Vision Statement
We are the “Klingons” team of Texas State University students working to create a safety-alert web application so that people in risky situations can achieve independence without sacrificing their own safety.
Project Description
Welcome! We are the Klingons, a group of undergraduate Computer Science students at Texas State University, using this project as a way to learn software engineering principles, get experience developing in Sprints, and hopefully build the start of something useful. We are creating a personal safety web application to alleviate stress and mitigate harm as a result of precarious or unpredictable situations.
The application will send a notification to an emergency contact if the user: doesn’t arrive at their designated destination, thinks they are in danger, or just wants a friend to know their location. A user can preemptively set up an alert before entering an unsafe situation, or do it in the moment. Our goal is for users to achieve independence without sacrificing their own safety. Out of the Woods is gender inclusive and meant to improve quality of life for travelers, hikers, blind-daters, and families.
This idea was inspired by the modern surge of online dating. From dating applications such as Tinder or Bumble, to friendships blossoming from message boards such as Reddit, it is no longer a social stigma to say you’ve met someone “from the internet”. However, just because there’s no embarrassment from it, doesn’t necessarily mean in-person meetups are 100% safe. That’s where Out of the Woods comes into play. This application enables people to reach out and make connections while knowing they’ll always have a back up plan. The same application proves useful in other situations beside dating: A person going on a solo hike can let their friends know when to expect them back (or send a helicopter if they’re lost). A parent can make sure their child arrived safely at school. A traveler in a strange city can check in with their folks back home.
Out of the Woods is about freedom. We intend to create a simple, focused application that does one thing and does it well.
Out of the Woods: it’s got your back.