IO, Malang – Cultura, a game-based mobile application for learning media and nurturing the preservation of Indonesian culture, led the Udukosi team from Brawijaya University (UB) Malang, East Java, to win first place in the App Development category in ITFEST 2020, held by the University of North Sumatra (USU). The Udukosi team consists of Syahsiyah Rohidah, Fadhil Arif Muhammad, and Dina Noviana from the Informatics Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Computer Science UB, batch 2018.
“We are participating in this competition to increase our experience and portfolio in the world of IT. What’s more, this takes the place of similar competitions that we previously failed to participate in,” said Syahsiyah, as quoted by UB Public Relations, Wednesday (9/9/2020).
The idea of developing the Cultura application was motivated by the phenomenon of a lack of interest of the Indonesian people to visit cultural objects because they tend to prefer activities such as exercising and shopping tours. Cultura, with the various features offered, can make it easier for people to get to know cultural objects around them.
Cultura has two features. First, a search feature for cities or places of cultural objects. This feature can display cultural objects closest to the user’s location and show detailed information about these cultural objects. Second, the challenge feature, which is a list of challenges that users can take and complete, based on a predetermined time.
Users must find the specified cultural object with the help of a location map, then take a picture with an Android smartphone camera that is supported by Augmented Reality technology in the Cultura application. If the user succeeds in completing the challenge, he or she will receive a reward in the form of points that can be exchanged for paid support features on the Cultura application.
“Cultura was created in six months, starting from initiating the innovation, prototyping, and designing the Front- End,” he said.
Syahsiyah stated that his team had to go through three stages of selection, namely, the first preliminary round that was the proposal selection stage, the second preliminary round was the application video selection stage, and the final round was the presentation selection and application creation stage. The final round which was originally scheduled for March 2020 in Medan, North Sumatra, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The final round was finally held online in August 2020. The new finalists get the final schedule ten days before the deadline for collecting the final product. This condition became a challenge for Syahsiyah and friends considering that they had to perfect the product in a relatively short time, in conditions far from each other and amid their respective active lives.
Syahsiyah and friends shared success tips for their colleagues who wanted to participate in a similar competition. There are three main aspects that they think are important when working as a team, namely, communication, cooperation, and a sense of belonging. Communication is very important so that every detail of information can be known and studied together to find the best solution. Cooperation is the main common aspect that every team member must strive to do: it includes division of tasks, being ready to back up each other, mutual respect, and mutual trust from start to finish. Meanwhile, a sense of belonging can be interpreted as a mutual commitment in a team. By instilling this attitude, each team member will clearly understand the common goals and expectations so that teamwork can run smoothly. (est)