Most CityStudio project collaborations span a single term; however, some projects require more time and multiple phases of development before completion. The Voting Tool project, in collaboration with the Computer Systems Technology program has been such an example. Fueled by instructor Medhat Elmasry’s commitment and passion, the project has been stewarded by 3 student cohorts over 3 academic terms.
This fall 2019 Phase 3 of the project was introduced by Medhat’s class, continuing on the iterative work of student cohorts before. In Spring 2019, Phase 1, the first cohort of 25 students in the computing course worked with the City of Vancouver’s Digital Services team to build a proof-of-concept for the City’s ‘Plan Your Vote’ tool. The aim was to make the tool open source and available for use by other municipalities to help them plan for their elections. In Phase 2 of the project, two students from the first cohort continued working on the project as their industry-sponsored project course. Joined by two new peers, and in just 4 weeks, the team refined the front and back end web features of the online tool and added new functions. This Phase culminated in a final presentation at City Hall in May 2019 to members of the City’s Digital Services team.
