JEC's CoDark Team Triumphs in Round-2 on 29 January 2024 & Secures Place in DPBH Hackathon 2023 Grand Finale.

The Institute Innovation Council (IIC) of Jabalpur Engineering College successfully organized Internal Hackathon Round-2 of the Dark Pattern Buster Hackathon(DBPH) 2023 at the Jashan Auditorium on January29, 2024. The program aimed to highlight "dark patterns",which are deceptive strategies in online design that guide users to make unfavourable choices. To prevent this unethical practice, India is actively addressing dark patterns, and the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, along with IIT BHU, has launched the DPBH Hackathon 2023—a national challenge to identify dark patterns in e-commerce platforms.

Jabalpur Engineering College (JEC), the sole Nodal Centre of Central India, collaborated with IIC to host the Internal Round -2 of the DPBH Hackathon 2023. The Principal, Dr P.K. Jhinge, initiated the initiative, with Dr Shailja Shukla, Head of the Electrical Engineering Department and Dr Bhavna Jharia, Head of the Electronics & Telecommunication Department playing crucial roles of President and Vice-President respectively of IIC. Dr. Bhavna Jhariya, nominated as the Nodal Officer for DBPH-2023 by IIT, BHU, proved to be an invaluable asset to the program.

In the first part of the Hackathon, students shared written summaries of their ideas. Then, in the next stage, teams demonstrated how their solutions work in real life. This two-step process enabled students to brainstorm clever ideas and illustrate their practical implementation.

The judging was thorough and impartial, relying on the database results forwarded to the Council of IIT, BHU. It made sure to look at different things to see how good each team's solution was. They focused on both: the written ideas and the live demonstrations to see not just how smart the ideas were but also how well they could work. The goal was to give credit to teams for both their clever thinking and how practical their solutions were.

The judges declared CodeCrafters, CoDark, Code Hustlers and Debuggers as the winners of DBPH --2023Round 2. The names of these victorious teams, were forwarded to the organizing authority, the Council of IIT, BHU.The internal jury of BHU decisively awarded the first prize to the CoDark team, in DBPH 2023(Round-3). The authenticity of this result is unquestionable, as it was accurately documented, in a database.

The CoDark team led by Shaurya Vardhan Mishra and under the adept mentorship of Professor Madhuri Gokhale, developed a noteworthy browser extension. The judges were particularly impressed by its ability to warn users about deceptive practices on e-commerce platforms. Aastha Nayak, Vivek Vaibhav, Nihal Patidar, and YagdeepAhirwar, key contributors to theteam, received recognition for their significant roles in the success of the project.

The Principal Dr Jhinge congratulated the team for their talent and innovative ideas, saying “Team CoDark's solution showcases the excellence of JEC. Their success inspires other students to fulfil their dreams.”Dr Bhavna Jhariawhile addressing the students expressed appreciation for the remarkable efforts of all participants, extending heartfelt congratulations for the event's success.Her heartfelt congratulations were accompanied by a genuine sense of joy and enthusiasm, for the collective achievements and the positive impact of each student's contribution.

In her expression of gratitude during the vote of thanks, Dr.Shailja Shukla conveyed her appreciation to IIC for hosting the event, recognizing the collaborative efforts with the Department of Consumer Affairs and IIT, BHU.She appreciated the opportunity given to students to develop solutions for the challenging global issue of combating Dark Patterns.

Dr Jhinge conveyed profound gratitude to Dr Shailja Shukla, Dr Bhavna Jharia and Prof Madhuri Gokhale, expressing genuine admiration for their heartfelt contributions. Their dedication ensured that JEC’s CoDark team earned a well-deserved place in the Grand Finale Round -3 of Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon 2023, scheduled to be held at IIT BHU on February 17, 2024. This achievement reflects commendable progress for JEC's CoDark team.