The organisation of a Social Hackathon is a long-lasting and challenging process that involves many different aspects (logistics, communication and dissemination, health and safety, technological equipment, composition of the jury, accommodation and catering, social activities, etc.) which is clearly explained in the Piloting Guidelines provided by the project.
HackAD organizes National Hackathons, 3 days long digital co-creation events at national level where all the participants involved in the Social Hackademy Labs are invited to work in team and compete to produce a digital solution to one of the social challenges proposed by the CSOs.
Each event (the Hackathon) lasted 48 continuous hours and it took place in a safe and controlled venue, whose access is regulated by an accreditation system. There are three types of accreditation:
– Staff: all those involved in organizing the event
– Hacker: young people trained in digital skills
– Expert: trainers/team managers, representatives of the selected CSOs, members of the jury, etc.
The venue remained open 24/24 hours starting at 20:00 on the first day to 20:00 of the third day. From 24:00, if there are no participants in the building, this are closed and reopened the next morning at 6:00.
In 2021 in France, Croatia, Italy and Greece have been organized Hackathons and in each of this country there were excellent results.
The Social Hackathon in France, based in La Halle Tropisme on the 1st and 2nd June, had the aim to respond to web challenges to solve societal issues with the involvement of 30 participants from different backgrounds and trainings, 15 partners and 5 sponsors. During this event, 3 winning teams accompanied by 8 professional coaches had the opportunity to participate at 4 territorial challenges created to tackle inequality.
From 9th to 13th June, at Rijeka Center for Technical Culture, a group of young people from all over Croatia participated in the Social Hackathon by offering their newly acquired knowledge to the community in collaboration with mentors during the 48-hour Hackathon. Majority of participants (both young learners and CSOs) didn’t have any prior experience with any kind of hackathons and, due to the good experience that they had during the piloting period, the interest in further collaboration increased a lot. Co-creation process between some of the learners and CSO continued, and the new cycle of training courses with extended duration is already underway because most of the participants expressed the wish to participate in another hackathon, and this is important as it proves that this methodology is sustainable.
Social Hackathon Umbria 2021 (SHU2021) took place in the heart of Italy, in the middle of the green region of Umbria, on the plateau of Colfiorito: a small village, known for its rich production of cereals, legumes and dairy products, came back to life after the hit of several earthquakes, by putting at the centre of its economic, cultural and social development the concept of sustainability. The SHU has been organised since 2016 and the biggest difference last year was that the hackathon (and training courses) was a part of the Erasmus+ project Social Hackademy (#HackAD), which aims to upscale and transfer Social Hackathon Umbria format and methodology in different European countries and contexts. 25 young people from training, 4 other type of participants, 7 CSOs representatives and 7 team managers that have followed the event from the 1st of July to the 4th of the month, while the hacking itself lasted 48 hours.
Greek Social Hackathon took place on 6th, 7th and 8th of September 2021 at the premises of the Hellenic Open University in Patras, Greece involving young people aged 16-30 that worked on digital solutions to problems related to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Community building and Hackathon support are provided by the Social Hackademy Online Platform. This Platform represents an online space for education, assessment, exchange and community building among young people, trainers, external experts from all sectors, and other stakeholders. It provide eLearning and peer learning services, support assessment of acquired competences and award badges, showcase Hackathon outcomes and products and support the establishment of online virtual communities. The platform includes tools to offer a personalized experience to its registered users and to support special interest groups, a repository of documents and OERs, gallery of Hackathon outcomes, instant messaging, forums and blogs, teleconferencing, indexing and searching, etc. Registration to the platform is free.
