Category Archives: open innovation

3 Reasons Why Google Developer Groups Support Community Growth

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Hi, friends. While looking through old blog post I have written, I discovered that I wrote my first blog post about Google developer group ten years ago. I have enjoyed the journey. In this blog post, I wanted to explore some of my personal motivations, stories and feelings toward supporting our local Google developer groups. For my kids and my community, I enjoy advancing the mission of helping “students young and old to love learning through making, tinkering, and exploration.” I appreciate the GDG community enabling me to explore this mission using Google tools and the culture of open innovation.

Growing Students: In the past month, I had bumped into this cool episode on the Google Cloud Platform Podcast with one of my mentors, Dr. Laurie White.

Google Cloud for Higher Education with Laurie White and Aaron Yeats

Dr. Robert Allen and Dr. White invited me to join their Google Developer Group(GDG) while I lived in Macon, GA. The GDG of Macon focused on serving the students of Mercer University and the Macon community. I think they sensed my curiousity for teaching software engineering and invited me to teach some of my first sessions. (Google app engine, Firebase, JS, etc.) The experiences amplified a corner of my soul that enjoyed helping college students jump into the crazy world of software engineering. In the podcast, Dr. White unscores that traditional computer science education has many strengths. The average CS program, however, does not address many critical topics desired by engineering teams. (i.e. working with a cloud provider, engineering software for easy testing, test automation, user centered design, etc.) These gaps become blockers to early stage developers seeking work. I found joy helping connecting these students to address these gaps and connect them with opportunities around AI, web, mobile and open source stuff. In the Google ecosystem, there are tribes of mentors who want to help you become successful.

Growing a community of professionals: For many developer community organizers, we recognize the opportunity and promise of software craftmanship. We live in amazing industry not blocked by atoms and the need of physical source material. In the world of software, you can start a business with a strong concept, persistence, and good habits for incremental learning. In the world of software, you can find a good technology job by becoming a little bit better every day AND connecting with a supportive community. For many, software engineering helps real people feed and elevate themselves and their families. I believe that’s an important mission. I believe our GDG communities hit a high mark in helping professionals to grow and making the experience “excellent.” As GDG organizers, we’re passionate about helping you and your teams become successful with your cloud strategies, mobile/web apps, empower creators with AI and design culture. I have had the blessing of many mentors. Dr. Allen gave me my first Google Cardboard and introduced me to Unity3D. I now work with a wonderful design firm focused on creating learning experiences with virtual and augmented reality. It’s important to remember that small sparks can grow to bigger things. It’s important to give back and grow the next generation. We seek to become sparks for others.
Growing future startups: I continue to believe that small businesses will continue to become our engine of economic growth. The news often paints sad picture of our world as broken. We love to support startups who believe they can meaningfully improve the world and help others become successful too. To that end, I love that Google helps startups become successful through their various growth programs like Google developer groups, women tech makers, startup.google.com and student groups. Google’s learning team has put a lot of care into growing an open learning ecosystem through codelabs.google.com, web.dev/learn, Flutter.dev, kaggle.com/learn and other product guides. Learning becomes more joyful when you can learn as a tribe. Why go solo?

Invite to DevFest Florida

If you’re looking for supportive mentors and a growth oriented meetup community, I extend a warm invite to you to DevFestFlorida.org. Working with my fellow GDG organizers across Tampa, Miami, and Orlando, we’re organizing one of the largest local dev conferences in the south to help you learn and grow. It’s an experience designed by developers for our local developers. DevFest Central Florida is a community-run one-day conference aimed to bring technologists, developers, students, tech companies, and speakers together in one location to learn, discuss and experiment with technology. Lots of hands-on learning and fun.

Join us for DevFest Florida – Sep 28

AI | Mobile | Web | Cloud | Community

DevFest Central Florida is a community-run one-day conference aimed to bring technologists, developers, students, tech companies, and speakers together in one location to learn, discuss and experiment with technology.

Why DevFest Florida Stands Out:

  • Industry Titans: Hear from top tech companies like Google, Microsoft, EA, Thoughtworks, and Mailchimp.
  • Career Catalyst: Explore our dedicated Career Development track for tailored insights.
  • Diverse Tech Landscape: Discover cutting-edge technologies like Angular, Flutter, Android, Machine Learning, Firebase, Cloud, Web, and more.
  • Inclusive Community: Connect with developers, designers, testers, tech entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts from all backgrounds.

What to Expect:

Expert Insights: Learn from 30+ speakers sharing their expertise across industries and tool stacks. Our featured speakers for 2024 include
– Dmitry Lyalin, Product Lead for Google FireBase
– John Papa, Partner GM – Developer Relations @ Microsoft
– Brooke Avery, Engineer & Technical Program Manager @ Limble
– Doug Leal, Director of Consulting (Data & Analytics) at CGI
– Roya Kandalan – Gen AI Research Scientist (The Cigna Group)

  • Hands-On Workshops: Dive deep into the latest technologies.
  • Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded professionals.
  • Inclusive Environment: Experience a welcoming atmosphere that celebrates diversity and inclusion.

Get 10% off your ticket when you use the code SECRETSALE

Get your tickets at EventBrite.com

“Growing Your Developer Career using Open Source” via @JohnBaluka

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We are open

Whether you’re just starting in your career or you’ve been working in the industry for years, you can benefit from the culture and practice of open source. I want to thank John Baluka for sharing his reflections and personal journey on this topic. I really appreciate John’s fresh business perspective on using open source to advance your learning and business. I had the opportunity to hear him share his talk on this topic during an ONETUG meeting this past week. If you’re in the Orlando area, make sure to check out ONETUG. They’re a great community of programming professionals.

Some programming communities have stronger cultures of sharing and open source culture. As a web applications developer, we naturally love open source software. Programmers who leverage NodeJS and JavaScript operate in a very open way because the world wide web operates in that manner. I’ve been working as a C# developer for over 20 years. I’m very excited that our .NET community of developers has learned lessons from other languages and become open and collaborative. I still think it’s crazy that Microsoft has become the number one contributor to open source software. Stuff that used to be secret sauce has become open. On top of that, Microsoft has now bought GitHub.com. Look forward to seeing Microsoft and GitHub use their influence to increase the impact of open culture.

I believe that John hit on 5 thoughtful benefits for getting to know open source solutions. In John’s view, you need to be strategic on your investment of time.

1. Personal learning and growth: In John’s journey, he wanted to find an example of a large software architecture written in .NET and ASP.NET MVC. He selected NopCommerce, a cool e-commerce platform for .NET developers. John organized lessons and meta-patterns from dissecting this project into a talk. Some of the topics included dependency injection, language localization, data validation, plug-in architecture, and agile design. John offered us a challenge to select and study an open source project as a tool to advance your career in architecture or software leadership. On InspiredToEducate.NET, we have talked about this principle in the context of the makers movement. Everyone can learn something from reading code, exploring a 3D model, dissecting an electronics schematic, music, art, etc. What’s an open source project that fits into your space of passion?

2. Open source software enhances your public profile of work: When you hire an interior designer, how would you make your decision? You probably would review pictures of previous work to see if the designer fits with your tastes and requirements. For the average job interview in software engineering, it’s typically hard to show code from your previous gig. (i.e. corporate secrets, policies) Most companies don’t do their work in open source. By getting involved and contributing to an open source project, you can enhance your public profile of work. How does your GitHub reflect your strengths and skills?

3. Speed to solution: It’s important to remember that software developers aren’t paid to write code. We provide value and solve business problems. Open source software enables our teams to reduce time to market. Phil Haack, creator of ASP.NET MVC and engineer at GitHub, shared a reflection that businesses should always focus on their unique value proposition. (i.e. what makes your company different than other options ) Open source provides an opportunity for companies to partner or collaborate on elements outside of your unique value proposition. Why write a big workflow system or content system when you can integrate one?

4. Open source is social: To advance your career, it’s important to expand your network and relationships. Growing authentic relationships becomes critical in growing your business. By collaborating on open source, you have an opportunity to learn from others. You have the opportunity to invest and support peers around you. I personally get excited about supporting the growth of others.

5. Business models around open source software: I really appreciate John’s reflections on this aspect. I admire his pragmatic approach to selecting NopCommerce. On one level, the open source project followed good and clean patterns. In his view, the project isn’t perfect, but you can learn something from it. By sharing his reflections on the software design during user group meetups and conferences, he started getting consulting requests to support NopCommerce integrations. He challenged us to strategically select an open source project for learning with an eye toward job growth. In the NopCommerce space, you can earn money by building store themes, building plugins, providing support or integrations. Here’s a few more blog post that elaborate on this idea.

https://opensource.com/article/17/12/open-source-business-models
https://handsontable.com/blog/articles/5-successful-business-models-for-web-based-open-source-projects

What open source projects connect to your strengths, passions, and your career growth strategy? This was probably my favorite concept from John’s talk.

Again, I want to thank ONETUG and John Baluka for making this talk possible. I also appreciate John taking time after the meetup to hang out. I appreciate his accessibility.

Make sure to check out John’s talk and his resources.

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MakerFaire Projects To Inspire You

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Atlanta Maker Faire 2016

SparkMacon Makerspace invited local makers for an amazing road trip to Atlanta Maker Faire in Decatur, GA on Oct 1st! Maker Faire is a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue to for these “makers” to show hobbies, experiments, projects. 

In organizing this road trip, I hoped that we could grow community and relationships in our SparkMacon community and inspire new ideas, business concepts, and project based learning experiences.  We had a great time!  In this blog post, I wanted to share a few stories and projects we got to observe.

My little boy enjoyed learning how to cut styrofoam pieces using a hot wire cutter from Geekspace Gwinnet.   Using this tool, makers can cut styrofoam to craft structures for cosplay and other projects.   Geekspace did a great job presenting their work ranging from amazing robots, cosplay, and kids activities.

I really appreciate the team from Geekspace Gwinnet sharing some of their experiences in growing and sustaining their makerspace and community too.    The conversation reminded me of the importance of growing, empowering, and serving our maker community.

ATL Maker Faire 2

I know that many of our members enjoyed seeing their first drone race.  Drone pilots fly their creations from a first person perspective through a track on a field.  You can see a team named Cyclone FPV running the course here.

 

I want to thank our SparkMacon road trip team on going to this trip with me.  Creativity is always contagious.   I always enjoy sharing Maker Faire with friends and family.    I want to give a special shout out to my brother Francis Rosario and Ronda Teel who helped take pictures to build the video below.  Hope you enjoy it.

 

Make sure to check out the following link to learn more about Atlanta Maker Faire presenters.

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Music credit: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doctor_Turtle/none_given_2414/peak_beak

 

Cool Projects and Makerspaces to visit at Atlanta Maker Faire 2016

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IMG_2965

  • OpenMV – “The OpenMV project is about creating low-cost, extensible, Python powered, machine vision modules”
  • Exploring 3D Printing through Assistive Technologies – “From eNable arms, customized and personalized tools, interfaces, adaptations and functional prototypes – explore how 3D printing can democratize access to and the making of assistive technologies.”
  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team – “We are the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team from Kennesaw State University. Our team builds robots for a international competition hosted by the navy every year in San Diego. The robots we create are submarines that operate autonomously.”
  • ALGIX 3D – “ALGIX 3D. 3D Printer Filament and Resin. High Performance. Environmentally Sustainable. Engineered to Perform.”
  • The Process: Launching a New Video Game App – “Our booth will consist of a work-in-progress video game developed by our high school students at The LIFE School. The booth will outline their journey in developing the game, key lessons learned and a hands -on demonstration of the game.”
  • Sumo Bot from clubhou.se Makerspace – “Build A Robot. Learn to Code. Have Some Fun. Sumo Robots, 3D Printing, Maker Space from Augusta! Come by and see what we make and do.”  This is the makerspace community that continues to inspire me in maker education.  Make sure to check them out!
  • The Invention Studio at Georgia Tech – “The Invention Studio at Georgia Tech is the nation’s largest student run maker space. In the studio, students are encouraged to design, build and invent regardless of their experience, major or year. Our booth will showcase various student projects.”
  • G3 Robotics & Drones for Good –  “G3 Drones for Good challenges students in grades 6-8 to design, build, and fly their own drone while developing team work, research, and problems-solving skills.”
  • Chaos Corps / Atlanta Robot Fight Club – “The Chaos Corps will be displaying their 250lb BattleBots entry Bombshell; Atlanta Robot Fight Club – Regional robot combat teams will have their personal combat robots on display.”
  • Decatur Makers – “Decatur Makers is a welcoming, family-friendly community of inquisitive, motivated people who work together in a safe environment to discover, understand, design and create interesting things”
  • Solarize Decatur-Dekalb
  • BootstrapCNC Router
  • Aquaponics: The Food Systems of Tomorrow

For a full list of projects, check out this link.

 

 

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Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_Faire#/media/File:Maker_Faire_2008_spinning_lights.jpg

 

MakerFaire Projects You Don’t Want to Miss

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Dalek at MakerFaire

Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/lowvoltagelabs/

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What Everybody Ought to Know About Make-End: Macon’s Maker Festival

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makeEnd

Make-end is an art and technology festival sponsored by College Hill Alliance showcasing the talents of artists, clothing makers, computer programmers, costume designers, crafters, DIYers, engineers, entrepreneurs, furniture designers, gadget makers, game designers, graphic designers, metalworkers, robot creators, scientists, technologists, and woodworkers.

Middle Georgia Makers across the region will be exhibiting their products, services, and crafts on November 14th to 15th at Tattnall Square Park in Macon, GA.   The festival seeks to inspire the next generation of creative tech professionals, creative artists and showcase the economic strengths of the region.

My wife Sarah and I had the opportunity to take the family to our first maker festival in 2013. It was amazing.   The kids loved shooting smoke rings into the air, shooting off paper rockets, building crafts at the STEAM truck, making glop, and seeing toys created by 3D printers. On Georgia Tech’s beautiful campus, you could notice quadcopters and R/C aircraft dancing in the sky. The boys LOVED all the robots. They especially enjoyed catching Frisbee’s from the robots built by the FIRST robotics teams in Georgia. I was very impressed with the young people and mentors in the festival.  I think the festival inspired many future engineers!


I know that many of our readers care about growing the next generation of creatives like I do.   Hope to see you there with your friends and family.   It’s going to be a great time!

Learn more at http://make-end.com/

If you’ve never attended a maker festival, check the following links from Maker Faire.

 

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8 Podcasts to Help You Level Up in Code

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Podcasts

  • .NET Rocks:  “NET Rocks! is a weekly Internet audio talk show for .NET Developers.”  I have been following Carl and Richard for years.   They have great taste in selecting guests.   I tend to use this podcast to watch for trends in web development, Javascript, and all things .NET.
  • Hanselminutes:  “Hanselminutes Podcast is ‘Fresh Air’ for developers. Scott interviews movers and shakers in technology in this commute-time show.”   I love learning from Scott Hanselman about a broad range of topics including DIY/makers movement, community management, open source, and .NET tech.
  • Floss Weekly:   Early in my career, I focused exclusively on the Microsoft ecosystem.   I had a great team leader who coached me to pay attention to ways open source technology can add value to a business.   This idea changed my career for the better.   FLOSS weekly is a fun show to watch trends in open source tech.
  • http://www.se-radio.net: Podcast for Professional Software Developers.   This collection of talks can really help your team learn from the experiences of other software engineers.   It’s worth checking out!
  • Google tech talks – Awesome collection of video talks at Google given by top experts.  There’s a broad range of topics that you’ll enjoy.
  • Agile Toolkit Podcast – Conversations about Agile Development and Delivery.   In our shop, we tend to focus on Scrum and agile engineering practices.   This has been a helpful podcast to learn about other flavors of agile and ways that agile integrates with the business.
  • The Changelog: Open Source moves fast. Keep up.
  • This Developer’s Life:  A podcast about developers and their lives.

 

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Join the Spark Macon Maker Space Community on Facebook

Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/29205886@N08/

Moving Your DIY Robot using Arduino and Servos

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Sumobot Bot JR

Interested in building your own Arduino robot? For me, it has been a fun project to do with my kids. We built our first the robot using the PiBot robotics kit. Additional iterations utilized Legos, Sumobot Jr, cardboard, and other materials around the house. It’s fun to invent your own chassis and designs. Using some of the ideas from this blog post,
you’ll be able to build your own DIY robot. Hope you enjoy the journey.

In future blog posts, we’ll show ways to control your robot using a Wifi connection, Raspberry Pi, Droidscript and Android. This blog post will focus on controlling the wheels of the robot using continuous rotation servos and
a simple communication protocol.

Here’s a components that you’ll need to get started:

This post will focus on programming the servo’s with Arduino’s programming environment. For sample instructions on building a Sumo Bot Jr, check out the following video. In this post, we’ll assume that you have put together your robot chassis and your servos, breadboard, battery pack and Arduino have been connected to your chassis.

Servo Robot

  1. Connect the GND pin on the Arduino to the ground line of the bread board. The ground line is marked with a blue stripe.
  2. Connect the black wires of the servos to the ground line.
  3. Connect the red wires of the servos to the voltage line of the bread board. The voltage line is marked with a red stripe.
  4. Connect the white wire of the left servo to pin 9 of the Arduino. This wire will act as a signal wire between the servo and the Arduino.
  5. Connect the white wire of the right servo to pin 10 of the Arduino.
  6. Connect the black wire of the battery pack to the ground line.
  7. Connect the red wire of the battery pack to the voltage line.
  8. Install 4 AA batteries into the battery pack.

At this point, we’re ready to install some Arduino code into the Arduino. Copy the following Arduino sketch and upload into your Arduino. To learn more about uploading sketches using the Arduino IDE, check out the following video:

Here’s another tutorial on setting up your Arduino and uploading sketches:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Howto


#include

Servo leftServo;
Servo rightServo;

int LEFT_FORWARD_VALUE = 180;
int LEFT_BACK_VALUE = 0;
int STOP_VALUE = 90;
int RIGHT_FORWARD_VALUE = 0;
int RIGHT_BACK_VALUE = 180;
int LEFT_SERVO_PIN = 9;
int RIGHT_SERVO_PIN = 10;

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
leftServo.attach(LEFT_SERVO_PIN);
rightServo.attach(RIGHT_SERVO_PIN);
stop();
}
//================================================================================
void forward()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_FORWARD_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_FORWARD_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void stop()
{
leftServo.write(STOP_VALUE);
rightServo.write(STOP_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void back()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_BACK_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_BACK_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void left()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_BACK_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_FORWARD_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void right()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_FORWARD_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_BACK_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void loop()
{
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
int inByte = Serial.read();

switch (inByte) {
case 'w': forward(); break;
case 's': back(); break;
case 'a': left(); break;
case 'd': right(); break;
case ' ': stop(); break;
}
}
}

How does this code work?

We start by importing the “Servo” header and declaring the left and right
servos.


#include

Servo leftServo;
Servo rightServo;

The continuous rotation servo has a simple protocol for controlling rotational
motion using the frequency of voltage pulses. In the Arduino framework, the following
code stops the rotation of the servo.

leftServo.write(90);

To make the servo spin forward, use the following code:

leftServo.write(180);

To make the servo spin backward, use the following code:

leftServo.write(0);

With these ideas in mind, we define the following constants for the left and right servos.


int LEFT_FORWARD_VALUE = 180;
int LEFT_BACK_VALUE = 0;
int STOP_VALUE = 90;
int RIGHT_FORWARD_VALUE = 0;
int RIGHT_BACK_VALUE = 180;

We also define the constants for the Arduino digital pins.

int LEFT_SERVO_PIN = 9;
int RIGHT_SERVO_PIN = 10;

In the following code, we setup the serial port, attach the left and right servos,
and send the stop command.


void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
leftServo.attach(LEFT_SERVO_PIN);
rightServo.attach(RIGHT_SERVO_PIN);
stop();
}

The following functions are used to move the robot forward, backward, left, and right.
There’s also a function to stop movement.


//================================================================================
void forward()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_FORWARD_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_FORWARD_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void stop()
{
leftServo.write(STOP_VALUE);
rightServo.write(STOP_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void back()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_BACK_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_BACK_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void left()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_BACK_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_FORWARD_VALUE);
}
//================================================================================
void right()
{
leftServo.write(LEFT_FORWARD_VALUE);
rightServo.write(RIGHT_BACK_VALUE);
}

//================================================================================

In the loop function which is called repeatedly, the Arduino waits for a character
from the serial port. If the Arduino receives a “w”, the program sends a forward command.
If the Arduino receives a “s”, the program sends a backward command.
If the Arduino receives a space, the program sends a stop command.


void loop()
{
if (Serial.available() > 0) {
int inByte = Serial.read();

switch (inByte) {
case 'w': forward(); break;
case 's': back(); break;
case 'a': left(); break;
case 'd': right(); break;
case ' ': stop(); break;
}
}
}

In the Arduino IDE, press CTRL+SHIFT+M to open the serial port monitor. This window is used to send bytes to the Arduino. Try typing “w” and press enter. The robot should move forward. Try typing space and press enter. The robot should stop.

Congrads! You’ve built your first Arduino robot!

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Sumobot Jr: Fun Open Source Robot Kit using Arduino and JavaScript

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Sumobot Bot JR

Looking for a fun weekend project? The Sumobot junior is a fun open source robot kit using Arduino and JavaScript. If you already own an Arduino, this kit can be an inexpensive way to tinker with robot building. (i.e. about $50)   Since the plans for the chassis are open source, you can customize the robot as you see fit.  The design can be completed using a laser cutter or a 3D printer.    You might extend the base of the robot so that you can have room for a bread board or anything else you like! You can find complete instructions for building your Sumo Bot JR at http://sumobotkit.com/.   The design uses continuous rotation servo’s which are pretty easy to program and re-use in other robot projects.  You can purchase the servo’s here: https://www.parallax.com/product/900-00008

While researching this blog post, I found another cool post detailing the process of building a NodeBot Jr.
http://www.tattdcodemonkey.com/blog/2014/7/26/nodebots

You can find the build plans and code here: https://github.com/makenai/sumobot-jr

 

 

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Image from https://github.com/makenai/sumobot-jr

Civic Hacking: Why does it matter?

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Hack for change picuture

Civic hacking has become a potent movement for engaging coders, designers, and technology professionals in challenges that matter to the community.   Computer hacking tends to have a negative connotation.  Some call civic hacking “hacking gone good” since it’s really about community service and place making.

I had the good fortune to participate in the National Day of Civic hacking on June 6th at SparkMacon MakerSpace.  I want to give a shout out to the organizations that made the event possible: TAG Middle Georgia, LBA Ware, Infinity Network Solutions and Spinen.   I especially want to thank the team that organized the event for their investment of time in organizing challenge mentors, making people feel welcome, and supporting our makers.

Hack For Change

Some argue that civic hackathons have little value since it’s rare to find apps that find their way into full implementation and  achieve impact.  I, however, feel that civic hackathons offer our communities a number of benefits.

  • Building a tribe change makers: It’s great to meet like mind technologists who care about making a positive impact in their community.  Hackathons enable you to meet new people, make connections, and learn about the deeper needs of your area.  Through the experience, you learn about new tools, practices, and strategies for doing rapid prototyping.
  • Local Data, Local Impact: Democracy only works when citizens are engaged.   I appreciate that the civic hacking movement helps us to learn about local concerns and empowers us to do something about it.  Being a geek about data, it’s also fascinating to learn about the open government API’s and data sources that can support civic apps.
  • Voting with your code: It’s interesting to see what problems makers care about.   In a typical hackathon, there’s a broad range of issues, data and topics to choose.  The team tends to select projects based on skill level, their engagement in the topic, and challenge difficulty.
  • Building a community of support: During our hackathon event, it was cool to see how different teams mentored and supported each other.  Everyone has different strengths in terms of design or technology.   I can honestly say that everyone learned from each other.   In our hackathon in Macon, it was nice to see the experienced hackers mentoring the new developers and helping them feel welcome.

In our hackathon in Macon, GA, one team created an mobile app serving Peace corp team members to help them to know about safety and security alerts as they travel to various countries.   Another team of hackers helped propose and prototype applications that would help high school students with learning vocabulary for SAT/ACT .

We had some important discussions on the real impact of hackathons.   In general, how do we care, feed, market, and grow various hackathon ideas?  How do you care for the hacks from a software maintenance point of view?  How do you intentionally organize the challenge ideas and data sets?  The team from Spinen made some strong arguments for making a home for these concerns.  I’m interested in seeing how this idea can grow.

Are you interested in contributing a challenge problem for future hackathons for SparkMacon Makerspace?  Feel free to contribute your ideas here:

Submit a hackathon challenge idea to SparkMacon

To help contribute to this conversation locally for Middle Georgia, I have compiled most of the challenge problems, data, resources, and links from previous SparkMacon hackathons and HackForChange events.  At a minimum, it would be cool to create a backlog of challenge ideas that can be used in future Middle Georgia hackathons and SparkMacon Open Make events.

Middle Georgia Civic Hacking Projects and Resources

To close, here’s some links sharing the impact of civic hacking in communities.   I think it’s work that matters.   I believe it’s a cool way to innovate our communities and create engagement.   What do you think?

 

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