Bilkent Online | All-in-One Platform for the Bilkent Community

Best Project Winner, CS 319 Fall 2023, Bilkent University

Bilkent Online - A New Home for Bilkenters

  • Selected as the Best Project in Bilkent University’s CS 319 course, Fall 2023.
  • Supported by Microsoft and OpenAI with $3,500 in credits for cloud services and AI integration.
  • An all-in-one platform for the Bilkent community, offering features such as social media, real-time messaging, a marketplace, and more.
  • Developed with React for the frontend, FastAPI for the backend, and deployed using Microsoft Azure.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Bilkent Online, a comprehensive platform built for the Bilkent community. After being recognized as the best project in the CS 319 course, it has also gained $3,500 in credits from Microsoft and OpenAI for cloud services and AI integration 🚀.

What is Bilkent Online?

Bilkent Online is designed to serve the entire university community—including students, professors, alumni, and staff—offering a broad range of features:

  • Social Media for connecting with peers
  • Second-Hand Marketplace for buying, selling, and donating items
  • Borrowing and Lending services
  • Lost & Found section for misplaced items
  • Real-time Messaging to stay connected with friends and colleagues
  • Community Groups for sharing ideas and discussions
  • Anonymous Posting for expressing thoughts freely
  • Bilkent GPT, an AI-powered chatbot for answering university-related queries
  • And much more!

My Role

As project manager and full-stack developer, I took charge of many critical parts of Bilkent Online, including the real-time messaging system, the development of our AI chatbot, and deploying the platform on Microsoft Azure. This project has been an incredible learning journey, giving me hands-on experience with real-world software design, deployment, and teamwork.

Acknowledgements

We’re extremely grateful for the guidance of Dr. Eray Tüzün from the Bilkent University Computer Science Department. His support and mentorship were invaluable throughout the development process.

Working alongside Alpsencer Özdemir, Yusuf Kesmen, Sertaç Derya, and Yiğit Küçük was an amazing experience, and I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to them for their hard work and collaboration. Special thanks also go to Hasan Kutluhan Şıpka, Kaan Aydeniz, and Yavuz Selim Sarıbaş for their assistance. We couldn’t have achieved this without the support of CS Department Chair Selim Aksoy as well.

We’re incredibly proud of Bilkent Online and excited for the impact it will have on the Bilkent community. Be sure to check out the platform at bilkent.online and register now!

Stay tuned for more details and a blog post coming soon!