I'm happy to announce that the third Intel Code for Good Hackathon for students will take place Oct 26-28 at St. Olaf!  This event will gather students from St. Olaf and nearby colleges to work intensively in teams over a 28 hour period to create software aimed at serving humanity.  Are you interested in participating?

The event's theme is Maps for good:  Where is the planet going?  We chose this (non-required) theme since it offers lots of possibilities for projects that can make a difference using powerful visuals.  For example, a team might 

• build an interactive map-based interface for exploring weather over recent years, or 
• make a program that makes it easy to view markups for google maps that indicate population trends over time, or 
• create a tool for local water quality at locations in Minnesota, 
• etc.

-- these are just starter ideas.  Intel will be bringing Ultrabooks loaded with Windows 8 with touch-screen and mobile features, as well as expertise in relevant forward-looking technologies such as the emerging HTML5.  Each team will also have a Linux server to customize, running on a LittleFe portable cluster.  You don't have to know it all ahead of time;  in fact, cooperating projects like these are a good way to get acquainted with HTML5 and other technologies through these projects. 

This will be a collaborative effort, not a competition -- sharing experience and knowledge with other teams can help us collectively to accomplish the most good.  The event will start on Friday night with a dinner, with a focus on the theme and the technologies, and on project ideas/team formation.  Coding will begin on Saturday morning and continue until a rapid demo/report session over Sunday dinner at noon. Staying up all night is optional;  a napping space and "brain food" will be provided for those who want to work during the wee hours.  

Want to hear more?   Please fill out the 4-minute Hackathon Interest form ASAP and we'll include you in coming communications.  

Dick Brown
CS Prof
St. Olaf College