WELT Apps GenAI HackaTHUN
Intro Hackathun
The WELT News app team embarked on a thrilling hackathon journey, aimed at fostering creativity, innovation, and collaboration among developers. This event, hosted in a dynamic and vibrant environment, brought together talented individuals from both the iOS and Android development teams to tackle exciting challenges and push the boundaries of their skills.
Pre-Hackathun & Kotlin Multiplatform
Before diving into the intense coding sessions, the team set the stage with discussions focused on the crucial integration of the WELTgo! GenAI service for native apps. This integration was the driving force behind our decision to kick off the pre-hackathon with Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP).
The WELTgo! GenAI service is a game-changer, offering advanced AI capabilities, including RAG for the WELT article archive, that enhance user experiences across both iOS and Android platforms. However, integrating such a service seamlessly into native apps presents unique challenges. KMP emerged as a promising solution, enabling shared code between iOS, Android, and backend systems. This not only significantly reduces development time and effort but also ensures a consistent and efficient development process.
During these discussions, the team evaluated the potential of KMP to streamline the integration of WELTgo! GenAI, setting a cohesive tone for the hackathon. By leveraging KMP, we aimed to create a more efficient, unified approach to development, paving the way for innovative solutions and a successful hackathon experience.
The team’s excitement grew as they realized the implications of this breakthrough. The ability to use the same library across multiple platforms, including the BILD apps, meant that their work would have a broader impact and greater efficiency. This unified approach promised to streamline their workflows, eliminate redundancy, and ensure consistency across all applications.
With this newfound clarity and enthusiasm, the team was ready to embark on the hackathon, fully equipped with a robust, multi-purpose KMP library that could cater to iOS, Android, backend, and BILD app development needs. This set the stage for a highly productive and innovative coding session, driven by the promise of a truly unified development experience.
Hack, Hack, Hack
The atmosphere was electric as participants dove into their coding projects. With caffeine in hand and ideas flowing, the teams worked tirelessly to bring their visions to life. Collaboration was key, with developers constantly bouncing ideas off each other, debugging code, and finding innovative solutions to complex problems. The relentless hacking, fueled by passion and determination, epitomized the spirit of the hackathon.
WELTgo! Context-Specific Integration
One of the standout projects was the native integration of the WELTgo! GenAI solution into the WELT News app. This advanced feature aimed to provide users with context-specific information, significantly enhancing the overall user experience. By leveraging the power of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), WELTgo! tapped into a comprehensive database of archived WELT articles, ensuring that the information delivered was both relevant and authoritative.
The chat feature in the app offered generated answers to user questions, further prompt suggestions, and additional WELT articles related to the topic of interest. This created a dynamic and interactive environment for users, making the app more engaging and informative.
Three specific context-based integrations were implemented:
- Homepage Integration: The homepage triggered a chat about the most important article of the day. This ensured that users were always informed about the top news story, with the ability to dive deeper through interactive dialogue.
- Article-Based Trigger: When triggered inside an article, the chat provided a concise summary of the content. This was particularly useful for users seeking quick insights without reading the entire article.
- Prompt Cloud Interaction: Within the article text, a prompt cloud invited users for further interaction. This feature encouraged users to explore related topics and articles, fostering a more immersive reading experience.
By incorporating these innovative features, the WELT News app will become more intuitive and user-centric, providing a tailored news consumption experience that kept users informed and engaged.
Internationalization — i18n
As the WELT News app could cater to expats or a global audience too, internationalization (i18n) was a crucial aspect of the hackathon. The team focused on implementing robust i18n support, ensuring that the app could seamlessly adapt to different languages and cultures. This involved not only translating content but also considering cultural nuances and user interface adaptations, making the app accessible and appealing to users worldwide.
Moreover, the team ensured that translations were available for various proficiency levels of the German language, specifically tailored for TOEFL levels ranging from A1 to C1. This approach guarantees that users, regardless of their language proficiency, can comfortably engage with the app’s content.
As a fun fact, we’ve also added the option to translate the article into the Berlin German dialect, adding a touch of local flavor for those familiar with the region!
Scrollify
Another innovative project was Scrollify, a feature designed to enhance the app’s navigation experience. Scrollify aimed to provide an endless stream of WELT articles tailored to user preferences, identified by their last read articles, favorites, and followed authors and topics. This approach ensures that users receive content that is most relevant and interesting to them.
Additionally, users can explicitly refine their article stream by giving thumbs up or down to individual articles, further personalizing their reading experience. The team experimented with various scrolling techniques, animations, and touch gestures, ultimately creating a feature that promised to revolutionize the way users interacted with the app.
Winners
After days of intense hacking, it was time to celebrate the achievements and innovations. The hackathon concluded with a presentation of the projects, where each team showcased their work. The judging panel, impressed by the creativity and technical prowess on display, had the difficult task of selecting the winners. In the end, the WELTgo! context-specific integration and Scrollify projects stood out, earning their teams well-deserved accolades: a bronze, silver or golden can of tuna!
Conclusion and Reflection
The WELT News app hackathon was more than just a coding marathon; it was a celebration of innovation, teamwork, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. The event not only produced groundbreaking features for the app but also strengthened the bonds among team members. As the participants reflected on their journey, they looked forward to integrating their projects into the WELT News app, bringing enhanced value to users around the world.
Appendix and Additional Tips
For those looking to embark on similar hackathon adventures, here are a few tips:
- Preparation is Key: Familiarize yourself with the tools and technologies you’ll be using.
- Collaborate and Communicate: Effective teamwork can make all the difference.
- Stay Focused: Keep your goals clear and work towards them with determination.
- Have Fun: Enjoy the process and embrace the learning experience.
The WELT News app hackathon was a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation, setting a high bar for future events.
