This task is primarily for Team Researchers.
A technology assessment usually has two parts: an assessment of the client or end-user's IT infrastructure, and an assessment of the development tools to build the software prototype (based on the problem definition).
• For the first part, these are some of the things to consider:
Platform that reaches the target audience (mobile, web)
End-user level of access to the platform
Hosting and distribution models
The data for the assessment can be obtined by site visit and client interviews.
• For the second part, these are some of the things to consider:
Rapid prototyping
Suitability for target platform(s)
Scalabilty
Modularity
Security (including data privacy for FERPA and HIPAA)
Stability
Sustainability
(maintainable by client)
The types of projects for Benevolent Computing vary from one year to another, encompassing everything from NLP to data visualization. But there is one common type of project - developing a client-server application with a mobile front-end and a web-based backend. For client-server applications requiring a database, FileMaker is a good choice.
Here is a list of resources to familiarize yourself with FileMaker:
https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~tony/c4g/assignments/filemaker.html