Codefest committee meeting Thursday
wilhelmjennifer
Tutt, Eleanor
Since I unfortunately can’t make it to the Codefest Steering Committee meeting this morning, I wanted to send my thoughts via email.
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I think we need to take the community needs assessment function of the Tech Chats seriously. I only observed two of them, so others will have to fill in the blanks, but I felt the tech challenges I saw didn’t match the existing Codefest model or support having an event this year. I saw some other potential hackathon-esque needs including:
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“Scope-a-thons” to help nonprofits articulate their needs to potential consultants
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“Iterate-a-thons” in situations for nonprofits who have a tech solution in place, but want to make small improvements in efficiency or functionality
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Long-term volunteer matching for challenges that need small amounts of tech help spread over a longer period of time
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Civic User Testing weekends similar to the Smart Chicago model, where UX professionals assist nonprofits in getting end user feedback
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Whether we have a Codefest this year or not, I think it would be worth having a conversation with Alexander Nolte at CMU/Pitt. Some of you may know him - his research is all about sustainable models for hackathons and other time-bounded coding events. He’s local, but this conference workshop description gives some sense of his work: http://hackathon-workshop-2018.com/
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Regardless of the decision about Codefest, the Library is committed to inclusive, civic-minded data, coding, and technology learning. We plan to host Codefest, Jr. this spring as a stand-alone event like last year, we have been building staff capacity to offer a range of coding curriculum, and we really enjoy being part of these conversations. :)
Thanks and apologies for not being able to be there this morning.
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2018 2:59 PM
To: Steel City Codefest
Subject: [Codefest-Pittsburgh] Codefest committee meeting Thursday
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Gradeck, Robert M
I’m also sorry to have not been able to participate in all of this due to my stupid schedule and also second Eleanor’s suggestion that Alex and his partners have good thoughts that can help here.
I also can’t make it – we’re hosting a user meeting of our own and will be doing our first round of user tests.
Bob Gradeck
Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center
University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research
From: codefest-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:codefest-...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Tutt, Eleanor
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2018 8:33 AM
To: Steel City Codefest <codefest-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Codefest-Pittsburgh] Codefest committee meeting Thursday
Since I unfortunately can’t make it to the Codefest Steering Committee meeting this morning, I wanted to send my thoughts via email.
· I think we
· need to take the community needs assessment function of the Tech Chats seriously. I only observed two of them, so others will have to fill in the blanks, but I felt the tech challenges I saw didn’t match the existing Codefest model or support having an event
· this year. I saw some other potential hackathon-esque needs including:
·
o “Scope-a-thons”
o to help nonprofits articulate their needs to potential consultants
o “Iterate-a-thons”
o in situations for nonprofits who have a tech solution in place, but want to make small improvements in efficiency or functionality
o Long-term volunteer
o matching for challenges that need small amounts of tech help spread over a longer period of time
o Civic User
o Testing weekends similar to the Smart Chicago model, where UX professionals assist nonprofits in getting end user feedback
Jennifer Wilhelm
Sent from my iPhone