I'm super excited to announce that we're going to do a hackathon from April 28th through 30th!
What's a hackathon?
Over a 48 hour period, we're going to take something from concept to launch. It'll be a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better through building something cool.
What are we going to build?
I don't know! We're going to dedicate our meeting on March 1st towards pitching and discussing ideas and we'll decide on something then. We should be focusing on ideas we can build in 48 hours. One of our biggest challenges will be getting down to the essence of our product idea. Ideas that would be well received by the community of Laramie are a bonus.
Who can participate?
Anyone! I really do mean anyone! This event is open to the public. You don't need to be a coder to participate! In fact, I think this would be a little boring if only coders showed up. We'd end up with some ugly impossible to use UI in Courier New and we'd have a difficult time explaining what it does to the masses. That means we're also looking for people that know graphic design, UI design, marketing, PR, business, law, etc. to come help out. We're also looking for anyone that is curious to show up. Want to learn how to code? This could be a great time to do learn!
What are we going to build this in?
We'll figure that out after we decide at our March 21st meeting. It really depends on what we want to build. We're also planning to do a couple meetings in April that'll be crash courses on whatever technologies we decide to use. This should also give you plenty of time to spend time at home trying to figure out whatever technologies we want to use.
Where are we doing this?
The Wyoming Technology Business Center has graciously opened up their facilities for us to use this weekend (thanks Fred!). They've got showers, conference rooms, coffee making abilities, and internet we can use throughout this period.
What happens after 5pm on Sunday?
We stop working and demo the product to anyone who's interested!
Isn't hacking a bad thing?
The word hacking has got a bad rap. Originally hacking meant creating something cool. Somehow or another the mass media turned that into breaking into servers. We're not doing that. We're going to build something cool!
So, what's next? Brainstorm ideas! Feel free to share them here. On March 1st, we'll take turns casually pitching ideas and vote on something to build.
Got any questions? Ask away!
But, also, let's not forget we're meeting on Feb 21st at the Makerspace in the meantime!
