Project Manager: Sean McGranahan
Research Lead: August Wang
Design Lead: Chai Zhang
Prototype Lead: Muhammad Al-Atrash
Evaluation Lead: Lauren Hruza
Reporting Lead: Lauren Hruza
Our group decided to choose social networks as our project theme for our semester-long HCI project. Since the rise of the digital revolution in the early 2000s and the dramatic expansion of online social networks, there is a widespread concern that online social networks are hindering in-person human communication. As a group, we want to address this problem by creating an online social-networking application that will enhance the ability of individuals to meet new people in real life.
In a large school it is difficult to find people to collaborate with within classes. Even more difficult is finding people who share common interests, especially if your interest is niche (i.e. solar cars). We conducted a short survey for which 29 students answered. 27 of those students answered "Yes" to the question "Do you believe that you can improve academic performance in one or more of your classes by connecting with your classmates and forming a study group with them?". When asked "when trying to connect with classmates or make friends who share your interests, what specific challenges have you faced?", one student answered: "There's not a lot of time to talk with people in class. I have a busy schedule and can't hang around to chat afterwards". Another student wrote: "there is often not an easy starting point, and you don'y necessarily know the interests of people in class with you". Overall many students reported facing difficulties when trying to reach out and connect, as well as maintaining new friendships.
We would like to have a small group of students (our representative user) who are interested in Brain Buddy and are willing to provide us with regular feedback as our client. We believe that they are the best people to communicate and work with. As students themselves they understand what they need and is enthusiatic about new technologies that could help improve their own classroom, college and learning experience.
Brain Buddy aims to address the issue of students feeling overwhelmed and lost in a large and diverse university environment, such as the University of Virginia. Students, especially new students, often face difficulty trying to find friends and peers with similar interests in a large student body. We intend to develop an interactive platform that facilitates seamless connections among students for various collaborative purposes, including project work, study sessions, and club activities. By offering features such as user profile matching, location-based private study sessions, efficient file sharing, and interactive chats, our product will enable students to easily find and connect with peers who share similar courses, interests, and club affiliations. This platform will enhance the overall university experience by fostering a sense of community and promoting productive collaboration among students.
Brain Buddy is a forthcoming platform designed to alleviate the challenges faced by students, particularly newcomers, within the vast and diverse University of Virginia community. The core issue addressed by Brain Buddy is the difficulty students encounter when attempting to navigate a large university environment, including the challenge of finding like-minded peers and establishing meaningful connections. Below you will find various features and technologies that will be employed to fully realize the product.
User Profile Matching: Students will be able to input their academic interests, courses, and extracurricular activities, allowing the platform to suggest potential connections with shared interests and affiliations.
Location-Based Study Status: Brain Buddy will incorporate location-based functionality that can be enabled or disabled making it quicker and easier for students to share their locations. Status will show if and where a “buddy” is currently studying.
Efficient File Sharing: Brain Buddy will provide seamless and secure file-sharing capabilities to allow students to easily exchange documents, study materials, and project files with their peers.
User Validation System: Brain Buddy will check user credentials securely to ensure safety and to uphold class policies regarding collaboration.
Class Validation: Brain Buddy will allow students to input their course schedules, including class names, times, and locations. The platform will then cross-reference this information with university databases to validate the accuracy of their class enrollment.
Interactive Text and Video Chat: Real-time interactive chat functionality will foster communication among students, allowing them to discuss course content, plan club activities, and coordinate study sessions. It will allow for text, video, or audio communication as well as being able to send voice messages, photos, or videos in chats as small as 2 and as big as 500.
Many of our features do not work independently of each other and are not intended to. Our validation systems are engaged together when users create their profiles. Then those profiles are used by an algorithm to make matches. Our chat feature already has multiple functions that are to be expected, but it is also where file sharing can be found. In this way can we ensure a clean, user-friendly experience that is easy and quick to use and navigate.
By integrating these features, Brain Buddy aims to create a sense of community within the campus by connecting students who share similar academic interests or club affiliations, thereby mitigating feelings of isolation or even stress. Furthermore, the platform will promote productive collaboration, enabling students to work together effectively on academic projects and extracurricular activities.
Brain Buddy aims to address the issue of students feeling overwhelmed and lost in a large and diverse university environment, such as the University of Virginia. Students, especially new students, often face difficulty trying to find friends and peers with similar interests in a large student body. We intend to develop an interactive platform that facilitates seamless connections among students for various collaborative purposes, including project work, study sessions, and club activities. By offering features such as user profile matching, location-based private study sessions, efficient file sharing, and interactive chats, our product will enable students to easily find and connect with peers who share similar courses, interests, and club affiliations. This platform will enhance the overall university experience by fostering a sense of community and promoting productive collaboration among students.