Motivation
There are many Telegram bots out there that aim to improve our student life in NUS, and for the most part they do serve their niche well. However, we observed that most bots typically suffered from 2 main pitfalls:
- For a particular area, there may be too many bots with overlapping purposes and students may be confused as to which bot would serve their needs better.
- The existence of such bots is usually spread through word of mouth, and may have a small userbase. Furthermore, due to this, newer students may not know that these bots are available, thus limiting their utility.
Aim
Create a Telegram bot that consolidates all NUS related bots and be able to redirect users to the relevant bot when queried. We would also like to include relevant announcement channels (if applicable). Furthermore, we plan on creating an additional website that would serve the same function and is linked on NUSMods. These would be specially targeting undergraduates of NUS.
User Stories
We believe our bot will be used mainly by undergraduates of NUS, especially freshmen.
- As a student who uses Telegram, I would be able to make better use of student related activities and facilities as I am now able to access more bots that I would not have been able to without this bot.
- As a student who is interested in making Telegram bots, I would know which areas I can target with my next bot.
- As a freshman, I would know which bots and channels would be useful for my integration into university life.
Features
The Telegram bot provides a menu like interface, categorising bots and channels based on purpose and target faculty/location. Users who query our bot will be able to search for other bots and open a direct conversation with the bot of interest once it has been found.
The website would contain a link to our bot, as well as provide similar functionality and interface to the Telegram bot. Other useful links such as to LumiNUS and NUSMods would also be available.
On the backend, a database of available bots and channels would be maintained and serves as the primary data point for the bot. This database would also have potential to be expanded in the future to accommodate more bots and channels.
Program Flow
Screenshots
