DataKind SF Bay Area DataDive #2

Calling all socially conscious analysts, statisticians, data scientists, coders, hackers, designers, and eager-to-learn do-gooders!

A DataDive is a weekend-long, marathon-style events where teams of volunteers rally together to help social change organizations do initial data analysis, exploration, and prototyping. Tickets are open to volunteers of all skill levels. We’re excited to be partnering with 3 amazing organizations: Community Technology Alliance (CTA), San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center (SFCAPC), and Skoll Global Threats.

Schedule

Friday, November 13th

7:00 PM: Doors open, sign-in

7:30 PM: Opening Remarks

9:00 PM: Reception ends

On Friday we all get together to hear a bit from the organizations we'll be working with throughout the weekend.

Community Technology Alliance (CTA) - http://www.ctagroup.org/

San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center - http://sfcapc.org/

Skoll Global Threats, Pandemics - http://www.skollglobalthreats.org/global-threats/pandemics/

It's also a great chance to meet the other volunteers you'll be working and you'll have a chance to talk with many people from our partner causes. Plus, there will be snacks and drinks. Not a bad way to spend your Friday night!

Saturday, November 14th

8:30 AM: Doors open, sign-in and breakfast

9:00 AM: Brief review from Data Ambassadors, then data diving!

12:30 PM: Lunch

1:15 PM: Open Roundtables

6:00 PM: Dinner

11:00 PM: Everybody goes home for the night

Saturday we'll get to the data!  Participants will choose which problems they'd like to work on and form teams around their individual questions.  Each team will have a Data Ambassador assigned to them who will help advise on and manage the projects throughout the day.  We'll have meals and keep the space open until 11PM for any late-night divers.

Sunday, November 15th

8:30 AM:  Doors open, breakfast

12:00 PM: Presentations from teams to social organizations

2:00 PM: Another successful DataDive in the books!

This is your chance to show the world what you have done with data!  There is no expectation of slides or other presentation materials, simply use whatever method of conveying your work to the organizations you feel is best.  This is also the chance for our partner NGOs to better understand what your team did. These presentations can be single or group work, but they can be no longer than 10 minutes each.  We want to give everyone a chance to speak, and get people out at a reasonable time.

FAQs

Unlike a hackathon, the goal is not (necessarily) to create an app.  Instead it is to work with teams of experts to understand a truly difficult problem through data.  You could end up with a visualization, an analysis, some graphs, or even just some new datasets by the end of the event, and all of those are fantastic results!

We do not assign you to a problem.  We want you to work with the problem and data you feel most passionate about, so come Friday with an open mind and be ready to learn.

You do not have to stay the entire weekend to participate in the event.  We hope that you will find a project you can dig into, but you are always welcome to come and go as you please.

You do not have to work on the same project for the whole weekend.  Again, we hope that you will find a project to work on to completion, but if at any point you feel like you want to change simply let the ambassador from those teams know.

We do not provide any hardware or software for you to use.  We'll have the data and some services set up (wiki, DropBox, Github), but otherwise you should bring your own laptop and come ready to use whatever data tools you like.

Can't wait to see you all there!