RIPE Atlas Interface Hackathon Results

It's a tradition to take photos of laptop decor

In 2015, we learned that hackathons work ! Creativity is enabled by bringing diverse people together to work on a common project and mixing skills and approaches makes for amazing results: see DataViz hackahton and  Tools hackathon results . 

This time around, the subject was " interfaces " - new ways to use RIPE Atlas data, new ways to display results, new combinations of ingredients leading to interesting outcomes. 

These were the differences between the third hackathon and the two previous ones:

• Denmark is a very expensive country, therefore we are deeply grateful to Comcast for their sponsorship - their contribution made it possible.
• Travel expenses for several attendees were partially covered by Comcast - this enabled students, researchers  and NGO participants to join
• Due to the proximity of the RIPE meeting, some projects got to be presented to a wider audience, and some of the participants for the hackathon came from the traditional RIPE meeting audience (operators, companies) 

Numbers 

• 21-22 May 2016
• 20 participants, seven RIPE NCC staff, four jury members
• From that, seven returning participants, 13 new ones
• Three social events, two at a hackerspace (one at Labitat and one at Illutron) and dinner at a beer brewery 
• Seven final projects ( code on GitHub ), and two extra results from RIPE NCC staff
• 111 tweets about RIPE Atlas during hackathon 
• 10 packets of stroopwafels consumed!

Results

Multiple projects were presented , and the winner was Halo ! Their reward: present during the MAT Working Group session, and a box of stroopwafels :) 

Almost all of the projects were presented during RIPE 72 , so we will let the code, slides and videos speak for themselves (see below). 

Teams at work

Next time

On 22 - 23 October 2016, just before the RIPE 73 meeting we will organise another hackathon, this time focussed on tools for Internet Exchange Points. We are planning to improve a number of things:

• Involve more mentors,  facilitators , project managers and community builders in order to better organise teamwork and allow everyone to engage their potentials in the best way
• Have the work day a bit more structured: frequent times to review progress and get clarification and help
• Ensure  diversity: of skills, of genders, of viewpoints
• Ask everyone to send an email introduction in advance, to describe their skills and preferred projects

The following things went well and we will keep them: 

• Placing a lot of effort in prior preparation pays off: logistics, communication, education
• Room setup that encourages team cooperation: islands of tables, flip-charts, name tags
• Friendly and informal atmosphere, supportive RIPE NCC staff members that help troubleshoot issues 

Closing party at the art-ship-hackerspace Illutron 

Staying in touch

If you're interested in helping to organise or to participate in the next hackathon we'd love to hear from you!  We'd also love an invitation to be guests at your next event.  

In order to get in touch, here are some possibilities:

Hackathon participants: