## Inspiration

To set our goal, we were grandly inspired by the Swiss system, which has proven to be one of the most functional democracy in the world. In Switzerland, there is a free mobile application, VoteInfo, which is managed by a governmental institution, but is not linked to any political groups, where infos about votes and democratic events happening at a national, regional and communal scale are explained, vulgarized and promoted. The goal is to provide the population a deep understanding of the current political discussions and therefore to imply everyone in the Swiss political life, where every citizen can vote approximately 3 times a year on national referendum to decide the future of their country. We also thought it would be interesting to expand that idea to enable elected representative, elected staff and media to have a better sense of the needs and desires of a certain population.
Here is a [link](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/fr/home/statistiques/politique/votations/voteinfo.html) to the swiss application website (in french, german and italian only).

## What it does

We developed a mobile application where anyone over 18 can have an account. After creating their account and entering their information (which will NOT be sold for profit), they will have the ability to navigate through many "causes", on different scales. For example, a McGill student could join the "McGill" group, and see many ideas proposed by member of elected staff, or even by regular students. They could vote for or against those, or they could choose to give visibility to an idea that they believe is important. The elected staff of McGill could then use the data from the votes, plotted in the app in the form of histograms, to see how the McGill community feels about many different subjects. One could also join the "Montreal Nightlife" group. For instance, a non-profit organization with governmental partnerships like [mtl2424](https://www.mtl2424.ca/), which is currently investigating the possibility of extending the alcohol permit fixed to 3 a.m., could therefore get a good understanding of how the Montreal population feels about this idea, by looking on the different opinion depending on the voters' age, their neighbourhood, or even both!

## How we built it

We used Figma for the graphic interface, and Python (using Spyder IDE) for the data analysis and the graph plotting ,with Matplotlib and Numpy libraries.

## Challenges we ran into

We tried to build a dynamic interface where one could easily be able to set graphs and histograms to certain conditions, i.e. age, gender, occupation... However, the implementation of such deep features happened to be too complicated and time-consuming for our level of understanding of software design, therefore, we abandoned that aspect.
Also, as neither of us had any real background in software design, building the app interface was very challenging.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud of the idea in itself, as we really and honestly believe that, especially in small communities like McGill, it could have a real positive impact. We put a lot of effort into building a realistic and useful tool that we, as students and members of different communities, would really like to have access to.

## What we learned

The thing we mainly learned was how to create a mobile app interface. As stipulated before, it was a real challenge, as neither of us had any experience in software development, so we had to learn while creating our interface.
As we were limited in time and knowledge, we also learned how to understand the priorities of our projects and to focus on them in the first place, and only afterward try to add some features.

## What's next for Kairos

The first step would be to implement our application's back-end and link it to the front-end.
In the future, we would really like to create a nice, dynamic and clean UI, to be attractive and easy to use for anyone, of any age, as the main problem with implementing technological tools for democracy is that the seniors are often under-represented.
We would also like to implement a lot of features, like a special registration menu for organizations to create groups, dynamic maps, discussion channels etc...
Probably the largest challenge in the upcoming implementations will be to find a good way to ensure each user has only one account, to prevent pollution in the sampling.
## Inspiration

Examining our own internet-related tendencies revealed to us that although the internet presents itself as a connective hub, it can often be a very solitary place. As the internet continues to become a virtual extension of our physical world, we decided that working on an app that keeps people connected on the internet in a location-based way would be an interesting project. Building Surf led us to the realization that the most meaningful experiences are as unique as they are because of the people we experience them with. Social media, although built for connection, often serves only to widen gaps. In a nutshell, Surf serves to connect people across the internet in a more genuine way.

## What it does

Surf is a Chrome extension that allows you to converse with others on the same web page as you. For example, say you're chilling on Netflix, you could open up Surf and talk to anyone else watching the same episode of Breaking Bad as you. Surf also has a "Topics" feature which allows users to create their own personal discussion pages on sites. Similarly to how you may strike up a friendship discussing a painting with a stranger at the art museum, we designed Surf to encourage conversation between individuals from different backgrounds with similar interests.

## How we built it

We used Firebase Realtime Database for our chatrooms and Firebase Authentication for login. Paired with a Chrome extension leveraging some neat Bootstrap on the front end, we ended up with a pretty good looking build.

## Challenges we ran into

The hardest challenge for us was to come up with an idea that we were happy with. At first, all the ideas we came up with were either too complex or too basic. We longed for an idea that made us feel lucky to have thought of it. It wasn't until after many hours of brainstorming that we came up with Surf. Some earlier ideas included a CLI game in which you attempt to make guacamole and a timer that only starts from three minutes and thirty-four seconds.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We released a finished build on the Chrome Web Store in under twelve hours. Letting go of some perfectionism and going balls to the wall on our long-term goal really served us well in the end. However, despite having finished our hack early, we built in a huge V2 feature, which added up to twenty solid hours of hacking.

## What we learned

On top of figuring out how to authenticate users in a Chrome extension, we discovered the effects that five Red Bulls can have on the human bladder.

## What's next for Surf

Surf's site-specific chat data makes for a very nice business model – site owners crave user data, and the consensual, natural data generated by Surf is worth its weight in gold to web admins. On top of being economically capable, Surf has a means of providing users with analytics and recommendations, including letting them know how much time they spend on particular sites and which other pages they might enjoy based on their conversations and habits. We also envision a full-fledged browser for Surf, with a built in chat functionality.
## Inspiration

We were inspired by our own experiences and by those of our classmates. Despite having started our degree in-person, before the pandemic, most of our time in college has been spent online. We know people who started post-secondary studies during the pandemic and some of them have never even been to campus.

We noted that when pandemic recovery plans are discussed, economic recovery seems to be the focus. And while it is quite important, restoring the social lives and mental health of people is also crucial to building a better world after this situation. Our concept is designed to facilitate both, social and economic restoration.

## What it does

We created the concept prototype for an app that helps students, specially those who have done school online for the last two years, make real-life connections with their classmates and people around them.

During the onboarding process, users are asked about their interests along with some personal information, like what school they go to and what program/major they are taking.

Because we understand that safety and boundaries are important, users are asked covid safety related questions as well. Things like vaccination status, how many people they would feel comfortable meeting with at a time, and what kind of settings they would feel safe in (restaurants, parks, malls, etc.), are all imputed by the user.

Using the information provided, users are matched with a group of people or with a person, whom with the app has determined they are compatible with. Users are then prompted to start a chat or group chat.

After the app detects a certain number of messages has been exchanged, the app will suggest meeting up to the users. The app, based on the users interests, will suggest a small local venue where they should hang out.

## How we built it

We used Figma for the whole process, from brainstorming to user flows and wireframes.
Our final prototype can be viewed in Figma,

## Challenges we ran into

When we were brainstorming we found it difficult to find an idea that would help people's mental health recover along with the economy.
After we came up with our concept we found ourselves having to narrow down or scope. We had to curate the user flow that we showed in our video to display the core idea of our project.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We managed to find a way to effectively display our project within the required timeframe.
We overcame feature creep and made sure that we only included what was essential for our project.
We created a fun and effective visual identity for our project

## What we learned

We refined our skills in Figma. We got to apply creative problem techniques we had been taught in classes in a practical situation.

## What's next for IRL✨

User research and testing. Improving our prototype and eventually making it a real thing!