A Unique Data Experience: Reflections on ESFCOM ’s Inaugural Hackathon

Today’s blog is by Nancy Shin, Sewell Memorial Fund Librarian Fellow at Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. Welcome, Nancy! The most extraordinary thing happened to Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine (ESFCOM) the weekend of April 13 -15, 2018.  ESFCOM hosted its inaugural Hackathon, which was organized by the College Technology Incubator Officer, Andrew Richards.  It was well attended by people from all walks of life and subject expertise including students and healthcare providers.  So, the big question is what exactly is a hackathon and why all the hype? A hackathon is a social event that is focused on building small, innovative, and new technology projects.  It brings together teams of people to work on a common project within an overarching theme; at the end of the event, teams formally present their projects for judging.  The hackathon can last from 4 hours to 1 week (sleep is optional) and can involve large cash purses as prizes.  Typically, projects are technological and can result in the development of a new app or feature on a website in response to a theme; in the case of ESFCOM’s Hackathon, the theme was “challenges in rural healthcare.” The common misconception about a hackathon is that it is an event that is strictly designed for computer programmers, engineers, and software developers – i.e. anyone who codes! However, other skills like research, design, project management, da...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Data Science Source Type: news