Last month UC Berkeley students proposed creative ideas to solve campus issues by participating in its first Modo Ideathon. Organized by the Communications office at Berkeley Arts + Design, the Campus Mobile Committee, Public Affairs, and the Jacobs Institute of Design Innovation, the Berkeley coalition partnered with Modo Labs to offer students the chance to develop mobile apps without needing any coding skills. Inspired by UC Berkeley’s 2018 campus strategic plan, more than 70 students presented various solutions for addressing environmental sustainability, mental health, socio-economic and cultural representation, food insecurity, and housing insecurity. Over the weekend-long “hackathon” style event, the 21 student-directed teams came up with fascinating proposals that give campus viable solutions.
Many teams addressed ways in which environmental sustainability should be one of Cal’s highest priorities. One team created a playful tracking system of the campus’ water usage, allowing students to pit their real-time efforts against their peers, gamifying who can conserve the most water. To further incentivize students, discounts on food, clothing, and other college-needs were awarded to those who racked up enough “conservation points.” Another team emphasized eco-friendliness and ethical concern over the products students use in their personal life. Naming themselves 4Leaf, the dynamic duo created a one-shop-investigation stop for finding out what stores and products meet sustainable and ethical standards. Other teams sought to improve student culture by creating apps that matched students with others in their classes, by knowing where gender-neutral bathrooms and spaces were, or by matching individuals with mentors. From the app that tells you when that 4th-Floor-Moffitt-Library seat is open to knowing how to navigate housing in the Bay Area, all of these apps offered real solutions for students - created by students, for students.
Throughout the competition, campus leaders stopped by the Modo Ideathon to admire each team's proposed digital technologies. Campus Chief Technology Officer William Allison stopped in to chat with teams about their ideas, to offer congratulations, and provide feedback. At the 48th hour, the teams presented their tech creations to the Ideathon judges: Chief Marketing Officer Ram Kapoor, Associate Chief Information Officer Anne Marie Richard, and Director of Research and Scholarships Sean Burns who awarded a First Place prize and Two Runner Up Prizes.
THE WINNING IDEAS
First Place
BearAppetit was the first place winner addressing food insecurity amongst many students here at UC Berkeley. In fact, “1 in every 5 UC Berkeley student self-reports having to skip meals in order to save money” (Food Pantry).
First Runner Up
Design Connect was an application dedicated to helping arts and design students navigate the abundance of creative resources and opportunities UC Berkeley offers. From workshops to lectures, course descriptions to live conversations with other colleagues, the Design Connect team aimed to mitigate the stress of how to pursue a career in the arts and design at Cal.
Second Runner Up
BearyTales designed an app featuring student narratives all around campus in the form of pin drops. All a Golden Bear would have to do is walk to a certain location and see a pin fly down. The student would then learn about the history and cultural and student perspective of the exact location they were standing in. The BearyTales team wanted to highlight the need for personalizing a campus as big as Berkeley--to help incoming freshmen feel like they can be a part of Cal’s history too, by including stories of their own.
WHAT’S NEXT?
By placing first, the BearAppetit team is now eligible to present their application at the annual Kurogo Conference hosted at MIT, where the national stake is $10,000! BearAppetit will now have to compete with the other first-place winners from other universities who participated in a Modo Ideathon of their own!
While some teams may choose to pursue their app outside of campus, each team will be invited to present their ideas to the Campus Mobile Committee this year. Who knows, maybe we’ll see some new modules in the campus app created for you, by you.