Hackers Compete to Change the World in a Day
By Kaleena Thompson | June 13, 2011 at 5:06 am
Leading online social platform Change.org is hosting a 24-hour hackathon called Hack for Change, a contest for hackers to use their talents to advance social causes.
Change.org will invite 50 engineers, designers, and other creative types to throw down at its San Francisco headquarters, June 18-19. While hackers generally have a bad reputation, Hack for Change is hoping the competition will change that image.
Developers will face-off to build applications, Web or mobile, to help improve our world. Event organizers are calling on participants, or anyone, to offer ideas for social good apps before the competition. At the start of the event, those suggestions for social good apps will be ready for competitors to develop. Participants can also view or submit ideas from the idea blog.
Challengers can hack using “any available APIs and must post their code to GitHub.” Hackers can code solo or pair up in teams. But team members will have to register separately.
The event will kick off with presentations from non-profits and companies that use any public APIs in developing social change apps. Starting at noon and ending 24 hours later, completed projects will be presented to the audience, leading tech bloggers, and the judges for review.
Change.org is shelling out the prize money in order for programmers to continue developing their applications. Top-rated hacks will be awarded a total of $10,000, with $5,000 going to the winning product. Even though prize money is a great incentive, Hack for Change hopes to build a new crop of talent that advances social change in the non-profit sector.
What do you think about a hackathon for change? Will it encourage other hackers to use their talents for good?
