Stockport Hackathon 2017

What is a Hackathon?

A Hackathon is a sprint event where people from different skill sets come together to help solve a problem using data and in some circumstances digital solutions. Hackathons help individual citizens and the private sector to use open data as a raw material to improve existing government services, create alternative services and empower citizens.

What are we trying to achieve?

This is a Hackathon to assist Stockport citizens to connect with their wider communities.

Stockport Council has trawled the web to find out what people think about Stockport including comments, the things they like, complaints, and enquiries. We also have collated data from citizens with questions such as 'What do you care about most in Stockport?' and 'What image comes to mind when you think of Stockport?'. This combined with our anonymised and aggregated contact centre data means that we have the data regarding what people in or visiting Stockport care about the most.

We would like people of all skill sets to come together to help see what matters to the citizens of Stockport and make it easier for citizens to connect with the things they care about. This can be a bright idea with a well thought out plan, data analytics to help the Council see the source or solution of an issue, or an app/software to help bring people together or make them aware of services or events in the area.

We would like people to form teams of 4 but please let us know if you would like to come as an individual and we can link you with a team of other individuals at a later date.

How to succeed

The time limit is a great motivator to sharpen ideas and bring out creativity, however coming up with a well thought out idea can take too long and encroach on your planning/coding/analysis time. Brainstorming can take place well in advance, with parameters set before you arrive. Putting the groundwork of what you will do before you arrive could very well win you the race.

Everyone is welcome

There’s a public perception of hackathons being populated entirely by programmers. Coding skills can be vital to implementing ideas since they can wrangle data and technology in innovative ways. But not knowing how to string code together is no barrier to entry – you can always try and team up with someone with any skills you think you lack or come up with a low-tech solution. We're not necessarily after technical solutions, any solution is welcome.

Hackathon Teams

The Hackathon is best tackled in teams of 4 or 5, please see the group registration option. Don't worry however if there are less than 4 of you, please register and we will use your skill information to set you up with a team.

Our support team

We have a support team of analysts, coders, and council staff with knowledge on the everything that makes Stockport great, the culture of Stockport, and the issues Stockport faces to give you a helping hand or a sounding board if you need it on the day.

Prizes!

• An Amazon Echo for each member of the winning team (courtesy of CDL)

• A small prize for each participant

• Work experience working in an Agile software development environment, in Stockport Council’s Digital by Design team.

• Potential for your idea to be supported into development by Stockport Council.

For more details please see our blog www.digitalstockport.info/announcing-the-stockport-hackathon/