2nd WIn

2nd Win is designed to help reintroduce homeless people, veterans, and low-economic status people back into society. The link for our PowerPoint, Website, and App is down below.

Check out our PowerPoint!

2nd Win App!

2nd Win Website!

KeCa Review

I found that KeCa was a very helpful app to help with stress and anxiety but I also felt that I could have done most of that on notes on my iPhone. KeCa said that it could help with anxiety but simple things like making a checklist of things I need to accomplish could've been done on my phone. blogging or posting my daily activities could have been also done on a regular social media page like Facebook or Instagram. The only thing that caught my attention was that you can talk to a therapist to help overcome the anxiety that you are dealing with at that moment. KeCa can help but what also confused me was how they were going to use ads to pay for there app. I didn't like the idea of how they were going to help pay for the app but it is understandable that the people who are talking to the people going through the anxiety attack have to get paid. The colors of the app are very soothing colors but the setup was something that I didn't like it looked messy and unorganized. The KeCa logo and meaning is very pretty and nice to hear something almost fancy. The feature that KeCa added by being able to listen to music while being in the app looks very useful and was very thought out. KeCa could help someone out with anxiety and help overcome many obstacles especially with social anxiety helping someone come out of there shell. Me personally a person who dealt with social anxiety in high school would feel that an app couldn't help with my problems I would have to go out on my own and deal with the problems that I had. In college, i have gone through many breadowns and the only way to calm myself down was through music KeCa comes with that feature and also having the feature to upload my own was very thoughtful. Even though I had many bad things to say about the app I overall liked the project it was one of few that made sense. KeCa was very well presented and even though it had some mistakes it was still very well presented adding in educational videos helped us understand anxiety even better. Overall the colors and the music feature and also the ability to speak to a professional was something that I loved about the app.

Tiny Homes Review

In this project the team were trying to solve the issue of empty wasted space in cities whilst at the same time trying to combat the issue of expensive living. They wanted for people to buy these houses with the ability of taking them wherever they go. One of the main issues I found with this project is that these houses are so small that you can support up to 3 people max with one of them being a child. Any family beyond that capacity will not be able to live in one of these houses. The durability of these houses does not allow for anyone living in area with heavy weather or people who live in California on the San Andreas fault line are also out of the equation. With housing in California being so expensive i'm sure they would love something like this if it were more durable. Another issue I see is with the rubber roofing. Tires are so expensive to replace. The average tire for an 18-wheeler is $250 now just imagine how much it would cost to replace the roof for families of low income. Rubber can dry out and degrade very quickly when in constant sun exposure without moving around.

901- Eats Review

Food waste in America and in the world in general has become a very big issue. Based on statistics in the United States alone there in is a food waste of 60 million tons of food every year. This is roughly 160 Billion dollars worth of food that is wasted. There are many ways to combat food waste but that does not mean every way has worked.

The 901-Eats project is another possible way of reducing food waste here in the Memphis area. They have a truck going around local businesses and acquire food that was soon to be thrown out. With the trucks they can pick up food made for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner service and be able to distribute it to people in shelters. This projects is a very useful way of combating food waste in America and could potentially translate over to different countries.

Group #2 - Second Win

The second group did well in tackling a a very pervasive problem not only in our city but all across the planet. Homelessness is an issue I see every day that I drive to school, be it on Sam Cooper and East Parkway, Poplar and East Parkway, or wherever else, and it's nice to hear what they had in mind with solving it. Well, I say solve it. They did kinda forget about the primary problem homeless people have: being homeless. Instead I think the problem could be seen as the homeless person's inability to work/get and keep a job.

The system they threw together was well thought out enough that while typing this I feel like saying they just threw it together does it a disservice.  I have a personal belief in the right to work. I think that people should always be given a chance to have a job, be it in a factory or in an office. That being said, a system like this (possibly given to homeless shelters [like Bradley suggested] instead of Second Win being their own thing) could be great if done properly. I work at a factory, and in that factory with me are a lot of people, either going through rehabilitation, are fresh out of jail, or previously homeless. I mean, they work in a factory, which isn't the most fulfilling job imaginable, but regardless I think that it's great that the program they're in (Safe Harbor) can get them jobs and help them keep them for as long as they've had them. That's better than a lot of other people I know. I feel that more systems like that would do great for the homeless, poor and struggling community. Second Win would be one of those systems.

As for the presentation itself, it was done quite well. All of the group members had equal parts in speaking, and were familiar with the project. No one felt like they were a slacker hiding behind their peers during questions or forgetting their parts when their slide came up. The introduction of the problem was very informative, especially for a topic we all think we knew well. They chose good videos and took the assignment seriously. They fumbled a little bit with the questions, but on the other hand took suggestions very well.

Cultured Cooking

The final project, Cultured Cooking, featured a well thought out, detail-oriented presentation. What I liked about this presentation (aside from the free food) was that it was very informative and eye-opening. The group discussed that people are not as aware of other cultures as they should be, and a way to get people to become interested in other cultures is through food. Great idea.Who doesn't like food? They address the problem that people can't get invested in learning about other cultures because of the lack of money to fly to another country. It's almost like the group is introducing the idea of "if you can't travel, then we will bring the country to you" (metaphorically speaking).

What I like about their idea is that it is subscription based. Each month, you will get 4 boxes shipped to you that will contain cuisines based on the country of the month. You pay a fee every month for the 4 boxes, and for each box you receive, a secondary box is shipped to low-income families in need of food to eat. I like this because while you are educating yourself about foreign cuisines, you are also helping out someone that is less fortunate. So, it's a win-win situation. What they could do to ensure that the food gets shipped to people in need is partner with food banks in areas with a substantial amount of people with low income.

GroupSync

The first presentation, GroupSync, was really enjoyable. I feel like each member contributed important details to the societal problem they were addressing (problems in group projects), while providing relatable humor, such as memes, jokes, and videos to maintain the attention of the audience. One of the key things I've noticed in my years of presenting is that you have to keep the audience interested in what you are talking about, which is EXACTLY what the group did. On top of keeping the audience's interest, the group handed out a quiz for us to take to find out if we were introverts, ambiverts, or extroverts (I'm an introvert), which I thought was an interesting way to make us feel like we were playing a significant role in the presentation. Also, they seemed very interested in what they were talking about and the discussions that followed.

As far as content goes, their concept seems like it could actually work. As college students, we find it very difficult to find group members for certain projects, and their website makes it easier to achieve this goal. Each member can create an account, give a description of their skills pertaining to working in a group (strengths and weaknesses), and a progression bar, which captured my interest, because it is a smart way to check up on individual group members to see how they are progressing on a project. I could actually relate to what the group was discussing when they mentioned that some introverts find it a challenge in collaborating with others. Overall, their project inspired me to put even more effort in my group's project, on top of what I've already done.

Group #1 - GroupSync

Boy, did the first group really set the bar high. Albeit a tad repetitive at times, I really enjoyed the relatable explanation of the intricacies about how groups work, what types of people make up the composition of a group, and how different types of members can affect the group as a whole. I thought they made great use of both videos and memes (especially the memes). The interactive element, with the short quiz and survey of the quiz's results, was quite enjoyable. Not only did it serve to help retain their audience's attention, but it also helped us relate to the concept they were expounding upon.

The website is very clean and smooth, and their logo on the home page is unique and fitting. I found it to be intuitive for the most part, with my only problem being that the topics are kind of shoved to the side under a sidebar. Other than that, easy to navigate and use. It may be a small thing, but I was impressed by the images they chose to represent the topics for people to work together on. Any of them is a simple reverse Google image search away, but the ones they chose do have the sense of someone actually posting them on there.

As for the idea itself, I quite enjoy it. I think figuring out a system for facilitating the creation of groups is a useful solution to the core problem of group work: creating a highly compatible and efficient group. So many times have I felt incompatible with a group and felt somewhat left behind, ending up becoming the social loafer not because I'm lazy but because I ended up feeling like I couldn't work with them. A system like the one they detailed would help solve a lot of those problems. I don't know on what scale it would operate, but if I've learned anything in designing things it's that options are almost always a good idea. It would be easy to make it so that the person creating the topic they want help on could select whether they want it open for anyone at either their school or the world to join. The system for ranking previous partners would need to be worked out, but then again so would a lot of kinks once it would be actually put into motion for a period. I imagine that there would probably be a few beta versions before the final release.

GroupSync

          GroupSync in general (and from my understanding and recollection) is a website/ app that allows people all over the world to be able to find "group members" on similar projects and interests. The site includes not only a personal profile for each user, where space is provided for their contact information,availability, and strengths; but also a progression bar for those sharing a similar project that can be monitored by everyone to know how the pace of each group member. While the premise of the idea is wonderful, how a failure to communicate and cooperate together is a moral issue, I did still have question about the functionality of the site in a broader sense.

The Global Perspective
          I can see how multiple people who are all in Memphis are trying to find partners for a project would be able to utilize this app, find someone from Cooper-Young, two from Mid-town, and maybe one in Arlington and all find a way to continue the project. What I can't seem to understand is what if someone is formulating a project and they find the perfect partner, but they are in a different state or maybe even a different country? This was addressed slightly after the presentation, however the most that I recalled being said was that those who find partners that are not in the same area could possibly work on the project together long distance, but that may not be something that all parties involved wish to participate in. My suggestion for the upgrades would be to have a filter added to the site so that the users can decided up-front if they are looking for partners that share similar interests and that are X amount of miles away from Y zip-code number.

Within a Single Classroom/ Teacher options
          With GroupSync being the way it is now, it does not seem like something that a teacher or administrator could utilize to ease the burdens of group projects, which almost seems silly because teachers and bosses are the primary people that assign group projects. If GroupSync gave the option for some users to identify as either a student or a teacher or an administrator of some sort and be able to have multiple folders of some sort. If Dr.J could have used GroupSync and created a file that simply said PHIL220 1PM, and the students could decide amongst themselves and send her our groups through the website that it would alleviate the burden of her assigning teams and waste perfectly good classtime walking around the room and finding partners. It would also be nice if one user could have multiple accounts or positions under their name.  For example, I am a student at CBU but I am also a teacher assistant at a local high school. If I could have one account with multiple profiles, one for my university projects and one as a teacher for my own students' projects it would seem like a significant addition.

All in all I think that this provides more of one solution to one problem of morality. I think that you all have provided an avenue for people to talk about progressing, to talk about what is wrong with the world and solve not only problems with communication, but potentially many other social and moral problems.