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The Deal Hackathon Weekend Event
Wigan Council, in association with Leigh Hackspace, are running the first ever Wigan Borough 'The Deal' Civic Hackathon, open to all Wigan Borough citizens and focused on helping the Council better understand the needs of the local population, and develop new and innovative digital solutions to local problems.
About Hack Days
'Hack Days' have nothing to do with malicious computer hacking - they're all about friendly get-togethers of citizens and programmers who want to make the world a better place. The programmers and citizens all give their time as volunteers in order to create new technological solutions to local issues.
Attendees get the chance to 'pitch' their idea in front of all the other attendees, who can then join with you and build the solution over the weekend, together. Come along with your ideas for a Wigan Council app, or some Open Data that needs to be used better, or simply a problem that you think might be solvable with technology. You don't need to be able to 'code' (program computers) to come along - we will have plenty of coders, developers, and techies to help.
A Hack Day, Like Leigh Hackspace itself, has only one rule - "Be Excellent To Each Other"! We're all spending a weekend together to build community, work on the Hack Day projects, and to enhance the experience of living in Wigan Borough by using technology to solve local problems.
There is a discussion forum at http://discourse.leighhack.org/c/wigan-council-deal-in-action-hack-day for talking about the event, your ideas, and what to expect if you've never been to a hack day before.
Itinerary
Here's what the weekend's itinerary looks like:
Saturday March 5th 2016
0830-0900 Arrival, registration, and pitch submissions (if you are pitching). Coffee, chatting and getting excited!
0930 Opening welcome, project pitches (each pitch will get a strict 2 minutes each, so get those ideas honed down to the Minimum Viable Product, the Proof Of Concept, the absolute bare bones of your great idea!).
1030 Coffee, discussion, form project teams and start working
1300 Lunch.
1400 Continue hacking, working, creating, discussing, etc.
1630 Check Back 1 min 'how are we doing?' from each team.
1700 Close of Day 1 and Socialising/Networking
Sunday March 6th 2016
0900 Arrival. Coffee.
0930 Continue work on project(s).
1300 Lunch.
1430 Hard deadline for presentation submissions.
1500 Presentations, Awards/Prizes, Next Steps for 'The Deal' Hacks?
1700 Close.
FAQs
Are there ID requirements or an age limit to enter the event?
Attendees should be old enough to join in the Hack Day activity, so this probably means High School aged children at a minimum. Leigh Hackspace is always a family friendly environment, however if there are lots of small children running about it is a) dangerous and b) going to impair the development of cool tech solutions. So perhaps for this one weekend, we need to keep it to the bigger kids and adults.
What are my transport/parking options getting to the event?
Leigh Hackspace has ample car parking, also there is further car parking a few hundred metres away at the large Tesco in Leigh.
Accessibility: IMPORTANT
Leigh Hackspace is on the First Floor, up one flight of stairs. Unfortunately we don't have a lift. We're really sorry about this because we desperately want a fully accessible venue, especially for events like this. Our team will be avaliable to help anyone who requires assistance, and if you think you might need help it would be great if you could make contact beforehand to discuss this (marcus@leighhack.org) and we can make sure you enjoy the hack day to the full.
What can/can't I bring to the event?
Do bring: Yourselves, your awesome ideas, and your laptops. Bring 4 way adapters (there are never enough at a Hack day!) Bring anything you think you might need in order to make your idea a reality - for example, if your idea involves Arduinos or Raspberry Pi, or sensors, or NFC, then bring whatever it is you will need. Bring your positive and can-do attitude!
Don't bring: broken Windows 10 laptops for repair, negative political or religious attitudes, alcohol/drugs, or cake (unless it's really good cake in which case bring enough for 200 people please)
Where can I contact the organiser with any questions?
Contact Marcus Baw at marcus@leighhack.org
Is my registration/ticket transferrable?
Yes, but please update it on the Eventbrite page so we know who is coming!
The name on the registration/ticket doesn't match the attendee. Is that okay?
I guess so. But we would always prefer to have a correct list of attendees, for fire regulations and for pre- and post-event communications.
Leigh Hackspace? What's a Hackspace?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace
Wow! Leigh has a Hackspace, even though Wigan, Salford, Warrington, Bolton, St Helens, Chorley, don't! That is SOOO Awesome! How do I join?
You go here: http://www.leighhack.org/membership/ :-)
