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October 14, 2011 By Sarah Rich
Reno, Nev., will play host to the “World’s Biggest Little Hackathon” on Saturday, Oct. 15, and Sunday, Oct. 16.
The 24-hour event Hack4Reno [http://hack4reno.com/] taking place in downtown Reno will consist of teams and individuals building innovative apps with an eye toward improving the community.
Hack4Reno will let developers and designers “build new apps that help make Reno a smarter, more engaged place to live,” according to the event’s website. Participants can either work in teams or alone and can choose to build a website, Web or mobile app for a chance to win prizes.
Hack4Reno’s website said participating teams are not limited to only using city data. Teams may use and are encouraged to use all data sources.
The event is being organized by the city of Reno and local company Reno Collective Coworking — a company that provides workspace for entrepreneurs, freelancers and individual workers, and
Winners for the event will be announced Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
For more on the event, check out the videos below.
HACK4RENO : WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT? from The Brocraft on Vimeo.
The GovGirl on Hosting a City Hackathon Part 1
Part 2
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Hackers-to-Descend-on-Reno-This-Weekend.html
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International "empty-life," or "moron" convention? The only thing these creeps have going for them is idle time. Maybe the FBI will round them up and put them all in jail, where they belong. They can borrow some ICE agents to help, after all, they're not busy. For those old enough to remember, computer geeks were once regarded as having the highest of integrity. No more. Now Reno is glorifying these slugs - In America, I guess it's anything for money, eh Reno?
I expect that "hackers" was just something that the planners thought would sound cute and be an attention-grabber for the event description. Real hackers would avoid an event like that, would they not? After all, what better way to show up on the radar screens of various levels of authorities than to sign up for an event like the one described? No, I believe the ones who attended that event are simply experts with various degrees of employment who wanted that kind of challenge. Some of the real hackers may have amused themselves by watching the watchers watch the attendees in question, but the rest of them were surely busy at work doing what hackers do.
In this context it's hack as in hack-together not hack-apart. For the longest time Hackers were computer hobbiests and enthusiasts who were into creating tech, not circumventing security, like Crackers. Wikipedia.org has some good background on the term and the misunderstandings. Search for "hacker term". Way to go Reno! Looking forward to see the results.
Pretty clever idea. Need ideas? solutions? Have a contest sponsored by the community and see if something good can be gleaned. Democracy and innovation at work.