My Hacktoberfest 2022 contributions

Intro

My name is Paul, I come from the sunny country of Greece (locaten in Athens), and I am a software engineer with 8 years of experience in the field.
I work at a not-for-profit software company called SciFY, where we build software with a societal impact, like video games for the blind, assistive technologies, e-democracy tools, and more. Check out our Github profile! 🤩👨🏼‍🦽

SciFY Not-for-profit Company · GitHub

SciFY is a NonProfit Organization that develops cutting-edge information technology systems and offers them for free to everyone, to solve real-life problems. - SciFY Not-for-profit Company

github.com

Background

I have studied Computer Science in Greece, and I much enjoy learning new things about everything! 🦾👨🏼‍🚀

Progress

I join Hacktoberfest every year, since 2017. I much enjoy the enthusiasm of the FOSS community, and the hype of open-source software during this month. I also get a chance to work again on small -yet important- updates and improvements of our open-source projects! 🎃🧙

Contributions

This year I decided to contribute to the very own projects of the organization I work for. We have some legacy application that needed revamping, and some others that are in the process of adding new features to.

More specifically:

1. ICSee (I Can See) Android app for people with low-vision

ICSee is an Android app, written in Java. It helps people with low-vision to see small texts through the phone camera, by applying special real-time filters.
In the context of Hacktoberfest 2022, I took the opportunity to upgrade the app to the latest version of OpenCV (the library we use to handle real-time image processing), as well as support new languages.

scify / ICSee

ICSee runs on small portable devices (smartphones, tablets) and makes reading and object identification easier. Simply, conveniently and always available!

ICSee

Abstract

It is an application for small portable devices (smart phones, tablets) that will help people with severe visual impairments see more clearly How? The user simply directs the camera of his/her smartphone or tablet to the point he/she wants and… that was it! The application processes the image on the screen according to the user’s needs (conversion to negative or greyscale, increase the contrast, etc.) and provides in real time an image that is is easier for the user to see! Who is it for? It is intended to be used by people with severe visual impairments. The Application provides an audio tutorial when starting.

Implementation

The ICSee project involves a software solution for Android hand-held devices. We can support filtering on a camera-streamed image (real-time), applying a wide variety of filters on it.

Compilation - Requirements

The minimum SDK version is 16 (Android 4.1) A device with…

View on GitHub

2. Dianoia mobile app for people with emerging, early-stage dementia

People with dementia, due to the ongoing decline in their mental abilities, need proper care at each stage. Their carers feel they have a great responsibility in their hands. Therefore, dementia affects not only the person dealing with it, but the caregivers, too.

Dianoia is an Ionic smartphone app for family caregivers and health professionals in order to provide knowledge about simple techniques of non-pharmaceutical interventions will provide valuable insight and tools.

In the context of Hacktoberfest 2022, I took the opportunity to enrich the app with new content, fix several bugs, and make the UI look much smoother!

scify / Dianoia-app

Mobile (Ionic 3 - Angular 4) app about non-pharmaceutical activities and information for people with dementia.

Dianoia - Ionic Mobile app

A demo of the app (in Greek) can be found here.

Non-pharmaceutical activities for people with dementia.

Pre-setup steps

It is very easy to install multiple versions of NodeJS and npm, by using Node Version Manager (nvm).

This project was built using the following versions of nodejs and npm:

nvm install lts/fermium # (or nvm install v14.21.1)

node -v
v14.21.1

npm -v
6.14.17

Alternatively, if you are using nvm, run this command in order to sync to the correct NodeJS version for the project:

nvm use

Install project dependencies:

$ npm install -g @ionic/cli@6.11.11 

$ npm install -g cordova@8.1.2

$ cd dianoia-app

$ npm install

$ ionic serve

Execution

Then, to run it in a real Android device, cd into dianoia-app and run:

$ ionic cordova platform add android@8.1.0

$ ionic cordova emulate android

Generating icon and splash screen for all platforms

…

View on GitHub

Reflections

Like every year, it is beyond exctiting to see the software development communitu to passionate about such an innovative event. 🧑🏿‍🚀

This year, I also liked the inclusion of low-code or even no-code contributions, since I think that such endeavor will introduce open-source to an even wider audience! ❤️🥳

I look forward to participating in Hacktoberfest every year! 😄👨‍💻