Hackathons

Image from Clarus Commerce website

In my last post I focused on an article about San Francisco becoming the first US city to have a dedicated IoT network. In the article it mentions that there will be a "hackathon" in San Francisco from 20-22 November. From the article:

"In November, SIGFOX and the City of San Francisco will jointly sponsor a hackathon, in order to allow developers and makers to use the technology and generate new ideas for how SIGFOX's network can be used to create innovative smart-city solutions."

I didn't know what a hackathon was (it's not for nothing that my email name for this blog is nontechieteacher!), but my students knew about it, and together they attempted to explain it to me. I say "attempted," not because they weren't able to explain it well, but because different students focused on different aspects of what a hackathon is, depending on their own point of view and on what they most associate it with. The different ideas contribued gave us a lot to talk about, and formed a very useful brainstorming explanations session.

The explanation on Wikipedia is:

"A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest or codefest) is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development and hardware development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects in competition with other teams."

The information on the website leads to Tickets for the Hackathon with further information for participants in the section "Why attend":
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/smart-city-iot-hackathon-connect-your-city-tickets-19092263474

The winning categories listed are:

• Best start up project - most promising project to start a successful business modernizing cities;
• Best civic innovation project - highest impact project that improves citizens' lives;
• Best technical project - most technically advanced and ambitious project.

Students can brainstorm ideas of what could be developed, or what they would want to develop themselves. Then they could discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each idea.

There's plenty of material here for all types of engineering students!

Another aspect of the hackathon information on the website given above is the suggestions listed under "Prototypes Ideas for a smarter City (sic). It says:

"Here are several examples of applications that might tickle your fancy for this hackathon. Feel free to suggest more and think outside the box!"

So if students need some inspiration for their brainstorming, this material can be presented. The first one listed is Air, Water quality, Noise control, Energy efficiency with the prompt:

"Setting up ubiquitous sensors will help refine our understanding of where pollution happens, and where to focus efforts to limit its effets for healthier living. Is air quality better in neighborhoods with different transportation mixes? How does the weather affect energy consumption in businesses? Can the City cuts its utility bills by smarter use of sensors?"

Each of the examples has a prompt like this, which could certainly generate ideas. The full list of examples of applications:

• Air, Water quality, Noise control, Energy efficiency
• Inventory/Fleet management/Sensors on City equipment
• Traffic, transportation, parking, potholes
• Security
• Kids, pets
• Seniors, autonomy
• Art, street art, performance, interactive performance
• Fire detection, Earthquake, Flood warning systems, Disaster relief
• Wild animal tracking
• Parks, urban farms, beekeeping

Photo of a hackathon from Wikimedia blog

For more general information about hackathons, this article from Wired magazine online, "The Hackathon is On: Pitching and Programming the Next Killer App," is very useful.



Link: http://www.wired.com/2012/02/ff_hackathons/all/1

Some interesting excerpts from the article:

• "Hackathons, with their come-one-come-all ethos, have emerged as the new forum for networking, learning, and beta-testing new apps and ventures."
• "Venture capitalists are looking to hackathons as a new way to spot fresh faces worth recruiting and good ideas worth finding."
• "The trend has already spread beyond the conventional tech world. There are women-only hackathons, hackathons for teens, hackathons for colleage students, hackathons to fight autism, hackathons to improve education, hackathons to help veterans, hackathons to build Occupy Wall Street protest tools, hackathons on clean energy, hackathons on grocery shopping in Vermont, and 14 hackathons to troubleshoot water pollution -- footage of which was streamed live from nine cities including Bangalore and Nairobi."

This certainly sounds as if hackathons are a part of my students' lives - now and in the future.

IoT network in San Francisco

The City of San Francisco

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network that connects physical objects and allows them to "communicate" with each other. The company SIGFOX has established IoT networks in a number of countries in Europe, and is working on creating more in Europe, as well as North America and Asia.

A recent news article from the website radio-electronics that I used with my Information Technology students reports that SIGFOX will deploy a dedicated IoT network in San Francisco, the first city in the United States with such a network.

The article: http://www.radio-electronics.com/news/wireless-technology/san-francisco-to-become-first-us-6516

SIGFOX describes itself as, "the first and only company providing global cellular connectivity for the Internet of Things, fully dedicated to low-throughput communications." A list of cities where such networks have already been established is on the company's website:

http://www.sigfox.com/en/#!/connected-world/sigfox-network-operator

The article provided material for an interesting discussion in class about the advantages of such a network, and the impacts so far in the cities where it has been established. In addition there were a number of language features that were useful for my students.

First, to make students aware of how the text focuses on audience - in this case readers who are not sure what the "internet of things" is - we looked at the way it is defined in the article.

• "A growing phenomenon in numerous cities across the world, the IoT connects physical objects and allows them to communicate, analyze, and share their data through sensors, network connectivity and cloud software."
• "The Internet of Things links physical objects embedded with sensors and actuators to the Internet. It allows the 'things' to exchange data and communicate with each other, allowing a smoke alarm to send a text when the alarm goes off or it has a low battery; a tracker to locate a stolen bicycle; a sensor placed on a fire hydrant to alert authorities when a leak is detected."

Not only do the two explanations give the same information in different ways, but the second one further gives specific examples to make the information clear. This is the kind of thing I encourage my students to do when they are planning a presentation or writing a technical process description.

Another useful language aspect of the article is the use of tenses to refer to the future. This is also related to the work I have done with future prediction (see my posts Back to the Future today, October 26 and Past predicitons of the future, October 20).

Some examples:

• ... they will partner to deploy a dedicated Internet of Things network that will provide ...
• SIGFOX hopes to enable the IoT industry to finally take off and connect ...
• The next wave in technology innovation in San Francisco will likely be the ...
• Creating a network of this kind, the City will be able to attract new startup comanies ...
• The pilot plan in San Francisco will be executed through collaboration between ...

And the use of the future could be contrasted with the other tenses used, in order to illustrate how the tenses are used in English:

• The City of San Francisco and SIGFOX has announced that they will partner to ...
• ... the IoT connects physical objects and allows them to ...
• SIGFOX, ..., is currently operating or being deployed in 10 European countries ...
• If the last 10 years of technology development were about making it easier for ...
• Mr. Gamino has expressed excitement for the development of the IoT ...
• The initiative to make San Francisco better connected started in 2013 ...

Finally, since the article reports what a good development this is, there are many advantages of IoT networks detailed that students could either brainstorm beforehand, or add to afterwards.

Some examples:

• ... Internet of Things network that will provide low-cost, energy-efficient and two-way connectivity for smart-city programs, as well as businesses in multiple verticals.
• By providing a disruptively cost-effective, energy-efficient and simple way to connect the physical world to the internet, ...
• ... reinforces San Francisco's commitment to attracting startups and established companies in the emerging IoT space. It also allows the City to offer residents innovative new services and ...
• The types of applications - ranging from agriculture, connected health, security or logistics - that can benefit from the IoT is limitless.
• --- the City will be able to attract new startup companies, strengthen existing businesses and provide more jobs, economic growth and continuing prosperity for our residents ...
• etc.

Of course, there are also many relevant business and technology vocabulary items and collocations for students to be aware of, since they could use this language for their own writing and presentations.

The article mentions that there is going to be a "hackathon" later this month jointly sponsored by SIGFOX and the City of San Francisco, "in order to allow developers and makers to use the technology and generate new ideas for how SIGFOX's network can be used to create innovative smart-city solutions."

I had never heard of a "hackathon" before, but my students seemed interested to know more about it. This also relates well to work we do with innovations, and generating innovative ideas in their area of engineering. In my next post I'll write about this event, and how it can relate to work teaching English to engineers and engineering students.