Not your typical hackathon for not-your-typical hackers

When we got the Code for Philly hackathon planning committee together for City as a Service Hackathon (CaaSH), we started with a list of things we like about hackathons and things we don’t like.

Things we do like:

• Meeting new people who are engaged and equally geeky about Philly

• Lots of creative new idea being thrown around with other smart professionals

• Finding a team and start a project (not super easy to do at Code for Philly)

• Get some real work done in a weekend and have fun at the same time

• Sweet hackathon event shirt

Things we don’t like:

• Feeling burnt to a crisp by the end of Sunday

• The whole weekend just disappeared D:

• Not a lot of time to get very far with a project beyond a concept or prototype

• That awesome project? No energy to keep working on it even at the weekly event

• If the rest of the team doesn’t keep up with the project it’s hard to keep it going alone and maybe even harder to join a new project If the team does keep going, who knows what will happen with the project anyway, it might not make a difference anyway—no guarantee of success despite the investment

Hopefully you’re still reading and haven’t decided that this hackathon isn’t worth a weekend. In fact, I hope you keep reading and decide it’s worth a whole month.

Let me start by saying, this is now the 5th hackathon I’ve helped organized, and I’ve been to a number of others, all with the same general format:

A weekend to define, scope, build, test (if you’re lucky), and present to a group of experts. In some cases there’s prize money, some even let you spend the night, and every hackathon generally has a ridiculous amount of food and caffeine to keep you going.

But Code for Philly isn’t your typical group of hackers. We use data and technology as a mode of civic engagement. All of our projects are open source and we use tech as a means, not an end, to solve civic issues. We want to take on big, complex challenges—like how can technology be part of education and recidivism efforts. And we want to do it in a way that includes topical experts and people working in the field every day. We can co-create solutions so that they’re effective and sustainable.

That’s why this hackathon is also not your typical hackathon. We’re doing things a bit differently in the hopes of keeping the good stuff and improving the parts that don’t work.

Here’s how:

• This hackathon is an entire month. The kickoff takes place 9/23-24 with an optional Sunday hack day. After that, teams get an entire month to keep iterating and building. That means, you don’t have to rush to a prototype and you’ll even have time to test your product before showing em off!

• The first half of the day is all about project design. For most hackathons, you jump right into the project and build heads down as quickly as possible. That might work for small experiments, but we’re talking about complex issues with a spectrum of determining factors and stakeholders. If you like a challenge, this hackathon is for you. The first half of the day, we’ll focus on defining the problem, brainstorming possible solutions, and deciding on the technology. This should help make projects live on past that kickoff weekend.

• We’re co-creating with government on this. We’ve been talking with departments about the challenges and opportunities they face everyday. What if technology could help? What if there was a community of volunteers ready to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty? The Code for Philly community might bring the tech, but we’re looking to government to lead the vision and help move solutions forward. It’s bringing both talents and perspectives together that promises the best chance of creating effective solutions.

Worth a whole month, right? Join us September 23-24th.

Think through the complex challenges at the Friday night Project Brainstorm and keep building at the Saturday hackathon (limit 50). Join us October 25th for demo night, open to the public.

Keep up with the conversation on twitter by following us @CodeforPhilly with the hashtag #CaaSH and #phlcityhack.

See the schedule and RSVP. Want to volunteer as a mentor? Fill out this form and tell us more.

Code for Philly is defined by its members. Want to see something happen or think we can do things better? We want to know! Never hesitate to find us at hack night or send a note to hello@codeforphilly.org.

Code for Philly is defined by its members. Want to see something happen or think we can do things better? We want to know! Never hesitate to find us at hack night or send a note to hello@codeforphilly.org.