Solver Society: Together, Let’s Us Fight Corona Virus
By: Ricky Nauvaldy
Tags: Problem Solving, Software Development, Experience, Volunteering, Covid 19

The Solver Society team along with panelists. Source: IYKRA Documentation

For more than a month I have participated in the Solver Society program organized by IYKRA from the beginning of March to mid-April. This program was held with the initial aim to explore further about the data from the virus that is currently driving us, Corona Virus or COVID-19. From the information I got from my friends through Mr. Fajar Jaman’s LinkedIn as the CEO of IYKRA, I volunteered to participate in this program. Out of hundreds of registrants, I became 1 of about 25 other solvers who had the opportunity to take part in this corona virus data exploration. Not only those data enthusiasts are involved, but also the Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the healthcare field with more knowledge about the disease and its treatment, and also “fresh graduates” with huge amount of curiosities and fresh research ideas.

In the beginning, the program that was coordinated by Ms. Amira Hasan provided us with supporting materials covering COVID-19 in general, critical thinking and problem solving strategies, research methodology, fundamental analysis, data exploration and architecture, and data visualization to get insight. This collection of material was delivered by presenters who were experts in their respective fields, such as Mr. Syahrizal Syarif, Mr. Fajar, Mr. Andreas Diga, Mr. Rahadian Rizki Prayoga, Mr. Rizki Fajar Nugroho, and Ms. Raudhoh Fitra. I will write a summary of each material in a separate article from this article. Stay tuned to my next posts.

In the process, we were formed into a group consisting of SMEs, data people, and fresh graduates in order to create a comprehensive idea of ​​the problem that we try to solve, or seek insight from the data obtained. I met extraordinary people in the process in group 2 consisting of Mrs. Aufia Espressivo who had been willing to travel to Jakarta from his home in Jogja, Mr. Farhan Hanavi who was a role model to us because he always came on time in class, Mr. Reza Rizky who already has a lot of experience both in administrative and IT related field, and Diva Alwi Tama who is experienced in the world of data science.

“Uji Corona” Platform

Early March was the time when COVID-19 had just arrived in Indonesia with two positive patients. Of course it is difficult to conduct research on only two people who may not be able to be interviewed further due to conditions and circumstances. There are also a lot of patient data around the world but with a lot of unknown/private information. These conditions encourage us to think more creatively in chosing the issue that we want to solve. Initially we thought that the Solver Society was more focused on data processing to take an insight from the data, but in fact the output of this program was unlimited; it doesn’t matter whether you wanted to make a paper, make a policy proposal, or maybe crawling data through a web page. We evaluated that at that time the data in Indonesia was very limited, and found that quite a lot of people were worried about the existence of this virus as Mrs. Aufia’s small survey suggested. We decided to build an application prototype to conduct an individual risk assessment for this virus along with the recommendations, and provide information to hospitals with all the limitations of their health facilities in order to provide treatment to the right people who have more infected potential. The idea was approved by the organizers, and we began to design the application prototype.

Day after day passed, Google Meet for Google Meet were done with high intensity (we had a week where we had a conference call every day). IYKRA’s help as the facilitator brought us to get to collaborate with other great people including Mr. Bahrul Ilmi Nasution, Mr. Reza Primasatya, and Mr. Ida Bagus Budi Hartaguna. We built an application called UjiCorona (ujicorona.com) to conduct a self-assessment of risk infection of the COVID-19 based on machine learning. At the end of the program, each group made a final presentation to panelists consisting of Mr. Syahrizal, Mrs. Vivi Alatas, Mr. Fajar, and Mr. Bernardus Ari Kuncoro, and found that in this relatively short period of time, our results were an extraordinary work and might be used as an initial foundation to contribute to Indonesia’s battle against COVID-19. It was an extraordinary experience to be involved in this project.

“Peep into” The Other Groups Project

Beside Group 2, there are 4 other groups in this program with all their interesting ideas:

Group 1 with the topic of “IHSG Forecasting of COVID-19 Cases in Indonesia

Group 3 with the topic of “Analysis of Government Policy and Regulation Data on the Covid-19 Case”

Group 4 with the topic of “Anxiety Level Analysis of Jabodetabek People Against the Epidemic of COVID-19”, and

Group 5 with the topic of “Analysis and Prediction of COVID-19 Positive Case Figures Based on Flight Data and SIR Modeling”

Each group was given the opportunity to present their findings in a webinar session held by IYKRA with the title TalksON. Until now, group 2 and group 5 have shared their research results, while other groups have are in the line to share their knowledge in the next TalksON session. If you already bored you’re your daily activities in this quarantine period, just follow the IYKRA Instagram at @iykra_id for more information on the next TalksON event that is guaranteed to give you interesting insights about COVID-19 in the data perspective.

Hopefully the COVID-19 pandemic will be end soon. Let’s us support any initiatives to break the chain of distribution of this virus.

Additional information

This article is also published in Indonesian on my Linkedin Profile on this link. This article is part of a collection of articles on my experience in joining the Solver Society volunteering program. Other related articles are as follows: