Project Idea | Allay

Purpose/Objective: The main objective of this application is to unload the emotional baggage of the user and provide another perspective for brooding thoughts.

Important Links:

Website: https://allay-convo.web.app
Application: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RWS9tombZTRbRUi15oY5ePn0NBUCtWJS/view?usp=sharing
Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JUcA434JeE3u_o2-krAGr1NZ1FuFWHjb/view?usp=sharing

Features: It has the following features-

Firebase authentication (using email and password with verification or Google sign in)
User’s profile and bio.
Public blogs.
Like and save for public blogs.
Edit and delete a public blog.
Author’s profile, bio, and blogs.
Report a public blog.
Private blogs.
Analysis of private blogs.
Sort public and private blogs as per the mood chosen by the user.
Search public and private blogs.
Users can add a photo with the private blog.
Volunteer mode (suitable user can apply for this).
Volunteer questionnaire based on emotional intelligence.
User can post questions.
Attach problem tags to questions.
My chats with real-time updated question status.
Volunteer will pick questions asked by the user and reply.
Volunteer can mark a question irrelevant or out of bound.
Volunteer can view his picked questions and replied answers.
Rating volunteer’s answer.
Mark question irrelevant or out of bound.
Report a volunteer.
Selector mode (for selecting volunteers)
Admin mode.
Admin will give access to qualified people for selector roles as per the requirement.
Admin has the power to take action against the report filed by user or volunteer.

How this Project Helps: This application is helpful in various ways –

It can help people in comprehending and analyzing their state of mind more efficiently.
It can help as a companion which eventually makes an individual feel better about their mental health and will help them in escaping.
The chat option in the application will serve as a channel to unload their unwanted distress and worries.
Our volunteers will thoroughly analyze the problems of every individual and subsequently provide their narrative as per the problems and scenario.

Tools and Technologies used in Project:

Firebase as web server and database
- Cloud Firestore
- Realtime Database
- Cloud Storage
- Authentication
- Firebase Cloud Messaging (for notification)
Website
- React
- Redux (for state management)
- Material UI
- React bootstrap
Mobile Application
- Flutter
- Dart
Sentimental analysis package for React and Flutter.

Required Skillset to Build the Project:

Web Development
Flutter App Development
Firebase
State Management using Redux(Web) and Provider(App)

Step-by-Step Process to Implement the Project: Since this sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, each one of us got distant from our close ones, friends, or family for a long period. This closeting of feelings has led to seclusion resulting in anxiety, stress, emotional imbalance, isolation which has somehow resulted in a monotonous life. When we observe everything, that has directed us towards the idea of creating a platform where people would be able to share their thoughts and feelings without any fear of being exposed or judged because here the identity of the user remains confidential. Then we grasped the vital proficiency required to build such a platform. After creating a road map we would begin to slog.

We started by providing a feature where the user could write a blog like a diary entry and later conferred with more features. Keeping in mind the secrecy of an individual, the decision of publishing the blog as public or private entirely lies upon the user. While designing the application as we proceeded frontwards new features were introduced. Firstly, we started by integrating a sentimental analysis model which will analyze the blog written by the user or simply it is going, to sum up, all the feelings of the user. In this section, the user can also specify the blog by selecting a mood which eventually leads to ease of searching or sorting the blog accordingly. Also, it has an option to add a picture but with a private blog only and this option has been provided to make it easy and comfortable for the user to express because sometimes words are not enough to illustrate everything. So, this picture option can directly link him with the incident. Then we slipped further and introduced like, save and share features only for public blogs so that the author could get an appreciation if he writes something that is praised by other users and added tags too based upon different moods or situations to which the blog could be related with.

We also discussed with some skilled psychology students (selectors) and they played a significant role by directing us towards our upcoming challenges. These selectors helped us in selecting Volunteers (a volunteer is a person who analyses the situation of the user and gives the answer to the question asked). They prepared a questionnaire based on EI (emotional intelligence) and judged them according to their answers if they are eligible or capable of playing such an important part. Now the volunteer person has the responsibility to serve the user with his narrative that fits in the scenario after proper analysis and to reply to the user to his question. The question could be of any type and the identity of the user asking question is not published i.e., the user would be anonymous. Volunteers can pick questions as per their convenience and knowledge. The user can rate the answer based on his satisfaction and he is going to get proper updates related to the questions like posted will be tagged after the user posts a question, assigned when volunteer picks that question, and finally replied when volunteer replies. With this, the user also has the authority to report a volunteer if he doesn’t like the hospitality and the volunteer can also mark a question irrelevant if that is so, which will be later transferred to admin to review and for an unbiased judgement. One more thing was added to the user’s comfort and that is, the user can ask the question in his preferred Indian language in case he is not comfortable with English, and then accordingly Volunteer will pick a question which is in the known language.

Test Cases:

Test case 1:
- Turn off internet connectivity to prevent the system from requesting the server for permissions.
- Expected Result: Splash Screen.
Test case 2:
- Leave the user email and password fields blank.
- Expected Result: Please fill Login Credentials
Test case 3:
- The website opened on various web browsers like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge.
- Expected Result: Worked successfully
Test case 4:
- The app and website user interface (UI) are checked consistently, visible, and accessible on various screen sizes.
- Expected Result: Worked successfully
Test case 5:
- A user tried to log in without email verification.
- Expected Result: Unsuccessful login
Test case 6:
- Mandatory fields working as required.
- Expected Result: Worked successfully
Test case 7:
- Navigation between various modules of the app and website.
- Expected Result: Worked as expected
Test case 8:
- Page scrolling scenarios tested at various pages.
- Expected Result: Worked successfully

ER Diagram:

Future Scope: This application was made keeping in mind a lot of features that could be added in the future-

We will collaborate with some medical professionals for proper guidance and counselling.
We will introduce an option to chat(video call) directly between the user and the professional.
The professional will be able to set his consultation fee and according to that, the user can select one of his choices.

Volunteer Credentials: