herstory

the untold stories of great women, told: a trivia game for the amazing accomplishments of women who have made significant contributions to the world but went without proper acknowledgement.

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Inspiration

In centuries and millenniums, who will remember us? Those who withstand the passage of time are commonly memorialized by their achievements, but what about those who make great contributions but go unacknowledged? What about all the women and minority scientists, activists, leaders, and other significant figures who changed the world but whose stories are unknown to most simply for their gender or status? Will we, one day, also become forgotten by history with our impacts claimed by others? That didn't seem very fair.

What is herstory?

herstory is a trivia game featuring questions about women who have been overlooked and underrepresented in global history. The game aims to inspire users to learn about women who have made significant impacts in fields such as math, science, finance, and many more.

Development

We combined a range of technologies to bring herstory to life. For authentication, we integrated PropelAuth, enabling a smooth login experience. The user interface, from the home and welcome pages to the gameplay itself, was made using React, ensuring an intuitive and engaging experience for players. On the backend, we used Express and Node.js to manage game logic and handle server requests. MongoDB serves as our database, storing users' emails and tracking their scores. The gameplay is dynamic, with randomized trivia questions highlighting correct answers in green and incorrect ones in red (while still displaying the correct answer in green). Users' high scores are saved in the database and shown before each game, with new high scores automatically updated at the end of each round.

Challenges

At the start of this project, we faced several challenges, both technical and conceptual. Learning React and JavaScript from scratch was a significant challenge for us, as none of us had prior experience with these tools. Developing a web-based trivia game brought its own set of complexities, particularly in building the gameplay mechanics and ensuring everything ran smoothly. One of our biggest technical challenges was securely obtaining users' emails and using that information to update their scores in our database. Every setback became an opportunity for growth, and we emerged from this experience with a stronger understanding of web development and collaboration.

Accomplishments

Throughout this project, we've achieved several accomplishments that truly display our team's strengths and dedication. Firstly, we're proud of developing a well-performing application that not only works smoothly but also serves an important purpose. Working together as a team, we leveraged our individual strengths and learned from each other's weaknesses, creating a nice collaborative environment. We’re incredibly proud of learning React along the way, a new challenge for all of us, and integrating it successfully into our project. Also, we're proud to have deepened our understanding of the incredible impact women have made in various fields. Creating an application that educates others about often-overlooked contributions is an accomplishment that aligns with our core mission of spreading awareness and knowledge.

Learning Experiences

Through this project, we gained amazing insights into the often-overlooked contributions of women across various fields. Discovering new facts about underrepresented women emphasized the importance of recognizing and celebrating these achievements. From a technical standpoint, we learned how to work with React, despite having no prior experience with the framework, and it turned out to be a rewarding challenge! Additionally, since most of us were first-time hackathon participants, we learned a great deal about the hacking process itself, from ideation to execution. Overall, it was an incredible learning journey, both technically and personally, as we grew together as a team.

What's Next for herstory?

We have several exciting ways to better herstory. One of our main ideas was to strengthen user authentication by implementing JWT tokens, ensuring secure and seamless logins for our players. We’re also exploring the potential of moving to a serverless platform using AWS for example, which will allow us to scale more efficiently. In terms of gameplay, we're working on expanding our trivia question database to include even more diverse and lesser-known women from across the globe. We also plan to introduce features like timed challenges, leaderboards, and real-time multiplayer modes to make the game even more dynamic and engaging.

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