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Welcome to the IDEA-COVID-StudySafe wiki! Here you will find more information about the RPI StudySafe app. To visit the app, follow the link here.
- What Is StudySafe?
- Where does StudySafe get its data?
- What are StudySafe’s user interface design principles?
- What questions do StudySafe answer?
- How does StudySafe answer these questions?
- Give Us Your Feedback
What is StudySafe?
StudySafe is a web application designed for RPI students to navigate campus safely in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. It is built on the R Shiny application framework, written primarily in R, with some UI functionality written in Javascript and HTML. The app informs students on how many people are in a given building on campus and gives recommendations based on past data.
StudySafe began its development in the Summer of 2020 and was released for trial the following November. The summer team created a proof of concept: a working application with displays representing WAP users on campus during various points in time. The goal for the fall team was to incorporate live WAP data, improve the app’s UI, and develop a predictive model.
The StudySafe team has worked closely with RPI CampusSafe, whose goal and methods are similar. Both apps use WAP data to investigate campus activity with the intention of making RPI a safer place. CampusSafe is designed for RPI administrators and more complex analysis. StudySafe, on the other hand, is streamlined for student use.
Where Does StudySafe Get its Data?
For more details, please visit the data GitHub repository.
The StudySafe app uses wireless access points (WAP’s). These are physical devices which provide internet connection to wireless devices within the WAP’s range. RPI buildings often have several WAP’s within them.
WAP data is collected every two hours and processed. The data collected include the WAP’s location, number of users, and number of macs. StudySafe only stores the most recent seven days’ worth of data due to the large file sizes.
What are StudySafe’s Interface Design Principles?
StudySafe follows the design principles outlined by Arielle Cerini, then a PhD candidate at RPI. Her work focused on effective communication centered around well-planned RPI branding. StudySafe uses a UI template created by Arielle Cerini, Brian Hotopp, Haoyu He, and James Young. Its design is consistent with other RPI COVID-ContactTracing projects, namely COVIDMinder, COVIDWarRoom, COVIDBack-to-School, and CampusSafe.
What Questions do StudySafe Answer?
StudySafe seeks to answer the question, “Where could an RPI student find a safe, quiet place to study?”
This question is important because of the COVID-19 threat and the necessary restrictions in place to combat it. Campus is no longer fluid and lively. All members of the RPI community must be well-informed and decisive about where they go. StudySafe is created to provide that crucial information.
Subsequent questions asked within StudySafe are:
- Which buildings are the busiest on campus right now?
- How has the number of people in a particular building changed throughout the day?
- How do select buildings compare with each other?
- What might campus look like in the future?
How Does StudySafe Answer These Questions?
Within the StudySafe application, there are four tabs: About, Map, Find a Place to Study, and Quick Compare. These tabs can be navigated using the collapsable hamburger menu on the left.
About
The About tab provides a simple introduction to the app for its users.
Map
The Map tab answers the question “Which buildings are the busiest and quietest on campus right now?”
It is the first page that the app opens to. It uses the Leaflet package to render an interactive map of the RPI campus. Near the top of the page, users can select a past date and hour, or they can select the “NOW!” button to see the most recent update of WAP users.
Each RPI building on the map is indicated by a colored marker. The colors correspond to the number of WAP users in that building compared to the maximum number of WAP users recorded that semester. We use the recorded maximum as a proxy for the buildings’ maximum capacity. This is because we were unable to find official capacities for every building, and because campus restrictions due to COVID-19 can have a significant effect on the total number of people on campus.
The number of current WAP users divided by the recorded maximum is displayed as a percent, and that percent determines the color of the building’s marker. Blue indicates a low percentage, and red indicates high. When a user clicks on a marker, a window with more information about the building’s user activity is shown. Within the window there is a link that will bring users to the Find a Place to Study tab.
Find a Place to Study
The Find a Place to Study Tab answers the question “How has the number of people in a particular building changed throughout the day?”
When users navigate to Find a Place to Study directly from the Map tab, the building, date, and time will be pre-selected. Otherwise, users manually select a building, date, and time.
They are then shown a histogram that displays the number of WAP users that were recorded in that building every hour on that day. The selected time is highlighted on the histogram with a vertical line and a slightly darker bar. To scale the histogram, there is also a horizontal line indicating maximum recorded capacity.
Find a Place to Study also provides a recommendation below the histogram. The evaluation compares WAP users in the selected building to those of the rest of campus at that time. Based on the normalized data, the algorithm determines whether or not this is a good place to study, or if the information is insufficient.
Quick Compare
Quick Compare answers the question “How do select buildings compare with each other?”
Quick Compare has users select multiple buildings and a date and time. Then, it displays a bar graph showing the selected buildings’ percent capacity at the selected time. Below that, there is a line plot showing all selected buildings’ WAP activity throughout the day.
Predictive Model
A predictive algorithm is used to answer the question, “What might campus look like in the future?” It is currently only in the Find a Place to Study tab. The predictive model displays the average WAP users in the selected building at each time. Its calculations are shown in the histogram as unfilled bars.
Give Us Your Feedback
Let us know what you think! Please visit the app and take a moment to participate in our Usability Study. You can also fill out our short feedback survey. Thank you!