BILKENT EXCHANCE NETWORK (BEN)

TEAM MEMBERS

Cahit Ediz Civan
Efe Kaan Fidancı
Emir Tuğlu
Görkem Kadir Solun
Mete Enes Yılmaz

WHAT IS BEN?

• What is the motivation?
  The motivation of the project is to centralize all exchange-related activities among Bilkent University's students and staff in a single platform. The platform will enable people to exchange a wide variety of things such as lecture materials, second-hand items, course sections, etc.
• What are the goals?
  The goal of the team is to create a local network which is specialized for Bilkent University's students and staff. The network will enable the transfer of ideas, inside thoughts, announcements, and educational resources among the users of the network. The goal of the projects is to make members of Bilkent University more accessible and enable an easy way to share ideas and components among the university.
• What important problem will the web app solve?
  Unfortunately, the communication between members of Bilkent University is limited to WhatsApp groups which are established based on the majors. Cumulation of the same major students inside a single WhatsApp group isolates students from outside of their major community and limits their capabilities of meeting with different individuals. Many of the students could not participate in the in-campus social activities due to being informed lately. Another problem of current social communities is that the exchange of educational resources is limited inside major-groups. In case of an offer to sell or exchange of the books or hardware boards, students can only share the offer in specific year's major-groups which they are allowed to enter only. Even the student studying the same major in different years could not join the same WhatsApp group of majors legally. Also, Unfortunately, in case of an emergency such as an earthquake, WhatsApp groups could not establish a fast and efficient connection among the members due to the high intensity of information flow in a short time. This issue is also observed in the registration period which causes many students to lose the opportunity to exchange or take lectures that they are not assigned by pre-registration or are not suitable for their daily routines.
• What sorts of features will the web app have?
  The app will allow the users to both connect with other users, in the way of private chat or forum discussion and exchange any stuff with each other in the marketplace. Market place will consist of many offers such as lecture books or hardware for the labs. Users will be able to share thoughts and exchange ideas about any topic they choose to share. In the course registration period, instead of writing to WhatsApp groups, students can offer exchange of lecture sections on a marketplace. Lost and found items also can be announced through the forums, which will increase the return ratio of lost items. Students will be able to share their ideas about the lectures and gain information from upper classes before attending/registration a course through the SRS. In case of emergency, our app will be able to turn itself into an emergency control center, which distributes all the donations via the marketplace and forum feature.
• What are the selling points of the web app? The app will serve as a centralized platform for all exchange-related activities of the Bilkent University members; therefore, it has a strong potential to be the go-to destination for anyone looking to exchange items within the campus community, whether it's for second-hand sales, lost and found items, or other exchange-related stuff. Currently, there are multiple platforms used for in-campus exchange activities such as Instagram pages, Facebook groups, or WhatsApp groups. Fragmentation of exchange-related activities in such platforms makes exchanges difficult. BEN unifies the functionality offered in such platforms in a single medium with a user-friendly and easy-to-use interface.
• What makes this web app interesting/cool?
  One of the interesting features of the app is including a forum in which people can discuss. Having a forum dedicated to Bilkent University members may address different kinds of issues apart from the ones directly supported by the app. This introduces versatility to the application, making it adaptable for various potential scenarios. For example, such a communication place can be useful for coordination and communication between volunteers to organize donations and help campaigns during emergency situations.

SETUP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Open cmd
   

Open the Start menu or press the Windows key + R. Type cmd or cmd.exe in the Run command box. Press Enter.

2. Using cd command, navigate to through a desired directory.
   
3. Using the command git clone https://github.com/gorkemsolun/bilkent-exchange-network.git, install the required files.
   
4. Once the installation is complete, change your directory to ...\bilkent-exchange-network using cd command
   

❗❗❗ Terminal must have been opened on the specified root which should end with \bilkent-exchange-network.

5. Type the following commands in order:
   

cd frontend
npm install
cd ..
cd backend
npm install

After completing this step, you will have successfully configured the dependencies, paving the way for the next phase: running the project.

6. Close the terminal.
   

7. Using the same shortcut (Windows key + R) as before open two separate terminals.
   

8. Navigate to the \bilkent-exchange-network directory using cd command.

❗❗❗ Once again make sure that both of the terminals are opened on the same root before continuing. Both of the roots should end with ...\bilkent-exchange-network.

9. From one of the terminals type:
   

cd frontend
npm run dev

10. And from the other terminal type:

cd backend
npm run dev

❗ WHILE TRYING OUT THE PROJECT DO NOT CLOSE NEITHER OF THE LAST TWO TERMINALS ❗

11. Open up your desired browser and type http://localhost:5000 to address bar.
    
12. Either log in to the system with credentials provided in the directory, or create yourself an account.
    
13. Enjoy and BEN-d the rules of social network.