Border Buddy: Hack the Muslim Ban

[agionfriddo]

What problem are we trying to solve?

Long before the Muslim Ban, many travelers (Muslim and non-Muslim) faced undue scrutiny and long delays when arriving at U.S. airports. If you end up having trouble at the airport, it’s often too late to contact a lawyer.

There are legal advocacy groups that provide free services to individuals who experience trouble traveling at the U.S. border and airports, both for U.S. citizens and non-citizens.

How can you get in touch with these groups? That’s where we come in.

You can register your upcoming travel to the United States with us. We keep track of your flight's arrival information. If you make it through customs and immigration without any delays, send us a text and we'll know that you are OK.

If more than two hours pass after your flight has landed and we still haven't heard from you, one of our partners will spring into action on your behalf.

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from this project?

• Travelers coming into the United States who are at risk for undue scrutiny for looking a certain way. This includes Muslims and non-Muslims, citizens and non-citizens.
• Peace of mind for these travelers' friends and family.

Where can we find any research/data available/articles?

• http://www.vocativ.com/405756/coders-hack-trump-immigration-ban/index.html
• https://www.wnyc.org/story/worried-about-being-detained-after-flight-apps-you/
• https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/03/the-tech-promising-to-help-immigrants-push-back-on-trump/519993/
• https://skift.com/2017/10/23/the-anxieties-of-a-muslim-traveler/

What help is needed at this time?

• We need a UX designer to look over our process and questions for user testing and a focus group that we plan to have. You can find what we have currently here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bGZtQK9EQs_j7hdjSsvT62grq4LzHddyxydeZpoc460/edit?usp=sharing
• Front end design work for an overhaul of front end forms for the traveler facing application.

What are the next steps (validation, research, coding, design)?

• We have an upcoming focus group at an ESL class April 10th at 10:00am and 1:00pm at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
• We are looking to rebrand to a new name, and a front end redesign that will come with that rebranding.

How can we contact you outside of Github(list social media or places you're present)?

• https://www.border-buddy.com
• https://github.com/BorderBuddy/Border-Buddy

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Project management

Checklist for NEW ideas :baby:

Hey, you're official! You're now part of the growing Progressive HackNight community. Here's a few things to get started (a couple you've probably already done).

• [x] Create this idea issue
• [x] Flesh out the who, where, and what questions above
• [x] Start the conversation about this new idea on Slack (this project uses #general )
• [ ] Respond with at least one update on this issue within the next month

Checklist for ACTIVE projects :fire:

Let's get this project started! When this idea starts taking off, the Progressive HackNight Team will start helping this project's lead(s) out with project management and connecting you to resources you may need. To get there, please complete and check off the following:

• [ ] Post an update at least once a month to this issue. Use BASEDEF for ideas, but it's ok even if your update is just "nothing new happened this month" or "we saw a small increase in traffic to our app this month". If there's no activity for two months, that's no problem, life happens. We'll just label this as backlog so others know you'll get back to it when you have the time. If nobody hears from you at all in more than two months, we may mark it as abandoned so that others can pick up this idea and run with it.
• [ ] Create a GitHub repository and Slack channel for work.
• [ ] Create issues to describe each task that you plan to do or need help with and how a contributor can get started on that task. You might start and stop a lot, so consider issues as your to-do list.
• [ ] Create a team for your core contributors
  • This will make it easier for you to manage your github repo access. People on a team have the same level of access. Admin access will allow your trusted contributors to make changes as needed.
  • You can remove and add people to your team as needed.
  • Note: You can also allow collaborators outside of your team and give them more limited access.
• [ ] Create a Google Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud storage to share larger files
  • Github and Data.World are good for code and data, respectively, especially when you need version control. But they're not good for very large files, documentation, articles, etc. A cloud storage option will allow you to easily share, create, and collaborate on documents with your team and help organize ideas and thoughts.
  • Doing this early on can help your team stay organized and to onboard new contributors who wouldn't have access to files you all have shared over email.

If you get stuck at any point, feel free to reach out to the leadership team with an email to steering@progressivehacknight.org or come find an organizer at a HackNight. We're here to help bring great ideas to life!

[sonyabea]

yay! I added some labels, what do you think?

[rcasseus]

Hello, I am interested in helping with this project. Please connect with me to let me know how I can do that.