ReWired State: Hack Day's
Hello.
You may not realise it, but you need us!
Research and Development need inspiration?
Need multiple prototypes quickly?
Have data and want to do something useful with it?
Have a piece of technology and want to deliver something special onit for your customers?
Need ideas for your latest bit of kit?
Need cool content for your marketing campaign?Need apps for tablets, mobile or web?
Want content that stands out online, in the press, in social media?
Looking to add a cutting-edge element to your event or conference?Want your offering to resonate with a young, tech-savvy audience?Didn’t think there was anyone out there that did this stuff?
You need a REWIRED STATE hack day.
So what is a Hack Day?
Firstly, some definitions:Definition of hack*:(v) To write program code.(n) A software program prototype.*This is the original meaning of the word pertaining to programming, before being usedto describe the unauthorised access to phones, confidential data and computersystems...which is notcool.
Definition of a hack day:
Hack days are events, in the form of a competition, where a groupcoders or developers are brought to the same location, are given aset of data, a challenge, an idea or a theme and over 24-48 hoursundertake an intense piece of research and programming resultingin working software prototypes.
However not all Hack Day's are the same.
Commercial Hack Days - commissioned and run exclusively for you or your clients:
• Marketing hack dayswe generate unique content to inspire, accompany or boost a campaign. Our developers canwork alone or alongside your team of developers, designers, creative types, musicians, artistsetc. to produce prototype robotics, wearable technology, inventions, applications or websites...just to name a few.
• R+D hack daysyou commission us to take an idea, set(s) of data, a challenge or anything that you are lookingto take through research and development, and program working prototypes. These canintegrate into your existing products, inspire new products, be offered as tools to yourcustomers or allow better communication between you and your customers.
• Closed/Internal hack daysbespoke hack days organised directly with a client where sensitive or restricted data is usedfor the hack only and thereafter is strictly contained.
Sponsored Hack Days:These are hack days that are run on a particular theme: e.g. SxSW, RS: Carbon and Energy Hack Weekend or Honda: Power of Minds forcharities or Government and paid for entirely or in part by a number of sponsors, with the developers being involved for minimal fees or prizes.
Disruptive Conferences:These are mini-hack events that run alongside more traditional eventsand conferences. Our aim is to bring the events to life and makethem more relevant to the participants and attendees.We build digital and real world prototypes in line with the themes ofthe conference using data supplied by attendees or open data thatsupports the conference theme. e.g. (H)activate (see later). These arethen presented back to your attendees at lightening speed at the endof the event, just before the final keynote speech.
Why Run a Hack Day ?
Expertise - Engagement with variety of expert developers at the cutting edge of the industry, dedicating their full powers ofcomputational thinking to your problem or challenge.
Quality - multiple brains working on your challenge showing off their skills in front of their peers to create awe-inspiring solutions.
Quantity - Multiple different prototypes created at the same time. And the IP is yours (or your client’s) to keep if you wish.
Speed - All developed within (typically) 48 hours.
Cost/Time - Guaranteed quality at a fraction of the cost and time that building your own developer network would take and evenbetter value than hiring a full-time developer long-term.
Follow up - Ongoing engagement with an independent developer network that is already exposed to your brand and can develop yourhacks in full.
Basically, a weekend well-spent.
How does a hack day work?
It all starts with:
■ A subject, challenge or dataset: We find that the broader the challenge, the more chance of creating some really innovative solutions. See next page..
■ Set the hack day length: 12-48 hours is good depending on the challenge.
■ Invite the developers: We hand pick 10 - 200 (depending on the budget, challenge and location) from our network of over 500 developers.
■ Location: can be at hosted at your place or a location that we choose.
■ The briefing: the developers are given an overview of the subject or challenge and access to the data at the beginning of day one.
■ The magic happens: the developers are left to code/design/engineer their digital solutions over the course of 24 hours. Intravenous coffee, beer and food are supplied.
■ Show and Tell: at the end of the hack the developers present their prototype applications, websites, widgets, visualisations and solutions to the client/sponsor, judging panel, invited audience and hackpeers.
■ The client/sponsor awards the prizes and goes home happy with armfuls of prototypes.
■ Beer and pizza consumed
So what sort of brief do I set?
Example: HONDA: Power of Dreams Hack
The over-riding theme for the hack event was:
"If we never venture into the unknown, how do we get anywhere new"
And:
"Forward Thinking / Modern Conscience Fun Stand Out Design"
the statement that underpins Honda’s Dream Factory marketing platform (theirgroup of curated Cultural Engineers that also attended and took part in the hack).
The four categories into which Honda wanted apps to be submitted for judgingfollowed the themes that inspired the design of the new Honda Civic:
Quality: unparalleled reliability: ‘A class above’Design: sporty + versatile, intuitive, personality, stand-out, confident, aerodynamic
Technology: intelligent, useful, innovative, ‘as standard’, economical + clean
Evolution: quiet + comfortable, refinement, honing of everything
So what sort of prototypes do you create?
Winners of our latest commercial/disruptive conference hack days:
Honda: Power of Minds hackOrchestra: A live-brainstorming app with a twist. Everyone joins the "orchestra" andcan suggest ideas in real-time around a topic, but no-one else can see your ideasuntil after time runs out. Each user's tally of ideas gets updated in real-time, addingcompetition to the mix. (by YRSer Jordan Hatch) http://hacks.rewiredstate.org/events/power-of-minds/orchestra
HP WEbOS Developer EventNews of the World: An experimental approach for exploring content (e.g. news,reviews and photos) about any place on earth. Starting at the reader's currentlocation, a magazine-style page of content is pulled in for that place. The reader canthen slide the page in any of eight compass directions (north, east, south, west, nw,ne, sw, se), to re-centre the magazine at that new location. See the demo:dharmafly.com/hpwebos-hackday/demo/.
(H)activateSafeTrip: A web and SMS solution that aims to prevent human trafficking byproviding secure and mappable safety messaging services, developed by Chico,Gareth Lloyd and Tom Martin.
Winners of our latest sponsored hack days:
Parliament Hack: joint winnersLittle Ben: A mobile application designed to keep both MPs and the everyday maninformed about the bills going through Parliament. (Oderau, http://rewiredstate.org/projects/little-ben, http://littleben.orchestra.io/)Politics I care about: A service that links your interests to what’s happening inParliament. (YRSers Tim Brooke & Comrades, http://rewiredstate.org/projects/politics-i-care-about)
Carbon Hack DayAre we saving Energy in the UK? A website that pulls data from the balancingmechanism reporting system which monitors the national electricity grid tocalculate whether the UK's electricity consumption is up or down relative to thesame week in the previous year. By Chris Taggart and Rob McKinnon
National Hack the Government Day:Data Validator: Reports on quality/availability of UK Government spending
datahttp://validator.govtrace.com/. by Rob McKinnon.
So what does it cost?
Ahh, its the old “how long is a piece of string?”question...The cost of running a hack day is dependent on anumber of factors including how many developersare engaged and whether hiring a venue isrequired.But we know it’s frustrating when you don’t getsome idea - so see the chart for ball-park figuresfor running a one or two day hack.These average costs include: projectmanagement; developer fees; venue hire; technicalsupport; security; AV hire; utilities; catering andprizes. Please contact us for further details.
N.B. A one day hack will allow time for only non-workingprototypes.
Next Steps
Take a look at what we do on: http//:rewiredstate.org.Please contact us if you would like to hear more about hack days, how we might help or to commission a hackday.For general information: info@rewiredstate.co.uk
or call Tony +44 (0)7739
We would love to hear from you.
Location:
World -Wide.
