Three University of Wisconsin students collaborated to create an app that aims to help students meet others from their campus on a virtual platform amid social distancing.
UW sophomores Matthew Kruepke, Michael Gira and Jack Cai worked together to build Spacebar, an app that allows students to meet for the first time virtually while maintaining COVID-19 guidelines, according to a UW news release. Spacebar aims to provide a virtual bar atmosphere to keep students safe while they socialize, according to their website.
“We are trying to capture the aspect of real-life social gatherings and put it online,” Gira said in the UW news release.
As UW and other schools across the country have taken precautions in hopes to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19 on campus, Spacebar encourages students to meet other people while also following universities’ protocols, according to their website.
Each of the three creators of this app work in either computer engineering or computer technology, according to the news release. They said this knowledge assists in their understanding of the technical aspects of the app.
While Spacebar is currently available for Big 10 schools only, the founders are looking to expand its reach to other schools as well, according to Spacebar. The app is available for anyone 18 years or older who has an email address ending in “.edu.” This ensures that only students use this platform.
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“Right now we are basically targeting schools that we go to but later on the hope is to target the Big 10,” Cai said in the news release.
Spacebar is still currently under development, but their upcoming “Happy Hour” is on Oct. 5, starting at 9 pm. Happy Hours are a virtual event hosted by Spacebar happening every day from 9 p.m to 12 a.m. According to Spacebar, individuals can meet one-on-one or two-on-two through the app. This way, individuals are allowed to meet others alone, or with a friend.
Spacebar is free for all individuals who are interested in joining, and sign up is on their website.
