Start-up company Doolli is holding an exclusive, one week database creating competition from April 16 through April 30 for SUNY Buffalo State students.

The Buffalo State Creative Database Event’s first place prize is a choice of either a 55-inch flat screen HDTV or $750 cash prize. Second place prize is a $100 Amazon gift card and third place is a $50 Amazon gift card. There will be free gear given out at the kickoff event at noon on April 16 in the computer information systems labs.

There will also be a total of four sessions during the span of the competition. On April 19 and April 25, there will be Q&A sessions. The interactive workshops on April 21 and April 27 will include demos for learning more about what Doolli has to offer. All sessions will take place in E.H Butler Library Room 314 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will include free gear for those in attendance.

Using Doolli, the database application platform, competitors are to create a database.

“The challenge is simple: create and submit a Doolli database. The Doolli Team will be judging submissions based on the creativity and complexity of the database,” a Doolli release said. “There will be no limitation on genre or data subject matter.”

Head of Doolli Student Ambassador Program Daniel Lundquist said competitors will be able to sign up for Buffalo State Creative Database Event through Google forums. The company is welcoming collaboration amongst competitors for this competition.

“We would like to see as much interactive creativity/teamwork as possible,” Lundquist said. “So initially, it is create your own database, but there’ll be, on the Google forums, a way to communicate with each other. Through the forums, the students will be able to talk about their database and such, and come up with more ideas.”

Lundquist said that while collaboration is encouraged, it is still an individual competition.

Students will be able to submit their databases starting at noon on April 16 until noon on April 30. There should be at least 10 items in their database and at least one View.

Submission scoring judged by the Doolli Team is divided into two categories (creativity and complexity), which are scored on a five-point system.

In Doolli’s final proposal of the event, they list characteristics of creativity as “uniqueness of data subject matter, usefulness and interest of idea/data problem being solved and design of View.” They list characteristics of complexity as having “multiple Views and permissioning, inclusion of external content and media and usage of Doolli features (e.g. clever field usage).”

“You want to create the most creative database,” Lundquist said. “That’s the whole point of the competition for the students.

“We wanted to not exactly put limitations on the students because we want to see what they have to offer as far as what they can create.”

The competition isn’t just for computer information systems or engineering majors.

“It’s for all students, not just like computer [or] tech-savvy people,” Lundquist said. “Anybody can participate in this event. We’re trying to encourage anybody to participate in this event.”

Lundquist hopes this competition will raise student awareness of Doolli at Buffalo State.

“Doolli is going very well,” Lundquist said. “As far as the activity that I’ve seen at Buffalo State, it’s been low. It has been a little bit lower, but it’s only because I don’t think students have a general idea of what Doolli can do to help them out.”

Lundquist said Doolli is a better way to organize documents and search for resources. He said there is nothing else really like Doolli that Buffalo State is offering to students.

“I think students just have to learn what Doolli can do,” Lundquist said. “That’s why we’re kind of doing these types of events.

“This competition is a fun opportunity for the students, but we would also like to add that this is also made to help educate students about data problems and empower them to solve those problems in their daily lives and prepare them for the future workplace.”

To sign up for Doolli’s Buffalo State Creative Database Event, visit doolli.com/buff-st-db-comp-2016.

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