.

Ability to consume additional spatial data sources

KML
Twitter streams with geographic content

This application does not yet take advantage of the full HTML5 feature set that's currently available

Offline Storage
Web Sockets
HTML5 media capture

Australian local/state/federal governments need to be more proactive in

Making spatial data more readily available
Spatially-enabling existing data feeds/services. (For example, Vic Roads / BOM have RSS feeds, but they are not spatially-enabled with GeoRSS. Being able to "visually" see road incidents and weather reports on a map has lots of value)

Code Repository:

https://github.com/jumpinjackie/rhok-spatialtruth

Category:

Status:

Programming languages:

Frameworks:

End user environments:

Web