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Haitis first Hackathon: A Konbit Teknoloji

For three days in early February, an unlikely group of Haitian technology students, international technologists and grassroots women activists gathered for an even more unlikely gathering Haitis first Hackathon. What is a hackathon anyway, and what went down at the event? Read on to learn all about the hackathon or konbit teknoloji, as it was called afterward by participants. What exactly is a Hackathon? A hackathon is a combination of the terms hack + marathon. Hackathons bring together teams of technologists & designers to produce a technical tool in a short amount of time, often fueled by coffee, pizza and high-speed internet. Why did you decide to host a hackathon in Haiti? Digital Democracys partner KOFAVIV needed a technical tool a web-based resource map to support their rape response hotline. We didnt just want to build it with programmers in New York City, we wanted to build it in Haiti, with KOFAVIV actively involved in the process. So what does a Hackathon in Haiti look like? Something unique. We werent quite sure how it would all turn out, but the event exceeded our most hopeful aspirations. There may not have been much coffee, pizza or high-speed internet, but the critical component of collaborative creativity was present in abundance. One international participant--a seasoned hackathon-attendee--told us, I would like to say that the Hackathon word implies a competition. This was a lot more than just that. This has to be the most meaningful event of this kind I've ever part taken. What made the Haiti Hackathon so unique? Hosting the Hackathon in Port-au-Prince provided constraints that many of the international participants had never faced previously, allowing them to understand firsthand the needs of the eventual users of the platform. The KOFAVIV representatives were able to guide the design of the tool they will use, and students at host institution ESIH made the realization that, while a hackathon might be a foreign concept, the core idea of combining resources to collaborate, is rooted in the traditional Haitian concept of a konbit. What was accomplished at the hackathon? In addition to the actual web-based resource map which will be used by KOFAVIV to support callers from around the country, the Hackathon facilitated a rich, real-world learning experience for students, development technical skills development, cross-cultural collaboration, and the forging of deep relationships between local and international participants. Whats next? More hackathons! Its true, Haitian participants requested more opportunities to learn new skills and contribute to their countrys development. Dd plans to help local participants continue to implement the hackathon model in Haiti and to help them export the idea of the konbit internationally by bring the energy to US-based hackathons. Digital Democracy | 109 W. 27th St 6th Fl, New York NY 10001 | www.digital-democracy.org