Next Tech Lab continue with the winning streak
SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh equips students to combat adversities and continue to achieve accolades by nurturing their talent and offering them an impetus for growth. Abbas, a third-year CSE student, wins yet another Hackathon at Berkeley. While on his semester abroad program at the University of California, Berkeley, he participated in Hacktech which is Caltech’s premier intercollegiate hackathon. Along with three other team members from Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and USC, Abbas competed against 450 hackers who identify and build innovative, technological solutions to solve problems in a variety of disciplines. The team was a finalist in the “Best Overall Hack” and won “Best Hack That Gives People a Voice” by Facebook.
Focusing on “Giving People a Voice”, sponsored by Facebook, Abbas, and team coordinated through Git and voice messaging platforms like Discord and Slack as the Hackathon turned into a virtual competition with the unfortunate outbreak of COVID-19.
SRM AP’s Next Tech Lab team have developed MeetMe, that provides a platform to interact with various people across the globe, irrespective of their background. “MeetMe is a platform that is designed to take the user out of their comfort zone and have them meet people quite different from themselves.”, explains Abbas.
When asked about the intention behind developing such an application, Abbas says, “When pandemics like Coronavirus hit, despite millions being fatally impacted, most people face challenges like Xenophobia causing added fear and damage. We felt that we should do our part to help make the world a better place using technology. We came across UNICEF’s 5 things to do to fight xenophobia. It primarily suggests that connecting people across cultural backgrounds can eliminate prejudices against a certain group, community, or race. Hence, we developed MeetMe.”
The team believes, “MeetMe will encourage people to interact with groups that they are unfamiliar with, which helps them to understand their cultures better, leading to communal harmony and mutual understanding. This could be particularly useful in the wake of catastrophes such as Coronavirus that unfortunately cause incorrect opinions pertaining to certain groups. By providing a platform for these in-person gatherings, we are trying to ensure that the attendees get the chance to interact with people from marginalized communities and reduce undesired emotions that they may harbor consciously or unconsciously towards them.”