RHoK Project Submission Form
Before various media dimbulbs perverted it to be synonymous with “criminal act,” the word “hack” was a geek term that meant “an appropriate application of ingenuity.” A “hacker” was someone particularly adept at pushing the limits of a system, finding the flaws in it to make it stronger, and discovering new ways to use existing systems for both fun and productivity.
This last weekend Vicky and I took part in the Random Hacks of Kindess 1.0 event in Washington D.C., where code-monkeys and other IT professionals teamed up with assorted Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to craft solutions to pressing needs. The event was sponsored by Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo, with other events being simultaneously held around the world in Jakarta, Nairobi, Sydney and elsewhere. Developers around the world were able to coordinate via online collaboration and streaming video on open-source solutions to pressing humanitarian needs.
Wireframe Room Names
The format for the weekend was delightfully emergent. A floor of conference rooms was provided and everyone was told to get to it, take a room and post your project needs on the door. I walked a lap through the hallways, looking at posters requesting python, SMS experience, and other skill sets, but no PHP (.NET was fairly absent too). I finally wandered into a room with a team discussing the construction of an online presence for the Arlington CERT Chapter and other local CERT teams.
As a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) member myself, I figured I could contribute to this endeavor; however, a lack of clearly defined requirements and a hodge-podge of existing, uncoordinated web efforts soon dampened everyone’s enthusiasm. While there is a Federal presence for CERT, a representative from FEMA explained that they are heavily restricted in their interactions with state CERT teams (We also learned the reason FEMA isn’t helping to clean up the Gulf Oil spill is because states would have to pay $0.25 on the dollar for the help, while they expect full compensation from BP). At the same time, there was little coordination between state and local CERT teams, with local CERT teams having to build their own web sites and state’s having their own CERT websites, with no interaction between states.
We all agreed there was a problem here. CERT Teams in various states and localities need a single place on the Web to coordinate. An online tool would provide a place for CERT organizers to manage their memberships, certifications, coordinate with other groups, coordinate resources, and manage tasking. This was not an insurmountable amount to accomplish, especially with tools and frameworks to jumpstart development; however, with an official SME and an established customer buy-in, there was too much concern that we would (1) get the requirements wrong and (2) build something that no one would use. I and several others quietly snuck away at lunchtime to find other projects, but a few developers stuck with it and produced a fairly comprehensive outline of what an online application should provide to CERT Teams nationwide (although, I’m curious if the upcoming Diaspora social networking tool could be modified to fit the bill).
ReUnite Android
So after some more wandering around, I got a text from Vicky that she was immersed in coding a Google Android application, and that I could join her if I needed something to work on. The ReUnite application is an existing iPhone app developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that allows users to take photos of people and post them with contact information to the NLM’s missing person’s database. Vicky was working with Dr. Glenn Pearson to recreate the application for the Android platform.
Vicky, Dr. Pearson, and Me
Vicky got all the form screens laid-out, data capturing in session for them, an image gallery, automated e-mails, and got started on web services. I set up my development environment, got a splash screen done, a confirmation screen, and a placeholder for the main menu since we switched strategies from SQLite to XML for data persistence… not that I had gotten very far in figuring out the SQLite functionality. Not too bad for two programmers inexperienced with the development environment coding for a combined 30 hours (Vicky – 18, Me – 12). We have uploaded the code to a Github repository, with a ToDo list of where work needs to go on it. We hope to eventually get back to the project; however, we encourage other developers to take a look too.
First Prize Team and Award
The wrap-up for the weekend involved all the different teams presenting their 16 different projects in five minutes or less each. There were lots of fantastic ideas falling along a wide range of progress made and degrees of complexity, but one project stood head-and-shoulders above the rest, and application for geological surveyors to enter data in the field about mountain-slopes to assess the risk of mud-slides that included some fantastic data visualization tools. A SME had announced her need for help with the project at the RHoK kick-off meeting, and had brought sample data from what the surveyors were currently entering, which involved lengthy rows of numbers painstakingly entered into text documents. In the conversation-buzz leading up to the award ceremony, the consensus was that the project should easily win for delivering a complete comprehensive application and tackling a need that prevented crises from occurring instead of just responding after the fact (It was also really neato for using an algorithm originally written in Fortran).
Breakfast
Overall, the weekend was a hugely satisfying experience. Vicky and I got to engage in rewarding work that also presented a fantastic learning opportunity, and appreciated the fact that events like these go a long way towards reclaiming the true meaning of the word “hack.” My only regret was a discussion session in the Crisis Camp that didn’t happen. It had the most intriguing title that got my imaginative wheels spinning: “Rebooting Academia after a Crisis.” Maybe next year. : )