Random Hacks of Kindness

Last updated

Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) was a global community of technologists dedicated to solving problems for charities, non-profits and social enterprises by organising recurring hackathons. [1] It was started in 2009. The organization had a presence in over 20 cities throughout 5 continents, and had 2000 participants in 2017. [2]

Contents

History

Origins

Random Hacks of Kindness grew out of an industry panel discussion [3] at the first Crisis camp Bar Camp in Washington, D.C. in June 2009. [4] Panel attendees included Patrick Svenburg [5] of Microsoft, Phil Dixon [6] and Jeff Martin [7] of Google and Jeremy Johnstone [8] of Yahoo!. They agreed to use their developer communities to create solutions that will affect disaster response, risk reduction and recovery. [9] The idea was for a "hackathon" with developers producing open source solutions. The World Bank's Disaster Risk Reduction Unit (Stuart Gill) and NASA's Open Government team (Robbie Schingler) joined the partnership and these "founding partners" (Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, NASA and the World Bank) [10] decided on the name "Random Hacks of Kindness" for their first event.

An innovation incubator in the area of sustainable development, SecondMuse [11] acts as "operational lead" for Random Hacks of Kindness, [3] coordinating global volunteer efforts, facilitating collaborative partnerships, and managing communications and branding.

2009: RHoK 0

The first Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK 0) [12] was held at the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, California on November 12–14, 2009. [13] [14] [15] [16] FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate gave the keynote [17] and made a call to action to the developers to apply their creativity to the challenges and featured hacks. The first RHoK event is known as RHoK 0 after 0-based array indexing [18] in computer programming.

Featured projects were [19]

Tweak the Tweet was used during the Haiti earthquake response in January 2010 [21]

2010: RHoK 1.0 and 2.0

The second RHoK event was held at the Microsoft Chevy Chase offices in Washington DC on June 4–6, 2010. [22] [23] [24] [25] Crisis Commons hosted a Crisis Camp co-located. [26] The reception for RHoK 1.0 was held at the US State Department, and was blogged by Aneesh Chopra, the United States Chief Technology Officer. [27]

While the Washington, DC RHoK was the "main stage", several other locations hosted satellite events at the same time, [22] including Oxford England, Jakarta Indonesia, Sydney Australia, Nairobi Kenya, São Paulo Brazil, and Santiago Chile.fd

The "winning" hack at the Washington DC event was a new interface on CHASM (Combined Hydrology and Stability Model), [28] [29] a system to make landslide predictions. CHASM continues to be developed and is supported by groups including the World Bank. [30]

The third Random Hacks of Kindness was held on December 4 and 5, 2010, in 21 cities on 5 continents. [30] [31] [32]

2011 - 2013: RHoK 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0

The fourth Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK 3.0) was held in 2011 in the cities of: Buenos Aires, Toronto, Nairobi, Lusaka, Bogota, San Pablo, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Birmingham, México DF, Juárez, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle. The most active city to be participant was Buenos Aires, which was held in the Globant office and the participants included Guibert Englebienne (CTO of Globant) and Alejandro Pablo Tkachuk (ex-Globant and now CTO of Calculistik). [33]

RHoK 3.0 was held twice in 2012: On the 3–4 June and again on the 1–2 December. This saw multiple cities come into play and a huge turnaround of developers from all over the world including Cape Town. The focus of the hackathon was toilets and/or sanitation.

The sixth global hackathon (RHoK 4.0) was also a major success. It was held twice in 2013 (in June and in December). UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave the keynote speech at New York. [34] [35] Also speaking at NYC were NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, Google vice president for research Alfred Spector, Microsoft Director Patrick Svenburg, Parsons The New School for Design Dean Joel Towers and UN Global Pulse director, Robert Kirkpatrick.

2014 - 2016

2014 and 2015 saw the organisation shrink as the rhok.org website went down, cutting off global coordination [36] and events in a number of cities ceased to be held. However, a new website was created at the end of 2016 at rhok.cc, [37] and communities continued to thrive in multiple cities in India and Australia, as well as Ottawa and Berlin. [38] RHoK Jnr, an independent effort for students in the United States, also continued to thrive, holding 7 events in 2016. [38]

2017 - 2018

In 2017 rebuilding of the global community continued, and connections with all the active RHoK communities around the world were reestablished. The global community grow considerably, with events over 6 cities in Australia and 3 in India, as well as events in Ottawa, Berlin, Washington DC, Pretoria, and Ghana. [2]

2021 - 2022

The global community maintained a strong foothold in Australia having bi-annual hackathons. [39] A new Copenhagen chapter was established in 2021 and planning for the first hackathon occurred in April 2022. [40]

Open source code

Random Hacks of Kindness required all contributions and code produced during RHoK hackathons to be released under an OSI-approved open source license [41] and in a public code repository. RHoK maintained GitHub repositories which contained code for many of the hacks. [42]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural disaster</span> Type of adverse event

A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community after a natural hazard event. Some examples of natural hazard events include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides, tropical cyclones, volcanic activity and wildfires. Additional natural hazards include blizzards, dust storms, firestorms, hails, ice storms, sinkholes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and tsunamis. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property. It typically causes economic damage. How bad the damage is depends on how well people are prepared for disasters and how strong the buildings, roads, and other structures are. Scholars have been saying that the term natural disaster is unsuitable and should be abandoned. Instead, the simpler term disaster could be used. At the same time the type of hazard would be specified. A disaster happens when a natural or human-made hazard impacts a vulnerable community. It results from the combination of the hazard and the exposure of a vulnerable society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Emergency Management Agency</span> United States disaster response agency

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geekcorps</span> Non-profit organization

Geekcorps is a non-profit organization that sends people with technical skills to developing countries to assist in computer infrastructure development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackathon</span> Event in which groups of software developers work at an accelerated pace

A hackathon is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. They are often run using agile software development practices, such as sprint-like design wherein computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, product managers, project managers, domain experts, and others collaborate intensively on engineering projects, such as software engineering.

globalHell was an American hacker group. They were one of the first hacking groups who gained notoriety for website defacements and breaches. The combined losses caused by the group were estimated to be ranged between $1.5m and $2.5m. The group was called a "cyber gang" as it had many of the same characteristics of a gang and carried out the same activities as a gang, including trafficking in stolen credit card numbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Cerney</span>

Mark V. Cerney is the founder of an American nonprofit organization. He is best known for creating the Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mifos Initiative</span> American financial software nonprofit

The Mifos Initiative is a U.S.-based non-profit organization

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux user group</span> Organization of computer users

A Linux User Group or Linux Users' Group (LUG) or GNU/Linux User Group (GLUG) is a private, generally non-profit or not-for-profit organization that provides support and/or education for Linux users, particularly for inexperienced users. The term commonly refers to local groups that meet in person but is also used to refer to online support groups that may have members spread over a very wide area and that do not organize, or are not dependent on, physical meetings. Many LUGs encompass FreeBSD and other free-software / open source Unix-based operating systems.

Joshua Tauberer is a civic hacker, open government activist, entrepreneur, and author. He is the creator and maintainer of the website GovTrack, a portal for information about legislation in Congress, and developer for EveryCRSReport.com, which makes Congressional Research Service Reports available to the public. Tauberer is also the lead developer for Mail-in-a-Box, an Open Source software project for mail server hosting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer security conference</span> Convention for individuals involved in computer security

A computer security conference is a convention for individuals involved in computer security. They generally serve as meeting places for system and network administrators, hackers, and computer security experts. Common activities at hacker conventions may include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacker Dojo</span> Community center and hackerspace in Santa Clara, California, United States

Hacker Dojo is a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) community center and hackerspace that is based in Mountain View, California. Predominantly an open working space for software projects, the Dojo hosts technology classes for biology, computer hardware, and manufacturing events.

TOG is a hackerspace in Dublin, Ireland. tóg is a word in the Irish language; one of its meanings is 'to build or construct'.

A crisis camp is a BarCamp gathering of IT professionals, software developers, and computer programmers to aid in the relief efforts of a major crisis such as those caused by earthquakes, floods, or hurricanes. Projects that crisis camps often work on include setting up social networks for people to locate missing friends and relatives, creating maps of affected areas, and creating inventories of needed items such as food and clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disaster Accountability Project</span> American non-profit watchdog organization

The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a non-partisan watchdog organization dedicated to improving disaster management systems. DAP was founded in 2007 by Ben Smilowitz as a reaction to the responses to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. DAP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is a 2008 Echoing Green fellowship organization.

Geeks Without Bounds is a humanitarian organization of technologists, first responders, policymakers, and volunteers that work towards improving access to communication and technology. With a focus on working with communities that have limited infrastructure due to violence, negligence, or catastrophe, they organize hackathons for humanitarian technology, and help prototype projects intended to turn into long-term initiatives through their Accelerator for Humanitarian Projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HackerNest</span>

HackerNest is a not-for-profit organization and global movement founded on January 11, 2011. The organization unites local technology communities around the world through community events and socially beneficial hackathons to further its mission of economic development through technological proliferation. It is Canada's largest, most prolific technology community with growing international reach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NASA International Space Apps Challenge</span> Annual NASA global hackathon

The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is the largest global annual hackathon. This two-day event provides an opportunity for participants to utilize NASA's free and open data and its Space Agency Partners' space-based data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space.

Junction is a hackathon organizer with headquarters Espoo, Finland. Started in 2015, Junction grew to be one of the largest organizers in Europe. In 2018 it expanded globally with a Junction event at Tsinghua University in China and cooperation with Chinese and South Korean universities bringing high performing students to attend the event in Helsinki.

The National Security Innovation Network is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) program office under the Defense Innovation Unit that seeks to create new communities of innovators to solve national security problems. NSIN partners with national research universities and the venture community to reinvigorate civil-military technology collaboration. As opposed to making investments in specific technologies, government research and development programs, or startups, NSIN focuses on human capital innovation – i.e., developing and enabling innovators and human-centered networks to solve national security problems. In support of this mission, NSIN provides tools, training, and access to DoD assets that enable entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to develop and commercialize high potential products in the national interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hack Club</span> Nonprofit organization

Hack Club is a global nonprofit network of high school computer hackers, makers and coders founded in 2014 by Zach Latta. It now includes more than 500 high school clubs and 31,000 students. It has been featured on the TODAY Show, and profiled in the Wall Street Journal and many other publications.

References

  1. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness Australia Homepage". Random Hacks of Kindness. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  2. 1 2 "2017 Random Hacks of Kindness Year in Review". Google Docs. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  3. 1 2 "What is Random Hacks of Kindness? « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  4. ↑ "Crisis Camp - Crisiscamp - Web 2.0- Eventbrite". Crisiscamp.eventbrite.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  5. ↑ "Patrick Svenburg's Page - CrisisCampDC". Crisiscampdc.ning.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  6. ↑ "Phil Dixon's Page - CrisisCampDC". Crisiscampdc.ning.com. 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  7. ↑ "Jeffery Martin's Page".
  8. ↑ Blanchard, Heather. "Search Results - jeremy johnstone". crisiscampdc.ning.com.
  9. ↑ "A History of RHoK". YouTube. 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  10. ↑ "What is Random Hacks of Kindness? « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  11. ↑ "SecondMuse brings communities together to build resilient economies". SecondMuse.
  12. ↑ "RHoK #0 « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  13. ↑ "RHoK at the Hacker Dojo". YouTube. 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  14. ↑ "Hackers Unite in the Name of Disaster Preparedness". Emergencymgmt.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  15. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness support disaster relief projects | The intersection of the web and the World Bank". Blogs.worldbank.org. 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  16. ↑ "Press Releases - pressroom".
  17. ↑ "FEMA: FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate Keynotes Random Hacks Of Kindness, Disaster Relief Codejam". Fema.gov. 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  18. ↑ "0-based indexing". Xw2k.nist.gov. 2006-07-06. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  19. ↑ "RHoK #0 « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  20. ↑ "Tweak the Tweet « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  21. ↑ "Project EPIC: Helping Haiti/Tweak the Tweet". Epic.cs.colorado.edu. 2010-01-18. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  22. 1 2 "RHoK #1 « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  23. ↑ "Washington, D.C. - a set on Flickr". Flickr.com. 2010-06-06. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  24. ↑ "You're Invited to be a part of the Random Hacks of Kindness "Hackathon" - June 4–6, Washington DC - Public Sector Developer Weblog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs". Blogs.msdn.com. 2010-05-25. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  25. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness DC - World Bank - Microsoft- Eventbrite". Rhokdc.eventbrite.com. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  26. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness 2010 - CrisisCommons Wiki". Wiki.crisiscommons.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  27. ↑ Chopra, Aneesh (2010-06-03). ""Hacking for Humanity" | The White House". whitehouse.gov . Retrieved 2010-12-07– via National Archives.
  28. ↑ "CHASM Software - Combined Hydrology & Slope Stability Model". Chasm.info. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  29. ↑ "RHoK #1.0 Washington D.C. Winning Hack: CHASM « RHoK". Rhok.org. 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  30. 1 2 "News & Broadcast - Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Nasa And The World Bank Team Up With Hackers From Around The World To Meet The Challenge Of Disaster Risk Management". Web.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  31. ↑ "RHoK #2 « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  32. ↑ "RHoK #2 World Map « RHoK". Rhok.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  33. ↑ "Apertura: Noticias económicas, financieras y de negocios - El Cronista".
  34. ↑ "Blog post from RHoK.org with photos of UN Secretary General launching RHoK 2.0 in New York". RHoK.org. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  35. ↑ "UN Secretary General Speaks at Random Hacks of Kindness Launch and appeals to global Open Source community". UN Global Pulse. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  36. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  37. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  38. 1 2 "RHoK Global 2016 - Review". Google Docs. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  39. ↑ "Random Hacks of Kindness". Random Hacks of Kindness. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  40. ↑ "RHOK CPH". RHOK CPH. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  41. ↑ "RHoK projects must use an OSI approved license" . Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  42. ↑ "RHoK - Overview". GitHub.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.