Hypepotamus, Random Hacks of Kindness Atlanta, Startup Atlanta, City of Atlanta, and Georgia Energy Informatics Cluster are pleased to help launch a brand new collaboration called the Civic Hackathon Corps.
This volunteer network of coders, designers/creatives, entrepreneurs, investors, storytellers, and students is committed to helping make Atlanta a better place to live and work by coming together every few months for a hackathon to solve community problems.
When you think of hackathons, you might think of coding, right? That’s certainly where the concept came from, but it’s taking on new meaning, as more nonprofits, civic groups, and city governments embrace it as a new way to involve people in solving community problems.
Hackathons are a great way to get a roomful of people with different skills to develop solutions to specific problems in a very short amount of time (usually 24-48 hours). The goal is to rapidly develop ideas, test them, and then iterate on the concepts based on the feedback you get. In other words, rapid iteration.
In recent years, civic hackathons across the country have helped build new web and mobile applications, develop new marketing approaches, and create other innovative solutions. Atlanta is becoming a hotbed for civic hackathons. In fact, you can be part of a number of upcoming events powered by the Civic Hackathon Corps:
- Transportation Camp South: Feb. 9 – This national unconference will gather on the Georgia Tech campus to think up cool, new ways for how technology and transportation can come together. Learn more and register here now.
- Govathon: Feb. 22-23 – The City of Atlanta and Startup Atlanta are hosting this hackathon at City Hall in the Old Council Chambers and asking citizens of Atlanta to pitch their ideas to make the city better. Learn more and register here now.
- Clean Web Atlanta Hackathon: Feb. 25-28 – The Federal Reserve Atlanta, Atlanta Regional Commission, and Midtown Alliance are hosting this weeklong hackathon (teams can participate one-day or as much as they’d like) for teams to develop ideas to make the web, transportation, buildings, and neighborhoods work more efficiently and ecologically friendly. Learn more and register here now.
For those of you who want to be part of future events powered by the Civic Hackathon Corps, you can sign up for updates and invitations here. Never underestimate the power of a small group people to change the community they live in.
