Amritanshu Jain, the StuCCAn of the Department of Visual Media (DVM), was busy brushing his teeth while simultaneously talking over the phone, when the Oasis English Press went to interview him. It was a clearly an overworked man that finally shed some light on DVM’s work for the fest.

DVM is responsible for handling all the technical aspects of the fest. The department’s pre-Oasis work involves making the official Oasis website, the app, the registration portal, the inauguration videos, sponsors’ videos, and APOGEE promotional videos. For the first time, they have a fully working iOS app and a web version for Windows users, ensuring that everyone has access to the Oasis app’s features. DVM has also made a piece of software called PCr admin, that is used by various departments for internal coordination.

This year, DVM has planned a speed dating event, in collaboration with Radioaktiv. Based on a matchmaking algorithm developed by DVM, the main Oasis app will have a feature that works as Tinder exclusively for people on campus. Unlike the popular app though, no swiping is required. Instead, there will be a set of questions for users to answer and the responses will be used to make matches.

DVM is also working to perfect an idea that was pitched last year – an e-wallet for all BITSians. The e-wallet removes the need for students to walk around with their ID cards or cash during the fest. ‘Say you are walking from your bhawan to the stalls in M-Lawns. You can order food with your wallet and the food will be ready by the time you reach the stalls. You just have to show the QR code that was generated when you ordered and that’s it. Passes for prof shows can also be bought with the wallet in the same way. This eliminates a lot of hassle in terms of queues or money transactions,’ said Amritanshu. He added that this was part of DVM’s vision to use their technical capabilities to make the fest as convenient and trouble-free as possible for students.

DVM has been working for Oasis since the summer vacation. Their first job was to finish the registration portal and the PCr Admin software. With a week to go, they are in the process of wrapping up the e-wallet software, and will be finishing all work a couple of days ahead of Day 0. ‘Midsems and Dussehra holidays in consecutive weeks have taken a toll on the work tempo, but we have still managed to keep up with the deadlines. I had planned a proper timeline for making the videos, as we have ended up doing that work only hours before the inauguration in past iterations of Oasis. All that is left to do now is to sit and fix any glitches in the software, which have historically been problems that we have faced during the fest,’ he said.

Having taken on the mammoth task of making a whole new payments software and adding an event to their existing workload, Amritanshu has been forced to focus on the back-end team this year. Being from the same team himself, he has recruited a lot more juniors that are suitable for back-end development, knowing that a competent workforce is necessary for the work this Oasis.

‘It has been a wonderful experience. I have got to manage and work with very bright people, who I am sure will turn out to be great technical developers in the future. I have also learnt a lot about the logisitics of handling a fest as big as Oasis,’ he replied when asked about his experience as a StuCCAn.

While he has faced no problems from his fellow StuCCAns, Amritanshu complains that accommodation of outstation participants has been been holding Oasis back from being a much bigger fest. ‘We are at the level of other big college fests like IIT Delhi’s Rendezvous and IIT Kanpur’s Antaragni. However they have no constraints on accommodation and are able to fully reach their potential. We have the technical and logistical capacity to handle almost 2-2.5 times the current footfall, as we get a lot of registration requests. It is only the accommodation restrictions that are stopping us,’ he said.

He signed off by urging all BITSians to stay during Oasis and enjoy it as it has one of the best professional show and event lineups that he has seen in his four years in BITS.