Final Capstone: MedSched

 So, there weren't enough of my classmates who were interested in making the ranked choice voting app, so I wasn't able to use that idea for my final capstone. Here's what I was assigned to make instead!

MedSched app

Heroku has since expired, but I did manage to rip the code out into github before the bootcamp ended.

https://github.com/neubauje/MedSched

I did most of the integration and request mapping.

Ranked Choice vote app: User Stories

 So I was talking to our Tech Elevator instructor, Randy, about the possibility of building the Ranked Choice voting app for our final capstone project. With a few caveats, such as loss of ability to choose our own priorities, and the need for at least three other people to be interested in working on it, he says it could work. So here's a bunch of user stories to make up a proposal for the project!

A great start: Ranked Choice Vote Calculator

 I was surfing around for some examples of ranked voting, in the hopes of finding some nice code to inspect and work from, and found this project - https://www.rankedchoices.com/home

It's very robust, and already does at least as much as I know how to do, and then some! Kudos to the creator, David Moritz!

Here's a silly example ballot I made, if you want to try it out for yourself.

https://www.rankedchoices.com/hbbq

Voting system: Desired functionalities and decisions to make

 So, I've been talking and talking about it, but I haven't yet actually sat down to draft up what I want to see in my voting system project. Let's break it down.

Absolute must-haves: 

• Preferential/ranked-choice voting (Here's the video that first introduced me to the subject, please watch it if you're not familiar with this concept at all.)
• Voter validation, perhaps an account/login process to work from. Must be able to prevent bots and spoofed/duplicate accounts.
• Tagging and filtration system, to filter issues by locality radius to voter's residence, as well as subject matter, plus the ability to sort by date created, number of votes, and priority (according to the creator of the issue, and according to the priorities of the voter).

Would like to have: 

• Write-in option, with text pattern recognition that will attempt to consolidate write-in votes.
• Voter may be asked whether their write-in response is different from an existing option, or from other write-in response, and if so, how? Highlight the key words that signify the difference, or type in a more explanatory answer for manual review.
• Sliding scales/typing fields for numerical questions, such as preferences on percentages.
• Fundamental questions on philosophy and societal beliefs, to set a base-line on what issues to bring forth in the future.
• Certification and/or knowledge tests to allow voters to participate in votes on specialist issues. Would require a degree or equivalent in the subject at hand.
• Resources linked/available to allow the voter to educate self on a subject.

Do NOT want to have:

•     Restrictions on where a voter must live in order to participate in the app

Not sure whether to have:

• Ability to edit vote at a later time if more options become available
• (Optional) notifications to alert the voter that a previously-answered issue now has additional options
• Summary of current standings on the vote, after the voter has submitted their answer
• Ability to configure voter's profile to have a number of permanent residence locations other than 1 (i.e. nomadic voters, or voters with multiple homes)
• Ability to submit requests/suggestions on issues to vote for in the future
• Some sort of incentives to encourage semi-regular participation

Posted 1/27/22 (no updates since then). I'm likely to think of a few more things, especially if I hear feedback on the plan. Feel free to leave a comment.

Direct democracy: revisited

So, I've been listening to Last Minute Politics, and while I haven't gotten all the way caught up on the episodes, I did go ahead and pledge a Patreon dollar to get into the Discord server. They've been doing weekly "Bible studies" of reading through and discussing this book that Lenin wrote. We talked a little about direct democracy, and to what extent it would be smart to implement it.

What would be part of the implementation: Policies, issues, national and local scale

What would not be part of the implementation: Intra-company policies

Who would vote on issues of scientific impact: Voters who are educated/certified in the respective topic up for vote

Who would not vote on issues of scientific impact: Everyone who hasn't yet been certified in the subject(s) at hand

What would everyone vote on: Philosophical questions which do not require special training or knowledge in order to make a well-considered decision

How do we keep the votes safe from meddling? Not sure yet, but I'm learning!