RHoK

A Call to Action for Women Programmers

elizabeth.sabet — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 22:59:21 +0000

In the two short years since its inception, Random Hacks of Kindness has grown into a diverse global community of experts and volunteer technologists putting their skills to work for the greater good. An important part of that diversity is the significant number of women programmers who have come out to RHoK events to hack for humanity. Women have traditionally been underrepresented in the global software development community. Here at RHoK, we are aiming to better the statistics.

A map showing RHOK #2 participation globally with circle size indicating total attendance and circle color indicating percentage of women attending.
Green: >=20%, Yellow: between 10 and 20%, Red: <=10%.

At last year’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the Open Source for Good panel (including Avni Khatri and Alice Bonhomme-Biais from RHoK founding partners Yahoo! and Google) threw down a challenge: to ensure that women made up 20% of all participants at RHoK #2.

The challenge made an impact. RHoK locations in Chicago, New York, Boston and Seattle, and Lusaka, Zambia all had close to 30% female participation, with 17% of participants globally being women, and many women acting as lead organizers.

“We didn’t just hit 20% challenge of women participants, we leapt over it,” said Chicago attendee Natalia Vinnick, Yahoo!, on the YDN blog. “It was great to see so many women who participated and women who won!”

The winning team at the RHoK #2 Chicago Mainstage

“I found out about RHoK from a friend who participated in RHoK #1 and recommended it to me, since I am passionate about humanitarian causes,” said Eugenia Gabrilova, a member of the winning team in Chicago. “I hope more women learn that a career in tech isn’t about sitting in a corner coding—you can accomplish so much and interact with many cool people.”

Yahoo! took the 20% challenge one step further, funding a scholarship for a female student to travel to RHoK #2’s Chicago Mainstage event.

“I have always hoped that my education will help me in building tools that will have social outreach—tools that will benefit others across any boundaries,” wrote scholarship winner Malveeka Tewari, a graduate computer science student at UCSD in her winning essay about hacking for humanity.

Nairobi RHoK attendees included members of the AkiraChix team. The AkiraChix “are a group of intelligent and energetic ladies yearning to empower women through the use of technology in our day-to-day lives and change the cliché that IT is for men,” said Jamila Abass and Judith Owigar. Their team learned about RHoK through Nairobi’s innovation hub and RHoK’s Nairobi venue, the iHub.

AkiraChix member Linda Kamau at the iHub

“Currently there are few women in technology here in Kenya. Even fewer involved in software development. We as AkiraChix would like to change that,” said Jamila Abass and Judith Owigar. “We would like to see more women using technology to enrich their lives and creating relevant applications. Since these women are an untapped resource who knows what new applications they could create? The bottom line is by getting more women involved in technology we get a greater variety of ideas and applications, all of which are for the benefit of all people who will interact with these applications.”

With RHoK #3 fast approaching, RHoK is sending out a call to action to lady hackers around the globe: we invite you to take RHoK by storm! Register here to join us in hacking for humanity on June 4^th and 5^th.

RHoK #3 on June 4th and 5th

elizabeth.sabet — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 05:22:22 +0000

Hackers, mark your calendars. On June 4^th and 5^th, 2011 Random Hacks of Kindness is coming to a city near you. Taking place in 20 locations around the globe, RHoK #3 will be RHoK’s fourth hackathon, and the first with an expanded focus on both disaster risk and climate change. So we are issuing a call to action: Experts in disaster risk and climate change—send your challenges our way. And to the coders, designers, engineers, programmers and geeks of every variety—join us on June 4^th and 5^th to tackle some real-world problems and hack for humanity.

Click here to register

RHoK #3 will be taking place in:

Aarhus, Denmark
Bangalore, India
Basel, Switzerland
Berlin, Germany
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.
Jakarta, Indonesia
Lusaka, Zambia
Melbourne, Australia
Nairobi, Kenya
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Santiago, Chile
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
Toronto, Canada
Trento, Italy

Stay tuned for the announcement of additional RHoK #3 locations and the opening of registration, and get ready for a weekend of intensive brainstorming, collaborating and problem solving.

With Our Eyes Turned to Sendai

elizabeth.sabet — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:52:00 +0000

As we watch with shock and profound sadness the tragedy unfolding in Japan and across the Pacific rim in the wake of the Sendai earthquake, our hearts and sympathies are with the families affected and their loved ones around the world. Both personally and professionally, we are deeply sensitive to the challenges now facing that region.

We know many of you in the Random Hacks of Kindness community feel an urgency to take action in some way, to express your solidarity with the people of Japan and to offer your time, skills and efforts in their support.

There are many incredible initiatives out there that are actively engaged in the response efforts, working with volunteer technologists and citizens alike to channel their concern into action. We know they would welcome your help. These are just a few that we are aware of:

The Crisis Commons Volunteer Community

Crisis Mappers Net: The International Network of Crisis Mappers

OpenStreetMap (OpenStreetMap Japan)

Ushahidi (in Japanese)

Google Crisis Response (English)/(Japanese)

Microsoft Disaster Response

Yahoo!: How to Help

RHoK the Campus

todd.khozein — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 07:40:36 +0000

Last week we all descended upon the Googleplex where we reviewed the past, dreamed about the future and began our concrete planning for RHoK 3. We’ve culled through the lessons learned and valuable advice that many of you passed along and it is clear that, although most everything we heard was overwhelmingly positive, there are many opportunities to make this next event even better than the last. The success of RHoK 2 was, of course, the result of a phenomenal global partnership between corporations, organizations, subject matter experts, designers, hackers, event planners and a small army of other volunteers.

In planning for the next RHoK event, which we have penciled in for sometime in the first half of June, we wanted to make a special call out to universities around the world to partner with us. So whether you are a student, a professor, represent a department or have ties to a university or college, send us a line so we can start the logistics machine as early as possible. Universities can provide space, internet, problem definition expertise in the areas of disaster risk management and climate change and have, to date, been phenomenal partners in all respects.

If you are tied to a university and have an interest in participating in the RHoK 3 hackathon, please let us know here by February 28th so that we can have logistics in place by the end of March.

Thank YOU!! RHoK #2 a Global Success!

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:39:18 +0000

Last weekend, 21 cities around the globe braced themselves for a marathon session of hacking for humanity. Then, for 48 hours, they did just that by mashing up data, tinkering with developer tools and collaborating across continents, all to further the worldwide state-of-the-art in disaster preparedness and response technologies.

For the past 5 days, amazing stories of achievement and innovation have been trickling in from hackers and organizers. Our wiki is currently being populated with the winning and featured hacks of the weekend, and will also be maintained as a collaborative space, where ideas and contributions can continue to be made to the growing community. The work is never complete, but our appreciation is huge for everyone who participated in the amazing sprint effort of RHoK #2.

Therefore, to everyone who spent their time and energy hacking for humanity, organizing a venue, donating resources, writing blogs, taking photos, calling supporters, being stakeholders, opening data, speaking at venues, reaching out on our website, improving the wiki, editing Wikipedia, judging the hacks, spreading the word and keeping the core meaning of what we’re doing in constant focus… THANK YOU! The Random Hacks of Kindness founding partners intently look forward to RHoK #3 because of your efforts!!

RHoK #2 World Map

robbie — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:03:33 +0000

RHoK events are taking place in over twenty locations around the world. The main stages (signified by the Red marker) for RHoK 2 are Aarhus, Denmark; Bangalore, India; Chicago, IL U.S.A.; Nairobi, Kenya and New York, NY U.S.A. Satellite events (signified by the Blue marker) are organized by local communities in Atlanta, GA U.S.A.; Berlin, Germany; Birmingham, U.K.; Bogota, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Jakarta, Indonesia; Lusaka, Zambia; Mexico City, Mexico; São Paolo, Brazil; San Francisco, CA U.S.A.; Seattle, WA U.S.A.; Singapore; São Paolo, Brazil; Tel Aviv, Israel and Toronto, Canada.

Tech Camp Santiago Problem Definitions

skytland — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:59:06 +0000

In mid-November, the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile hosted Tech Camp Santiago, an initiative focused on connecting the NGO and technology communities as well as identifying problems that could be solved at the RHoK Global Hackathon this weekend.

Check out the following videos from Santiago, which highlight each individual problem set defined at the Camp. Additional videos from other venues are forthcoming. Note: Videos are in Spanish

Ecuador Disaster Risk Awareness – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/0/6ppmxWnanUo

Collaboration Space for NGOs – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/1/hO6K4sg3oe4

Post-Disaster Communication – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/2/OeLs8r8XAeQ

Wiki for Climate Change Visualization – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/3/yDPZfwRXDl0

SMS Startup – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/4/Tn9dn0ZB3ig

Country Transparency – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/5/w9dB0VERXUc

SMS-based Disaster Response System – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/6/y_dOkLgb14s

Promoting Marketing of Microbusinesses – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/7/rvb8AlDcanc

Juarez Connection – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/8/5h6Vf7XyJFQ

Psychology Volunteers – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/9/rM3czvTrgp4

Local Power – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/10/w3h9jYEawm4

Telemedicine/Mobile Medicine – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/11/pCQcetCwOSY

Simplifying Transparency Message to Larger Audiences – http://www.youtube.com/user/techcampsantiago#p/u/12/YIU-1GdghCA

Random Hacks of Kindness: Lusaka, Zambia

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:35:22 +0000

“Hacking” and “Zambia” are not necessarily two words that you would place together. But on the weekend of December 4-5, 2010 a Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) hackathon was held in the capital, Lusaka, attracting 150 attendees from across the country. Lusaka was among one of the many cities around the world that hosted this worldwide event, which aims at bringing together ICT (the “hackers”) and development experts (“disaster risk management experts ”) to develop innovative solutions to real-life problems. The themes in Lusaka: climate change and disaster risk management (DRM).

The day opened with a series of keynotes by Dominiciano Mulenga (Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit); Pablo Recalde (World Food Program); Fred Mweetwa (Machaworks); Sofia Bettencourt (The World Bank); and Panic Chilufya (Zabuntu) (see agenda for further details), followed by an “unconference.” Organizations ranging from the Zambian Red Cross, the Climate Change Youth Network, and various NGOs, academic institutions, and Government officials presented their problem definitions and RHoK participants, consisting of local “hackers,” university students, school teachers and entrepreneurs joined groups they felt inspired to help. The aim: to clearly identify and define a climate change and DRM problem and develop an information and communication technology (ICT) solution to address that challenge.

And challenges there are in Zambia: a major one being Internet connection. As RHoK hackthons kicked-off in over twenty countries in Asia, Europe, North and South America, the Lusaka RHoK struggled to get online in the midst of intense rains… However, this reality only made participants more eager to think about the real-life technical challenges they face in the field and how they can be overcome in disaster situations. Lively discussions were held in rooms across the Lusakan “Olympic Youth Development Center” where mobile technology; geotagging; community mapping; crowdsourcing; and building databases to collect hydro-meteorological information were discussed as methods to increase disaster preparedness and emergency response capacity.

The RHoK event closed with the announcement of the winning team by the judging panel: the award went to the Zambian Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTS) team: this team, made up of engineering students, youth representatives and representatives of the DMMU identified the need to engage civil society in disaster response, and devised a plan to train and deploy in disaster situations in coordination with the DMMU. The use of Frontline SMS and the Ushahidi platform were identified as key IT solutions. The winning team now intends to start a CERTS volunteer pilot in an urban ward in Zambia and is actively searching for seed funding.

Although ICT capacity in Zambia is in its infancy, with the eagerness to learn and the Ubuntu spirit of the people, and particularly the Zambian youth, the development impact of RHoK is great. This was a highly rewarding experience for all those involved. Many thanks to the local lead Zabuntu.

Please watch this short video interview of the winners, illustrating the passion of the RHoK volunteers and their eagerness to continue engaging in RHoK events in the future.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In a Weekend, You Can Change the World

skytland — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:45:26 +0000

The Random Hacks of Kindness hackathon kicked off with a reception on Friday night hosted by the U.N.'s Global Pulse. The hackers were treated to a special visit from the Secretary General from the United Nations Ban Ki Moon, who thanked them for their contributions and discussed technology's role in bringing peace to the world.

RHoK 2 started off with a bang in New York City as hackers gathered Friday night for a formal reception hosted by UN Global Pulse at Digital Sandbox in the Financial District. Among the attendees were United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, Google Vice President of Research Alfred Spector, RHoK co-founder Patrick Svenburg from Microsoft, and Dean of Parsons the New School Joel Towers.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver

In her remarks, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver spoke to the ingenuity of the Random Hacks of Kindness movement: “Ad-hoc groups of people assembled around a common cause can change the world. In a weekend, you can change the world. The diversity of thought assembled here today will undoubtedly bring new approaches to the table, use data in new ways, and develop new solutions to some of society’s greatest challenges.”

The event provided a perfect opportunity for hackers to meet and discuss some of the many problem definitions (link to wiki) in advance of this weekend’s hackathon.

From Left to Right: 1. Ruhakana Rugunda, United Nations Permanent Representative of Uganda 2. Patrick Svenburg, Microsoft Director for Platform Strategy 3. Alfred Spector, Google Vice President of Research 4. Nigel Snoad, Microsoft Architect Evangelist 5. Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General 6. Robert Kirkpatrick, United Nations Global Pulse Director 7. Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator 8. Joel Towers, Dean of Parsons the New School 9. Soon Choi, United Nations Chief Information Technology Officer 10. Robert Orr, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General

RHoK Lights Up Chicago

skytland — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:42:16 +0000

The Chicago skyline had a special message for Chicagoans last night as RHoK lit up the side of the CNA Insurance Building. Special thanks to Chicago sponsor CNA Insurance for making the display possible!

The Chicago skyline is transformed on the eve of RHoK 2