Hackathons, coming to Jaaga near you!
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Radha Krishna. S.
Jan 12, 2011, 10:12:01 PM1/12/11
to compute...@googlegroups.com
Greetings folks!
Hope the beginning of this new year has been good for everyone.
We'd be having our first 'Hackathon' on Saturday, 22nd Jan 2011 at Jaaga (www.jaaga.in). More details to follow in a separate mail, but here's all about Hackathons:
So, What the heck are Hackathons?
Hackathons are day long hack sessions where folks from the club get together to share their learnings, ideate and work on projects, collaborate to solve problems they face in their projects. Basically, try and change the world in our own little manner. :-)
Great. When and where do we have these hackathons?
To begin with, once a month, on the third Saturday of every month. At Jaaga.
Now, what is Jaaga?
Jaaga is a venture by Freeman Murray and Archana Prasad, aiming at bringing art and technology together. A lively ecosystem, the place has become a hub for artists and hackers alike. With quite a few innovative projects already underway, Jaaga would be an ideal venue for our club. Thanks to Freeman, who was more than willing to allow us to use Jaaga for the club activities.
For beginners, Get off Richmond Road, by the Cafe Coffee day, into Rhenius Street. Right opposite the hockey stadium (which is on your right, if you get into Rhenius Street from Richmod Road), you'd see a unique (building like) structure, whose walls have swirlable panes with plants on them (Vertical Gardening, one of the many cool concepts at Jaaga). Just open the gate and you are in Jaaga.
Do visit www.jaaga.in for more details about the venue and its location.
Awesome. What'd be on agenda?
Typical hackathons would have the following agenda:
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: Beginner's Hour - An hour where club members would help others who are new to hardware designing/ programming with the basics - soldering, prototyping on breadboards, getting started with AVRs/ Arduinos, PCB designing using KiCad/ Eagle etc.
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Open hour - Brainstorm new ideas, problems in the existing projects and anything related to projects/ ideas.
11:00 AM - 12:00 noon: Tech talks - presentations about technologies. Could be multiple 5 to 15 minute lightning talks about best practices.
12:00 AM - 1:00 PM: Break for lunch - Sorry, no arranged lunch - each one takes care of his own.
1:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Workouts - teams get together to work on their projects.
How do we get a project started?
The club focusses on projects that involve some hardware and software designing. As Anil put it in his talk at FOSS.IN 2010, bringing in the body and soul together. Propose your idea at the open hour to hear some valuable feedback from your fellow members about the project. You'll probably even find some friends who'd want to work on the project with you. Team up and start hacking up. Hackathons are your place to get help from other members and showcase your ideas. Our mailing list (compute...@googlegroups.com) is your place to go to, for discussions and finding help.
I am all interested, but don't really have a project in mind. How do I go about?
Well, our open hours usually result in a list of ideas that members would like to work on. These would be listed up on the wiki (tune in for more details of the wiki). You could pick and choose the project that interests you, join if its already in progress or gather a team who'd like to work with you and get started.
How about a wiki and source control for my projects??
We have a website - www.computerclub.in. While the website needs better organization (list projects, add new projects, have a brainstorm page etc..), you could always start off by creating a page in the wiki for your project and start documenting.
We also plan to have a youtube channel that the club members can upload videos of their work. On the planned items, is also a beginner track of videos, that'd help get started with basics of hardware.
Each project is free to choose its own source control mechanisms - however, we tend to use Github for all our sources. We are in the process of creating a 'github organization' (github terminology for a group/ community). Stay tuned for more details.
We are dealing with hardware and that'll involve costs. Would I get some help on that front?
Well, you might find other members who could loan their hardware for your prototyping, the community could help you find manufacturers who could do prototype boards at a cheaper price, or may be, just may be, you might find someone who'd fund your project. Or, we could as a club pool in some money for some essentials. All that is possible. No guarantees, but definitely possible. And to try all possible ways - thats what communities are meant for, aren't they?
Nice. Am all excited. How much do I need to pay to attend these hackathons?
Zero. Null. Zip. Nothing. Just join and get hacking!
--
Regards,
Radha
http://www.sradhakrishna.com
Hope the beginning of this new year has been good for everyone.
We'd be having our first 'Hackathon' on Saturday, 22nd Jan 2011 at Jaaga (www.jaaga.in). More details to follow in a separate mail, but here's all about Hackathons:
So, What the heck are Hackathons?
Hackathons are day long hack sessions where folks from the club get together to share their learnings, ideate and work on projects, collaborate to solve problems they face in their projects. Basically, try and change the world in our own little manner. :-)
Great. When and where do we have these hackathons?
To begin with, once a month, on the third Saturday of every month. At Jaaga.
Now, what is Jaaga?
Jaaga is a venture by Freeman Murray and Archana Prasad, aiming at bringing art and technology together. A lively ecosystem, the place has become a hub for artists and hackers alike. With quite a few innovative projects already underway, Jaaga would be an ideal venue for our club. Thanks to Freeman, who was more than willing to allow us to use Jaaga for the club activities.
For beginners, Get off Richmond Road, by the Cafe Coffee day, into Rhenius Street. Right opposite the hockey stadium (which is on your right, if you get into Rhenius Street from Richmod Road), you'd see a unique (building like) structure, whose walls have swirlable panes with plants on them (Vertical Gardening, one of the many cool concepts at Jaaga). Just open the gate and you are in Jaaga.
Do visit www.jaaga.in for more details about the venue and its location.
Awesome. What'd be on agenda?
Typical hackathons would have the following agenda:
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: Beginner's Hour - An hour where club members would help others who are new to hardware designing/ programming with the basics - soldering, prototyping on breadboards, getting started with AVRs/ Arduinos, PCB designing using KiCad/ Eagle etc.
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Open hour - Brainstorm new ideas, problems in the existing projects and anything related to projects/ ideas.
11:00 AM - 12:00 noon: Tech talks - presentations about technologies. Could be multiple 5 to 15 minute lightning talks about best practices.
12:00 AM - 1:00 PM: Break for lunch - Sorry, no arranged lunch - each one takes care of his own.
1:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Workouts - teams get together to work on their projects.
How do we get a project started?
The club focusses on projects that involve some hardware and software designing. As Anil put it in his talk at FOSS.IN 2010, bringing in the body and soul together. Propose your idea at the open hour to hear some valuable feedback from your fellow members about the project. You'll probably even find some friends who'd want to work on the project with you. Team up and start hacking up. Hackathons are your place to get help from other members and showcase your ideas. Our mailing list (compute...@googlegroups.com) is your place to go to, for discussions and finding help.
I am all interested, but don't really have a project in mind. How do I go about?
Well, our open hours usually result in a list of ideas that members would like to work on. These would be listed up on the wiki (tune in for more details of the wiki). You could pick and choose the project that interests you, join if its already in progress or gather a team who'd like to work with you and get started.
How about a wiki and source control for my projects??
We have a website - www.computerclub.in. While the website needs better organization (list projects, add new projects, have a brainstorm page etc..), you could always start off by creating a page in the wiki for your project and start documenting.
We also plan to have a youtube channel that the club members can upload videos of their work. On the planned items, is also a beginner track of videos, that'd help get started with basics of hardware.
Each project is free to choose its own source control mechanisms - however, we tend to use Github for all our sources. We are in the process of creating a 'github organization' (github terminology for a group/ community). Stay tuned for more details.
We are dealing with hardware and that'll involve costs. Would I get some help on that front?
Well, you might find other members who could loan their hardware for your prototyping, the community could help you find manufacturers who could do prototype boards at a cheaper price, or may be, just may be, you might find someone who'd fund your project. Or, we could as a club pool in some money for some essentials. All that is possible. No guarantees, but definitely possible. And to try all possible ways - thats what communities are meant for, aren't they?
Nice. Am all excited. How much do I need to pay to attend these hackathons?
Zero. Null. Zip. Nothing. Just join and get hacking!
--
Regards,
Radha
http://www.sradhakrishna.com
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