What is Univent?
Univent is a project to build a modern, distributed system for managing student events. The goal is to create a federated network where different student associations can host their own servers, but all work together seamlessly. This puts control back into the hands of students and creates an open ecosystem for event management, free from the limitations of commercial platforms.
The Problem with Today's Platforms
Currently, the Swedish university market is dominated by a few commercial platforms like Hitract and Orbi. While functional, these systems present significant issues for student associations and their members:
- Vendor Lock-In: Associations are stuck with platforms because all user data is trapped in a closed system.
- Privacy Concerns: Commercial platforms often earn money from marketing, creating privacy issues.
- Poor User Experience: Users report that creating events is difficult and time-consuming on a web browser, and the apps can feel cluttered with unnecessary social media features.
- Limited Integrations: The platforms have closed APIs and limited payment options, which hinders productivity and automation.
Our Solution: A Federated Approach
Univent aims to solve these problems by building a system with a new philosophy. Our primary objectives are to make it incredibly easy for students to buy tickets, avoid reliance on a single company, and offer flexible integrations.
- Federated System: Each association can host its own instance, but users can discover and purchase tickets for events from any server in the network using a single account.
- Open and Extensible: With a well-documented API, the system is built for integration. Automate marketing, add events from other sources, or create custom tools.
- Easy to Host & Use: The goal is to make the platform simple to set up and maintain, encouraging wide adoption among student associations.
- Flexible Payments: The platform is designed to support multiple payment providers, allowing associations to choose what works best for them.
Designed for Everyone
The system is designed with three core user groups in mind, each with specific needs.
Students (End Users)
The focus is on a smooth and simple experience. Students need to easily discover events, subscribe to associations, buy tickets, and manage them without hassle.
Event Organizers
Associations need powerful tools to create and modify events, manage attendees, gather custom information (like dietary restrictions), and get financial reports for bookkeeping.
Administrators
Those hosting an instance need simple tools for server maintenance, user management, and the ability to moderate content and trust settings between servers.