Hurricane Sandy hackathon

November 2012

A day before Hurricane Sandy touched down, netizens began to congregate via etherpads, Google Docs and IRC, assuming the name “HurricaneHackers.”

HurricaneHackers teamed up with Sandy CrisisCamps—a series of hackathons organized by CrisisCommons around the world—to host a hackathon at MIT Media Lab. About 30 participants worked together throughout the day to figure out how a remote set of volunteers could support Sandy relief with communication technologies.

Pablo Mazón and I were the main facilitators for the hackathon. With Pablo’s experience organizing OccupyData hackathons and my participation in hackathons, we knew that a common gathering place is powerful for imaginative and holistic thinking, and to matchmake that thinking with real world needs.

[Read more about the resulting projects and lessons]

Photo by Pablo Rey Mazón / @numeroteca