Conteo

A video-based penpal service powered by data and dedicated to bringing people together.

Description

The most fundamental human instinct is to connect with others. In this uncertain time of COVID-19, that need for connection is being hampered by the necessities of social distancing. Even after there is a cure or a vaccine for COVID-19, we anticipate that many people will be hesitant about engaging in crowded activities, and that social habits will be altered for a long time, if not permanently. That, combined with the already pervasive political and cultural rifts in our society, highlights the importance of alternative means of connecting with others. Our aim is to alleviate the ‘social’ part of ‘social distancing’ and help to turn it instead into merely physical distancing, by launching a video-based penpals platform.

Our project will create a website for users to match with and send video correspondence to other users. An intelligent matching system, driven by real data, will provide key insights into making meaningful connections between users. We will allow users to create customizable profiles and adjust matching parameters to their preferences. A clean, intuitive user interface will guide users and empower them with creative recording and editing tools. Additionally, a data-driven security system will help ensure users are following legal guidelines and automate detection and flagging where needed.

Technical Skills Required

• Backend

  • Django
  • Image processing engine
  • Storage (Needs discussion)
  • Linter

• Frontend

  • React
  • Typescript
  • MaterialUI
  • Some video library
  • ReactRouter
  • Authentication and token management
  • Redux (maybe)
  • Linter

• Other

  • Git
  • A CI library with git hooks
  • Server host (Tux?)
  • Probably legal stuff

Installation

Ensure the following prerequistes are installed:

• npm
• Python ^3.9

Django

From the root of the project clone, create a python virtual environment

python3 -m venv venv

Activate the virtual environment

. venv/bin/activate

Install python dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Create an .env file under conteo/ (See .env.example)

touch conteo/.env

Create the database

./manage.py migrate

Run the web server

./manage.py runserver

frontend

From frontend/, install dependencies

npm i

Build main.js and watch for changes

npm start

Now you should be able to navigate to http://localhost:8000 and view the webpage. Any changes made to python or typescript files should be automatically rebuilt. Refresh the page to see the changes.

Making Changes

Before committing changes to python files, be sure to check the code for style and lint errors with black, isort and flake8. Likewise for typescript changes, use npm run lint and npm run format. These tools can likely be integrated into your editor of choice. Otherwise, the commands can be run from the terminal to operate on your files. Ensure you add the updated files to the index before committing again.

Automatic pre-commit checks can be enabled to ensure problems are addressed before commiting by enabling the git hooks located in the .hooks/ directory.