[Grassroots-l] Community Summit = OpenHack 2018

[Sameer Verma]

Also posted at: https://www.olpcsf.org/node/265

This year's event is a little different. We are joining forces with
some of the other projects in the Commons space at San Francisco State
University. This year's event is called Open Hack 2018.
 The event is largely scheduled to run on Saturday (April 28) and
Sunday (April 29). Will have a meet-and-greet event on Friday evening
(April 27), but the main event will begin on Saturday (April 28).

The format is as follows:

1) What we typically refer to as "projects" are called "Challenges" in
this format. Anybody can Submit a Challenge. When submitting the
Challenge, you have to provide us with information about the Challenge
itself, existing resources, people involved, and the kinds of skills
that you may find helpful in completing this challenge. The goal is
that we would want to complete some degree of the Challenge by the
time we get to Sunday afternoon.

2) The Challenges will be printed and posted up on the wall starting
Friday (April 27). On Saturday morning (April 28), people who come in
will assign themselves to different challenges. It's quite common for
some of the challenges to not have any interested people. That's okay.

3) As we start to see a cluster of people collecting on a given
Challenge, we will allocate a room for them and then that room becomes
their space for the next day and a half. Unlike in the past, where we
had timed sessions (typically 75 minutes), these groups get to work on
their problem for the entire day Saturday and half day Sunday.

4) On Sunday afternoon, they present their progress and future
direction. The work (code, content, etc) will have to be made
available some place (a repo such as github) via a FOSS, or
CreativeCommons, or OpenData license.

5) After the presentations, a panel of judges will determine some form
of ranking. There may also be some token prizes.

This is somewhat different from what we've done in the past, but given
the level of maturity in our projects, and the amount of focus that is
needed to work on fixing bugs and building upon what we already have,
the hackathon approach seems to be more apt than simple presentations.
If you have somebody in mind who cannot be there physically, you can
always bring them in online. The rooms are fairly well equipped, with
whiteboards, projectors and Internet access. We are also in the
process of arranging for other operational logistics.

In the time being, take a look at the information, the code of
conduct, and submit a challenge. http://hackathon.sfsu.edu/

Registration is open. Register at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-hack-sf-2018-san-francisco-state-university-hackathon-tickets-45329250007

Also, let us know if you plan to attend, so we can look out for other
arrangements as well, as necessary.

Sameer Verma: sverma at sfsu.edu
Aaron Borden: adborrden at live.com