Beyond the Library
Going “Beyond the Library”?
When it comes time to find a place to study, the first location that comes to mind is the library. While the library is a solid choice as a study location, it may be old, crowded, and rather plain environment to be cooped up in for hours on end. The problem here is that plenty of students are not aware of the multitude of other study locations that exist. Hence, working in a team of 4 students, we designed a web application to help UH students go “Beyond the Library” and discover as well as share study spots both on and off the UH Manoa campus.
My Role
As part of the Beyond the Library team, I was responsible for creating the landing page, FAQ page, and handling the overall design choices of the site such as font style and color scheme. Getting the website to look aesthetically pleasing and keeping user navigation in mind was a challenge in of itself. I was also responsible for maintaining the github site that documented the features and development history of Beyond the Library. Additionally, I was responsible for maintaining the mongoDB database and publishing the site to Galaxy for each milestone of development.
The Takeaway
Developing Beyond the Library was no easy feat and tested my web development skills as well as my ability to work in a team environment. The key new addition this time around was the use of Agile Project Management. By using Agile Project Management, my team and I were able to avoid the common deadlocks that arise in web development projects of this scale. The use of the lessons learned through Agile Project Management isn’t only limited to web development and I plan on sharing this method in future group environments that I become a part of.