Joshua Oania

Reflection Paper 1

Date:  2/8/26

ODU Spring 2026

Earth Viability Center

Professor Teresa Duvall/TA Joshua Russell

Internship Reflection Paper

The first 50 hours of my internship were spent getting set up and acclimating to my new role.  My supervisor, Dr. Hans-Peter, got me up to speed on how things would work for the semester.  Basically, we would have meetings twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday.  These meetings would last an hour, and during them, we would discuss what needed to be done in the platform.  Tuesdays would be dedicated to general issues, and Fridays to cybersecurity issues.

The platform we would be working on for the entire semester is called Place4Us, which, in essence, is much like a social media platform.  However, what makes this platform special is that it empowers people to discuss sensitive issues and develop solutions.  Within the platform, there is a Virtual Community Center (VCC), essentially an interest group where people can discuss specific issues, such as climate change or the rise of AI.  And within each VCC, there is a Deliberation Room where people can discuss those topics.  These deliberation rooms serve as a safe space where people can talk and discuss those issues.  

The platform is primarily coded in PHP and hosted on IONOS, a Linux-based hosting service.   However, I was unfamiliar with PHP.  So one of the first things that I did was learn PHP because we weren’t working directly with the platform, but rather with a test site that serves a copy of the original platform, where we can examine the code and make changes as needed.  

I’d say one of the biggest challenges I faced throughout my first 50 hours was blocking time to focus on internship work.  I am the kind of person who likes to do things spontaneously and get super hyper-focused on what I am working on, so it was a bit of a challenge to get things done at first.  However, once I figured out a schedule, I was able to get through my work much faster.

Another challenge I faced while working on my first 50 hours was accessing the test site.  As I mentioned above, the platform (and the test site) is hosted on IONOS.  So, in order to access the code we would be working with, I had to go through a process called rsync, which allows a user to copy and synchronize files and directories across different machines.  I first had to create a key pair using the Windows PowerShell terminal.  I then gave my public key to my supervisor so that I could connect to the test site and copy the files to my machine (a process that I had to repeat multiple times because I couldn’t connect properly).  

Locally, I also had to make changes to my settings (such as the OpenSSH service on the machine) in order to connect to the test site.  Furthermore, I had to install Windows Linux System (WSL) because once I connected to the platform, the files I tried to copy wouldn’t transfer properly, which we (the interns, supervisor, and I) found out was because I was working on a Windows machine.

Overall, I am looking forward to working with Dr. Hans-Peter this semester, and I hope to learn a lot during this internship.