The collaboration experience challenge in our recent hackathon asked participants to demonstrate the benefits of collaborating in realtime using Ably’s capabilities (including our new Spaces product). Judging explored the usefulness of the application, the use of Ably collaboration features, and the overall functionality.
Judged by:
- Matthew O'Riordan, CEO at Ably
- Faye McClenahan, Senior Marketing Manager at Ably
- Patrik Modig, Director Of Engineering at Mentimeter
Meet the winners:
SharedOS - a realtime collaborative workspace
About SharedOS
SharedOS, made by Dwij Patel, is a realtime collaborative workspace accessible through a web browser. The project’s workspaces include an avatar stack and live cursors, plus the ability to create notes, add in YouTube videos and create charts using AI. Built using Yjs's CRDT, ChatGPT for generating reports from plain text prompts & Ably for its realtime features.
Why did SharedOS win?
Our judges loved:
- The idea of an enhanced whiteboard and its clear benefits.
- The creative technological implementation of the project.
- The inclusion of AI as an addition to this space.
“The technological implementation in SharedOS really shows some great engineering skills, especially the new Yjs Ably provider. The concept of having a lightweight OS that can serve different applications more collaboratively is impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing what more SharedOS will incorporate into their application!”
Patrik Modig, Mentimeter
Plan it - a collaborative project management tool
About Plan it
Plan it, made by Godwin Pinto, is a project management tool that allows users to brainstorm and note take. The platform enables users to quickly gather notes and convert them to tasks. Built using React for the frontend, express services for the backend, Open AI for text to task and Ably Spaces for the realtime collaboration features, the application shows who is online and their active location.
Why did Plan it win?
Our judges loved:
- The clear problem that the tool aims to solve.
- The execution of the idea into a working project.
- The well-thought-out design of the app.
“While project management tools are organised, there are a lot of discussions that take place to arrive at plans. What if someone could quickly gather notes and convert them to tasks. Plan it aims to be that brainstorming notes taking session that can help convert things to a brief project.”
Faye McClenahan, Senior Product Marketing
Ionic - a collaborative science experiment platform
About Ionic
Ionic, made by Shruti Gupta and Aakash Shrivastava, is a realtime collaborative science experiment project which allows users to collaborate with their peers in a virtual lab environment. The pair’s app, which also won the React bonus prize, enables users to learn in a fresh virtual setting including conducting chemistry experiments and exploring physics phenomena. Built using React, Ably SDKs, Figma, and Netlify, the team included features like live chat, avatar stack, and live cursors.
Why did Ionic win?
Our judges loved:
- The design and amount of experiments included in this project.
- The benefits of collaboration being applied in an EdTech application.
- The potential impact of the project in aiding the understanding of science.
“A great idea that really stood out and was packaged well, as well as targeting a market that has a huge potential impact. Making education more collaborative is something that aligns well with my and Mentimeter's belief, that together we can do great things! The project is making use of Ably’s API in a relevant way and looking at what is next in the pipeline for Ionic. I believe that Iconic can be a tool that is loved by many educational institutions.”
Patrik Modig, Mentimeter
View more submissions and build your own project with Ably
These winning submissions, and all of the entries included in the project gallery, are great examples of what you can do using Ably. We will be sharing more entries on our blog and social channels in the coming weeks - so stay tuned on X (Twitter), LinkedIn and Discord.
And if you've been inspired to build something with Ably yourself, you can sign up for free and get:
- 6M monthly messages
- 200 peak concurrent channels
- 200 peak concurrent connections
