CodeAcross Boston 2016
Please join Code for Boston for a weekend of civic hacking, youth mentorship, and code education at our third annual CodeAcross event on March 5-6, 2015 at the Roxbury Innovation Center. Our goal for this year's CodeAcross is to start building the next generation of civic hackers through a curated, educational hackathon. Pretty cool, right?!
To do this, Code for Boston is partnering with Resilient Coders, a code education non-profit focused on underserved youth, on what we're calling a progression hackathon: a structured hacking event where novice coders and students work in teams with experienced software developers and designers on hacakathon projects, and learn fundamental dev skills like ideation and wireframing, Github and source control, and more through a series of fast-paced, educational workshops.
At CodeAcross, we'll bring together civic technologists, community organizations, and local businesses to work collaboratively on projects around career building, equity, and economic development. Although this year's event is more focused on technology than our usual events, CodeAcross will always be open to the entire community: Community involvement and inclusion are extremely important to us, and our best projects always have a mix of technical and non-technical team members.
We can't wait to see you all for a couple days of learning, teaching, collaborating, and civic hacking!
Should I come to CodeAcross?
Yes! This year's CodeAcross is all about developing coding skills as a way to improve marketable tech skills for participants - especially those from Resilient Coders and other youth-focused coding programs - and as a way to improve the city where we live. We feel that those two things actually go together really well, and hope that you'll join us as we create more economic opportunity and make a positive change in the community, whether your a new or experienced coder, a designer, business person, a community member, or more!
If you are interested in becoming a Dev Mentor, please contact Noah Teshu at noah@codeforboston.org with a resume (or link to Github / portfolio / etc) and a brief statement. Dev Mentors are experienced web developers and designers, with patience to support and mentor project teams. Dev Mentors are not assigned to particular teams, but will float throughout the event, working with Code for Boston staff and providing technical support to project teams.
What will we be doing at CodeAcross?
At this year's CodeAcross, we hope to introduce both novice and experienced developers to the world of civic hacking and create an environment where they can build skills and learn from each other. Before the event, Code for Boston will be developing problem statements with community groups in the Dorchester / Roxbury area for development teams to work on.
At the event, attendees will form teams to work on those problem statements, supported by Code for Boston mentors. Teams will spend the rest of the weekend developing their idea together, and have the chance to take part in several software development workshops. While we hope that project teams have amazing demos by the end of the weekend, we want to focus on building apps and learning together - and teams can always keep working on their projects afterwards at Code for Boston hack nights!
For a taste of what CodeAcross is like, check out this video from last year's event!
How can I get ready for CodeAcross?
Great question! If you are new to software development or hackathons in general, you can prepare for the event by checking out some of the following links:
Brush up on your coding & design skills
- CodeAcademy: General, HTML / CSS Tutorial
- Code.org
- Khan Academy: HTML / CSS, Javascript
- Get Started with GitHub
- Hack Design
Get some development tools
- Sublime Text: A text-editor that we like (PC / Mac / Linux)
- TextWrangler: A similar text editor (Mac only)
Check out some commonly-used software libraries
- Bootstrap: A library of layout and functionality tools that make starting with websites easy
- Foundation: Similar to Bootstrap
Other useful stuff:
- CSS Tricks: A whole website about cool things you can do with CSS and HTML
- CodePen: An online tool for trying out HTML / CSS / Javascript experiments
- A List Apart: An online magazine about web design
- Smashing Magazine: Another online magazine about coding, design, and a bunch of other tech stuff
- What to Expect at a Hackathon: We don't focus 100% on students like they do in this article, but it's pretty close!
I have other questions, ideas, or partnership opportunities for CodeAcross!
Awesome! Here's how we can hook up:
- If you have a project idea, an idea for a workshop, want to get your school or group involved, or want to contribute your company's data or technology: Contact noah@codeforboston.org or hweber@codeforamerica.org
- If you are interested in making a financial contribution, donating a meal, or other forms of sponsorship: Contact kristen@codeforboston.org or becky@codeforboston.org
- If you have a general question not covered here: Contact hello@codeforboston.org
Schedule
Saturday
09:30 - 10:00: Doors Open & Breakfast
10:00 - 10:45: Intro talks and pitches
10:45 - 11:30: Form teams and icebreaker activity
11:30 - 12:30: Design workshop I: Intro to Design Thinking, User Interview, Personas and Problem Framing with Shanfan
12:30 - 01:00: Lunch
01:00 - 01:45: Open hacking time
01:45 - 02:45 Workshops:
A: HTML and CSS for beginners workshop (Think Space) with Del
B: Github Fundamentals (Learn Lab) with Alex
02:45 - 03:30: Open hacking time
03:30 - 04:15: Workshops:
A: Getting started with jQuery (Think Space) with Lauren
B: Basics of using a REST API (Learn Lab) with Noah
04:15 - 05:00: Open hacking time
Sunday
09:30 - 10:00: Doors Open & Breakfast
10:00 - 11:00: Design workshop II: Prototype and Fidelity Level; Storyboard and User Journey with Cristen
11:00 - 11:30: Open hacking time
11:30 - 12:00: Lunch
12:00 - 12:30: Workshops: An intro to open-source software (Learn Lab) with Nimit
12:30 - 02:00: Open hacking time
02:00 - 03:30: Team Presentations
03:30 - 04:00: Snacks and mingling
Our Thanks
CodeAcross Boston 2015 would not be possible without a generous financial donation from the following organization:
With additional support from:
About CodeAcross
CodeAcross is a weekend of civic hacking events hosted by local chapters of the Code for America network around the world. The goal of CodeAcross is to activate the Code for America network and inspire residents everywhere to get involved in their community.
CodeAcross also serves as the annual kick-off for Code for Boston’s year of programming, and is our chance to try new and different event formats that we hope push the intersection of civics, design, technology, and community forward.
Read more about CodeAcross at Code for America
About Code for Boston
Part of the Code for America Brigade network, Code for Boston is a volunteer group of developers, designers, data geeks, and citizen activists who use creative technology to solve civic and social problems in the Greater Boston area.
Part mission-driven non-profit, part technology meetup, part advocacy group, part social club, we provide a way for citizens to give back to their communities by building civic applications, opening public data sources, and generally helping to leverage technology for use in the public sphere.
Read more about Code for Boston
Questions about attending? Interested in becoming a partner, donating a meal, or how you can contribute? Please contact kristen@codeforboston.org or becky@codeforboston.org
Location
Dates
to 6th March 2016 - 05:00 PM