City

Events foster technology use, civic engagement

Over the next two months, Syracuse community members will be able to tackle social and civic problems from a different angle: by creating apps.

The ProLiteracy Hackathon, held this past weekend in downtown Syracuse, marked the start of a series of four different hackathons this fall, with each event focusing on solving a different problem.

The next hackathon event, Hack Upstate, will be held on Oct. 4 at the Tech Garden headquarters on Harrison Street. The final hackathon event, Hack Hunger and Homelessness will be held from Nov. 7–9 at a location yet to be determined. AT&T also began the Central New York Civic App Challenge, a two-month virtual hackathon, running from Sept. 11 to Nov. 11.

Billy Ceskavich, a graduate student in the School of Information Studies and one of the Engagement Fellows at the Tech Garden, has been working to promote Hack Upstate.

Ceskavich said he believes there is no reason that non tech-savvy people should feel discouraged to participate and compete in the hackathons, since it values individual contribution.



“Anybody can go to these events and join a team and help even if you do not have a strong technical background,” he said.

A hackathon is defined as an event in which, “computer engineers and software experts create new apps for smartphones, improve processes for existing technology and work to improve the daily function for businesses and individuals,” according to the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science website.

Tony Kershaw, the innovation specialist at the Tech Garden, said hackathon events not only help participants make connections with professionals, but also challenge them to take risks.

Hackathons also offer a unique place for people with various backgrounds to form “interdisciplinary teams” and to approach social issues with different perspectives, he added.

J.D. Ross, director of communications for the iSchool, said he has been actively promoting the hackathons through the university’s iSchool blog, news website and information space. He added that the university has been involved with the hackathons by offering judges for the contest and collaborating closely with the Tech Garden.

“On a curriculum level we have a faculty that teach courses where students end up down on Sandbox as a part of coursework,” Ross said. Syracuse Student Sandbox is the Tech Garden branch that supports fledgling entrepreneurs.

In the future, Ceskavitch said he hopes to stay involved and encourage more people from SU to attend hackathon events.

“I think my favorite part of it is the community,” he said.





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