Project Suggestions -- Software Engineering -- CS 5150 -- Fall 2012 -- Cornel Computer Science

CS 5150
Software Engineering
Fall 2012

Project Suggestion: Simplat

Simplat

Client

Simplat was founded by the following two engineering students from Cornell University

Kobbina Awuah: Holds an M.Eng in Civil Engineering. Kobbina has directed several humanitarian projects in Africa and South America. He has been successful in securing funding and partnered with several international organizations such as the European Union, USAID and the Jimmy Carter Center.
Yannick Basabakwinshi holds an M.Eng (January 2009) in Computer Engineering from Cornell University and has worked on several start-up companies in East Africa. He believes that increasing communication will increase the level of trust and minimize conflicts, misconceptions and wars around the world.

Kobbina and Yannick consider themselves citizens of the world and are trying to find ways to connect the people globally in a positive way.

Contact information:
bayannick@gmail.com
607-329-0889

Project Summary

Simplat is a website which will provide social innovators (in particular, college students and recent college grads) with a simple platform to share and publicize their experiences working on a variety of projects within their home country and abroad. The projects will reflect the diverse background of social innovators worldwide and will include the following themes; humanitarian, research, and other student led initiatives such as social and political activism. The website development is currently in its alpha phase

Services

Simplat will provide a unique platform for social innovators to share their experiences and ideas to the general public. In addition, Simplat will also serve as a database for projects or initiatives categorized under a variety of themes. Various groups based on country (regional groups; includes cities and other geographical areas) and institutions(primarily Universities and major non-governmental organizations) will enable projects to be categorized in an efficient manner. For instance, all social projects or initiatives at Cornell University could easily be accessed by all users of Simplat unless access is restricted by the user.

Another key service Simplat will offer is to serve as a platform through which various participants of a given project could update the stakeholders of the project. This feature will be marketed towards universities, Foundations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and be made available at no cost. Several of the aforementioned institutions do not have a well-structured system in which they can receive updates on an ongoing project. Simplat will create a means through which individual participants of a given project can provide updates which can be made available only to the major stakeholders of the project. For example, several departments at Cornell University fund a number of social projects in which students work on a variety of initiatives around the world. Simplat could be a means of communicating with the various stakeholders (primarily the sponsoring departments and faculty advisors) on the status of the project. At the end of the project, the updates including the project summary and report will be incorporated into our database and be made available to the Cornell public.

Simplat will also provide companies that support a variety of service projects the avenue to promote their initiatives to a bigger audience. Simplat will promote these service projects on its home page to reflect the importance of corporate responsibility to communities.

Furthermore, Simplat will provide invaluable resources to its diverse users on how to apply for grants, compile a database of grants for variety of projects, how to effectively carry out a given project and other relevant information for its users. Simplat will also host daily podcasts from experts in a variety of fields will give general advice and opinion on social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Market

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 55 million Americans have traveled to other countries on vacations that included volunteering. Furthermore, nearly 30% of those 16 and older last year participated in service projects overseas. In addition, the Cooperative Institutional Research Project Survey revealed that 83 percent of incoming college freshmen had given their time during the previous 12 months volunteering on several projects, the highest rate ever recorded. Two out of three students surveyed also indicated that they will continue working on service projects in college. There has also been a significant increase in the amount of funds being made available for students to take part in social projects especially overseas. Several NGOs are taking advantage of the increase in social responsibility among the youth to coordinate non-profit projects overseas. For instance, Break Away a nonprofit organization sent 36000 students all over the world for alternative spring break projects. Consequently, Simplat will serve as an avenue to promote such works by stimulating discussion focused on the work and also facilitate networking between students within or between universities. Our primary market is college students and recent college grads. However, Simplat will extend its scope to accommodate all social innovators around the world in need of a platform to share their experience.

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