The engineers and developers made a “Harlem Shake” video at the event. (Courtesy of Christian Genco)
Got an issue on campus? Thanks to this Saturday’s TEDActive Hackathon at SMU, there just might be an app for that.
SMU was chosen by TED to participate with six other universities to host an annual TEDActive Takeover. As a part of this partnership, SMU is hosting its first Hackathon.
Five teams made up of students, developers and programmers traveled to the Hilltop from around DFW to prototype a mobile app to fix problems that range from the inconvenience of parking to the difficulty of finding food and even the rise of violence on campus.
The teams had six hours to come up with the issue and design an app that could potentially solve it.
Mustang Navigate targeted parking and if fully developed, the application would gather data of traffic flow and parking patterns in SMU parking lots.
ID swipes and censors would keep track of the amount of cars in each parking lot and send the data to a server that would then send push notifications to mobile users with the number of spots available in each lot.
The designers of iLead, an app that would allow student government to track student concerns got attention with their mission to help solve multiple issues by expanding and strengthening the student body’s voice to reach their representatives.
According to the designers of LightWeight, those voices are screaming for a more effective way to order food at Mac’s Place.
LightWeight was designed to serve as an electronic ordering system.
According to its developers, students would have the convenience of pre-ordering and a chance to pick up their food when it is ready.
Savannah Niles, an SMU senior and developer was concerned with the increased incidence of violence and sexual assault on campus, designed Party Star, a conversational app where students can rate annual parties and grade them in terms of safety and fun.
Niles wanted to design an app that “didn’t feel administrative and did not feel programed and would work with SMU’s party culture.”
Niles said she did not think that the issue is SMU’s party culture but rather it’s potential relationship to violence and sexual violence on campus.
Niles said it is important to “generate a conversation about violence on campus,” and that “cultural change at SMU is neccessary.”
The engineers and developers lived up to SMU’s party culture and instituted their version of the internet sensation’s “Harlem Shake.”
But the dance was short-lived, unlike the winning app that will go on to have a chance to compete nationally with other TEDActive applications.
First place went to Pony Goggles, designed by Madelynn Martiniere and Shyamal Ruparel, this mobile app allows its user to navigate the campus with an interactive map and built in calendar that highlights the events happening in each building.
The designers wanted to make sure that all students could be fully aware of campus activities while visitors could simply find their way.
Martiniere, who was impressed by the other apps, was surprised and happy to have won. “I had a great team,” she said. “Overall I think it was our presentation that allowed us to win.”
Christian Genco, an SMU engineering senior who only had two weeks to prepare for the Hackathon was extremely satisfied.
Noting that SMU was one of five universities chosen to do the pilot program, Genco was convinced that Saturday’s Hackathon marked “a revolutionary day at SMU.”
Genco prides SMU’s diversity of innovative minds to the success of the Hackathon.
