M2work Hackathon 2012 - Report
M2work Hackathon 2012 - Report
M2work Hackathon 2012 - Report
Report ON
January 2013
m2Work Hackathon
Disclaimer
This report is a product of YoungInnovations, the facilitator of m2Work Hackathon. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of infoDev, our funders and other regional organizers. YoungInnovations does not gaurantee novelity and accuaracy of the hackathon work products. The respective hackathon participants bear all the legal responsibilities for ideas presented or mobile apps/ prototypes that have been mentioned in this report. This report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work to make commercial use of the work with proper attribution. Any queries regarding this report should be forwarded to:
info@m2workhackathon.org
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Executive Summary - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Introduction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Geographic Coverage and Organizations behind the Hackathon - - Objectives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The m2Work Hackathon Process - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - m2Work Hackathon Output - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What after Hackathon? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lesson Learned - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Annex - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 7 9
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Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge infoDev, World Bank, for entrusting us with the responsibility to facilitate the first ever global m2work Hackathon. We heartily thank Toni Eliasz, Nicolas Friederici and Roberto Pea from infoDev for supporting us from day one and providing us with feedback and suggestions in our every step. The event would not have been possible without support from local organizers in each of the 5 countries. We would like to acknowledge the effort put in by teams at: mLab East Asia, Vietnam (Saigon Hi-Tech Park, Vietnam National University, FPT University, Elcom Ltd ), mLab East Africa, Kenya (iHub, eMobilis, the World Wide Web Foundation and the University of Nairobis School of Computing and Informatics), mLab Eastern Europe, The Caucasus, and Central Asia (ECA), Armenia ECA Region (Entreprise Incubator Foundation), mLab Southern Africa, South Africa (Meraka Institute of South Africas Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Innovation Hub, and UnganaAfrika) mHub Nepal (Mobile Social Networking Nepal), Nepal (YoungInnovations) Finally, we express our gratitude to our global supporters UKaid, The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and World Bank for providing financial resource to carry out the event. Big thanks also goes to the team at YoungInnovations who worked enthusiastically for more than three months coordinating all the activities to make the event successful. Our special thanks goes to all the respected judges and the resource people for their fair judgments and insightful observations to identify the deserving winners. We also appreciate and acknowledge all the supporters and the local partners in each of the countries who helped the local teams by providing direct and indirect support to organize the event successfully. Our sincere gratitude goes to all the participants in Armenia ECA Region, Kenya, Nepal, Southern Africa and Vietnam for working tirelessly for two consecutive days to come up with innovative mobile applications to bring mobile microwork ideas into life.
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Executive Summary
Microwork refers to small digital tasks that people can perform anywhere to supplement their income. Microworker refers to the
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15-16, 2012 in five countries Armenia ECA Region, Kenya, Nepal, Southern Africa and Vietnam simultaneously. Four mLabs (mLab East Asia, mLab Eastern Africa, mLab Eastern Europe, The Caucasus, and Central Asia, mLab Southern Africa) and one mHub (mHub Nepal) hosted the hackathon. Each organizer established partnerships with local media, tech communities, tech companies, academia and other networks to successfully organize the hackathon. 301 people participated in the hackathon that saw a total of 61 mobile applications developed within two days. ( http://m2workhackathon.org/
person who performs the microworker. Mobile microworks are the tasks which microworkers can perform using their mobile phones. And it is evident that mobile phones are ubiquitous and operating them for performing such small digital task is not that difficult. Organizations can leverage from mobile microwork in terms of saving resources and time used for completing their tasks. In case of microworkers, they can earn some money by completing small and easy tasks at any time of their leisure. infoDev, World Bank, in partnership with Nokias Ideasproject, conducted a global mobile microwork idea challenge from January to April 2012. During the challenge, around 1000 ideas were collected and few winning ideas were awarded with cash prizes. The next phase of the competition was to bring those ideas to life by developing mobile application prototypes. To achieve this, the global m2work hackathon was organized on September
See http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.797.html
updates/m2work-hackathon-infographic)
YoungInnovations as a global facilitator of the event led the preparation of the hackathon. It worked closely with local organizers in each of the countries to plan and implement the hackathon. A collaborative approach was adopted to develop individual plans for each of the local organizers and by developing necessary templates, plans and guidance documents.
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After that, it was the responsibility of country organizers to execute on the plan at their regions. Each organizer held meetings and pre-hackathon events with the potential participants, to clarify the m2work concept, encourage them to participate, submit ideas, form teams and refine the ideas. Each organizer had an autonomy to arrange the process of meetings and preparation events according to the local conditions. Few weeks before the hackathon, the official website (www.m2workhackathon.org) was launched. The website acted as a repository of relevant information about the hackathon. The website was equipped with the functionality to allow preliminary registration of participants for each of the countries. Later on, the website was upgraded with more sophisticated functionalities for local organizers to update information (participants, ideas, news, etc.). During the hackathon, the organizers provided space, food and other necessary resources to the participants. The participants worked for two consecutive days and developed mobile application prototypes. At the end of the second day, all teams presented their ideas and gave demos of their prototypes to the judges and audiences present at the closing ceremonies. Meanwhile, the judges gave scores to each team. Later, the scores were collected and the winners were announced and awarded. However, in some regions the winners were
announced and awared the next day. A total of 21 winners were announced and felicitated with prizes. Many brilliant ideas were brought to life during the hackathon. But the journey of bringing those ideas to life only began with the hackathon. Most of the organizers have decided to incubate some of the winning teams to further refine their prototypes and build business cases for them. A few months after the event, the process has already made significant headway, and we sincerely hope that in future, those applications will mark their strong presence by facilitating the process of mobile microwork at a global scale. Many lessons were learned during the hackathon, both positive experiences and challenges. The most important learning is that the mLabs and mHubs can collaborate with one another to successfully organize a global event. Another significant learning is that the hackathon like this provides a platform to the participants to work on innovative ideas and convert them into something valuable. Therefore, this report attempts to highlight the importance of the preparation before the hackathon, to underscore the potential impact of global hackathons and finally to present the lesson learned while preparing, organizing and facilitating the global event.
Introduction
What is m2Work?
"m2Work was an on-line challenge conducted by infoDev, World Bank and IdeasProject, with funding and support from UKaid and the government of Finland. The aim was to identify problems that could be solved by tapping the micro-workers who use mobile phones enabling the underprivileged people of the world to
See https://ideasproject.com/web/m2work
access the digital economy, and enabling the rest of the world to benefit from their intelligence. Participants of the challenges were asked to come up with ideas for mobile phone applications that can work as the link between problems that can be tackled by microwork and micro-workers in the developing world."2
are intrinsically better in some tasks than computers. Yet the least well-off people in the world are largely barred from this work, because it requires access to computers, which most people lack.
graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software-related projects."4
What is Hackathon?
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See https://ideasproject.com/web/m2work
"infoDev is a global partnership program within World Bank Group which works at the intersection of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship to create opportunities for inclusive growth, job creation and poverty reduction. infoDev assists governments and technology-focused small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow jobs, improve capacity and skills, increase access to finance and markets, ensure the appropriate enabling policy and regulatory environment for business to flourish, and test out innovative solutions in developing country markets. It does all these in partnership with other development programs, with World Bank/IFC colleagues, and with stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors in the developing world."6
YoungInnovations, based in Kathmandu, Nepal, was contracted as official facilitator for the global hackathon. YoungInnovations works in the areas of providing software solutions to wide range of partners and clients in different parts of the world. It facilitates mobile community of practice in Nepal, mHub Nepal (www.mobilenepal.net ) with support from infoDev.
See http://www.infodev.org/en/Page.About.html
Regional Organizers
mLab East Asia, Vietnam
Objectives
"The specific objectives of m2Work Hackathon were: Shape promising idea submissions into mobile application prototypes; Bolster other prototype mobile microwork applications that qualify for pre-incubation support at infoDevs Mobile Application Labs (mLabs), and Increase awareness for the job-creating potential of mobile
"The Meraka consortium hosts the mLab "The SHTP consortium hosts the mLab East Asia. The consortium partners include Saigon Southern Africa. The consortium partners include the Meraka Institute of Southern Africas Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Innovation Hub, and
Ungana-Afrika." 10
"The *iHub_ consortium hosts the mLab East Africa. The consortium partners include Nairobis *iHub_ , eMobilis, the World
Wide Web Foundation and the University of Nairobis School of Computing and Informatics."
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mLab Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, Armenia (ECA)
Supporters
1.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk
2. http://formin.finland.fi/public 3. http://www.worldbank.org
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See http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.894.html
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audience through website. It was also used to take registrations from the participants. The website was continuously updated with the relevant information so that anybody (participants, judges etc) who wanted to know in detail about the hackathon could visit the website and receive information. In the second phase, the website was upgraded in such a way that, participants would not only be passive receivers of information but also be active providers of the content. Participants could post blogs, updates, upload photos and videos. After launching the website, the training kit to upload the content in the website was prepared and circulated to the organizers. Organizers were also requested to ask the participants to actively update the website. Representatives of all the mLabs were given managerial access to the website so that they could update the respective region specific information such as ideas, participants info, judges info, photos and videos of the events etc.
m2workhackathon.org/ .
The website was built in two phases. In the first phase, the concept of m2work hackathon was disseminated to the global
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Youtube channel to upload the videos was also created. YoungInnovations sent the login credentials to each organizers so that they could use it to upload the video shot during the hackathon. Therefore, social media are indispensable for the success of the event and YoungInnovations utilized it to the maximum extent in order to make the most out of it.
meetings with potential participants and individual teams to increase awareness about m2Work and prepare them for the hackathon. It also provided with necessary materials to the media to advertise about the hackathon. It partnered with Nokia Vietnam which provided 3 prizes for 3 Best Apps on Windows Phone and FPT Software 1 prize for the Best App in Education. In addition Nokia Vietnam provided some devices for testing. It also partnered with local companies within the SHTP for logistics and catering. Organizing team of mLab East Africa conducted several in-house meetings for preparations and planning for the hackathon selection of key personnel such as judges, mentors, speakers etc procurement of necessary commodities, equipments, and services for the hackathon For communication with key individual and stakeholders, it posted a blog to notify the developer community about the details of the hackathon. It used social media and mailing list to reach out to the hackers whereas it communicated with judges, speakers and mentors via email and follow-up phone calls.
It collected and reviewed the ideas posted by the interested participants during preliminary registrations and selected viable ideas for the hackathon. It conducted a pre-hackathon meeting in which it explained the concept of m2Work and the hackathon to the potential participants. mLab ECA developed the action plan and scope of the activities to organize the hackathon and assigned the contact person who will bear all the responsibilities. It announced about the hackathon in Enterprise Incubator Foundation (EIF)s website, Facebook page and Linkedin. It circulated the posters in various organizations such as Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC), Arm-Indian Center of Excellence (AICE), Yerevan State University etc. It sent emails to its trainees and the MIC and the AICE to participate the event. EIF also communicated with IT community and organizers involved in mobile development. It distributed the press release which was posted on major technology news portals. It conducted several meetings with 13 teams of participants to draft the algorithms of the app, identify the basic design elements, develop m2Work component and secure necessary technical mentorship for prototype crafting. It also invited individual participants to join the already formed teams. It also communicated via Skype with the
teams from Gyumri who also participated in the hackathon, virtually. mLab Southern Africa employed a shortterm consultant to assist with sourcing, branding, swag and catering for the event. It secured and finalized agreement with potential partners. It made changes in its facility to host the hackathon. It created awareness around the event through local digital campaign and distribution of branding. mHub Nepal (MobileNepal) divided responsibilities among the team members. It partnered with several organizations and communities such as Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) Nepal, Google Developers Group Nepal, Nepal Open Source Klub etc. For outreach, it announced about the event in its website, social media, local newspaper, circulated the event materials to its partners through mailing lists and distributed the posters to colleges and organizations. It contacted and confirmed 5 judges for the event. Similarly, the logistics for the hackathon were also arranged. It conducted meetings with potential participants and explained about the concept of m2Work and the hackathon. Team formation was done using the mailing list. The interested participants who did not have team were assisted to find one.
Registration of Participants
The registration I want to participate was recorded in the webform via the website. Every day, YoungInnovations monitored the web-form for new entries. It segregated the entries with reference to the country selected by registrants and updated the I want to participate Google Spreadsheet of each organizer. The organizers were instructed to send email containing detail registration form to the registrants. YoungInnovations had created Google forms for detail registration for all organizers.
Local Preparations
The organizers had also started preparing for the hackathon in their regions after couple of meetings with YoungInnovations. The toolkit helped them to plan the activities and logistics. Below are the excerpts of what the individual organizers did before hackathon: mLab East Asia. The core group of 3 was involved in logistics and other preparations for the hackathon. It conducted numerous
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During Hackathon
The hackathon started in the morning of September 15, 2012, all the countries except in Vietnam. In Vietnam, mLab East Asia started the hackathon in the evening of September 14, 2012. YoungInnovations assisted all the mLabs in updating the official website with their blogs, news, pictures and videos throughout the hackathon. It continuously monitored the website and urged the organizers to post their updates regularly in it during the hackathon. The hackathon continued smoothly in all 5 places.
All the organizers conducted final presentation sessions. During which all the teams pitched in their ideas, gave demos of their prototypes and the judges seeked answers to their questions from the teams. Based on the presentations, the judges evaluated the teams ideas and prototypes. Finally, winners were chosen and awarded them based on the judges evaluation. For this session, YoungInnovations had provided all the organizers with a toolkit including guidelines for evaluation process and judging criteria. Following are the guidelines for evaluation process:
Each team will have maximum 5 minutes for the presentation. After each presentation judges will have maximum of 2 minutes with each team for Q & A. Judges will have one minute after Q & A with each team to mark their scores. After all teams have presented, the judges will gather in a quiet room for discussion. Judges will have maximum of half an hour for the discussion. Judges will discuss about the different teams and their products. Judges can change their scores after discussion with other judges.
Judges will calculate the scores and based on the scores, they will rank the teams. The team which gets the highest score will get the first rank and so on. Judges will collectively decide on the final result based on their scores and rankings. After the discussion, Judges will hand over the final result and individual evaluation sheets to the organizer. Only the final result will be disclosed in public but the detail scores will be kept confidential with the organizer. Finally, awards will be announced during the award ceremony.
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Following are the judging criteria: 1. potential development impact,(20% weightage) What is significance of the problem/ development topic and apps ability/ potential to address the problem (on a large scale)? 2. novelty and innovation,(20% weightage) Is it fresh idea, or a new approach to an old problem, or a better way to do something efficiently/effectively/ elegantly? 3. feasibility,(20% weightage) Can the app be turned into a profitable/sustainable startup in the near future?
4. clarity of presentation (20% weightage) How well the team covered and presented all of product and its confidence in the idea? 5. product (20% weightage) How well the product has been developed? Are there clarity, simplicity, friendliness, and an intuitive feel of how the app works? How complete is the product? How effectively the teams have used API(s) & Technology to develop the product? The judging criteria and evaluation process was only a suggestion. Regional Organizers suitably modified the process according to their local relevance.
Below are the excerpts of what the individual organizers did during hackathon:
at 6:30 PM. The judges met in a closed door session to decide the winners. The names of the winning teams were announced in the morning of next day, September 17, 2012.
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the best practices in product development establishment of proper business models. The hacking continued till 2 PM of September 16, 2012. The judges visited each teams working station where the teams gave demo of their products. Later, the teams presented their ideas and products before the judges. The judges, then, discussed, tallied their scores and announced the winners.
present and demonstrate their product and 2 minutes for Q&A. The judges scored them, decided the winners and announced them.
mHub Nepal
Start date and time: September 15, 2012 8 AM (Nepal Time) End date and time: September 16, 2012 8 PM (Nepal Time) All the teams were ready with their ideas before the day of hackathon. Most of the teams had come up with their own ideas. Medic Info was one of the ideas posted in the m2Work ideation phase. On September 15, 2012, team leads of all the teams briefed their ideas. The teams then started coding, designing and compiling all individual tasks to develop prototypes. On September 16, 2012, teams were ready by 2 PM with their apps. Judges visited all teams before starting the presentation. Later, all teams gave presentation and demo of their apps. However, judges made on-the-spot decision to see the detail demo of five best apps selected after the presentation. Later, the winners were decided, announced and awarded.
mLab ECA
Start date and time: September 15, 2012 10 AM (Armenia Time) End date and time: September 16, 2012 7 PM (Armenia Time) 14 teams were already formed before the event whereas 2 teams were formed during the hackathon. The presentation and demo session started at 2 PM on September 16, 2012. Each team was given 5 minutes to
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mLab ECA
Long term sound partnership with Microsoft Innovation Center helped involving Windows phone developers (related training participants from MIC) in the hackathon. MIC director was involved as a judge and expressed the interest of organization to cooperate with few projects presented during Hackathon. Microsoft RA had representative in the panel of judges as well. Arm-Indian Center of Excellence helped disseminating information on Hackathon in Yerevan State University and among their students, besides they had valuable input in
mHub Nepal
mHub Nepal collaborated with MIC Nepal, Google Developers Group (GDG) Nepal, CSIT Association of Nepal, Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN), Nepal Open Source Klub (NOSK) and LOCUS for outreach purpose. Many teams who had participated in the hackathon were from these organizations and groups. mHub Nepal was also supported with 5 Mbps of Internet connectivity by Worldlink, one of the leading ISPs in Nepal.
CSI
I
Association of NEP AL
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East Asia
mLab
S. Africa
mLab
E. Africa
mLab
mLab
ECA
Total
101 3 36
70 4 40
72 6 29
146 27 93
53 442 40 80 35 233
3 1 1 1 26 32 10 15 11 10 16 62
Number of Teams
Products
10 15 10 10 16 61 1 5 3 0 5 7 0 4 6 2 5 4 7 10 7 26 3 21
m2Work Ideas
Number of Judges
Number of Winners
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Team/ Idea
Micro Forrester Help me see Test my app Tafsiri Smart Blackboard MobiAgent Kaisari Medic Info NewsIT Article Digitization Translate 4 Me MediU (Medical Ubuntu) Teamov8:
mLab ECA
The first thing to note was high quality of work done and active participation of developers during this Hackathon. The environment was friendly and quite professional at the same time. One could experience real idea exchange u mutual support. Thanks for organizing such a great event. - Alexander Shakaryan MicroForester project http://blogs.worldbank.org/ psd/microforesterseedingsocialentrepreneurship-while-planting-trees The contest was organized fantastically, we just enjoy being there during 31 hours we didn't feel us tired or sleepy, cause there was sweeming pool wher we could relax, and different things which give you energy and thanks to organizers, for such a beutiful contest. - Sergey Hayrapetyan, 'Help Me See' project We really enjoyed it. I think it might be more interesting for the next time to participate Hackathon not having even the idea in mind. The teams would generate idea and start coding right during the Hackathon. - Narek Hayrapetyan 'Test my app'
14 15 16
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Media Coverage
mLab East Asia
S.No.
1 2
link
Remarks
http:/ /www.benhvientinhoc.com/threads/d%E1%BB%B1-%C3%A1nmlab-%C4%90%C3%B4ng-%C3%81-v%C3%A0-cu%E1%BB%99c-thil%E1%BA%ADp-tr%C3%ACnh-%E1%BB%A9ng-d%E1%BB%A5ng-m2workhackathon.107320/ http:/ /www.picvietnam.com/forum/showthread.php?p=77547#post77547 http:/ /vi.edaboard.com/topic-9581509.0.html http:/ /forum.uit.edu.vn/threads/10031-Du-an-mLab-Dong-A-va-cuoc-thiLap-trinh-ung-dung-m2Work-Hackathon?p=89058#post89058 http:/ /www.zam.vn/showthread.php?7246-Du-an-mLab-Dong-A-vacuoc-thi-Lap-trinh-ung-dung-m2Work-Hackathon&p=11314#post11314
http:/ /sinhvienvanlang.com/@rum/showthread. php?p=484387#post484387
5 6 7 8 9 10
mHub Nepal
11 Different, fun and awesome experience, look forward to more hackathons like this. - Sonika Manandhar The hackathon never ends, this is just the beginning Roshan Karki Idea sharing, knowledge sharing continuously for 2 days helps and m2work hackathon provided this opportunity - Hem Shrestha We are young students. Though it was a competition, prototype we developed was only possible because of cooperation received. We learned at least something from every fellow participant. Seniors not only guided but also scolded like we were their younger brothers. We learned a lot. We came as if we knew everything when we are leaving now even though we learned so much we feel we have a lot to learn. Thanks m2work hackathon for this opportunity. - Mobile Grocery team This is my first hackathon so I was excited from the very beginning. Working with my teammates I feel and I get energy that we should take NewsIt to the highest level. I feel hackathons must be organized frequently and boost of hackathon culture. For that all of us have to work together. - Chandra Man Shrestha
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Link
http:/ /www.gadget.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=5227 http:/ /web.up.ac.za/sitefiles/file/1/M2work%20Hackathon.pdf http:/ /companies.mybroadband.co.za/blog/2012/10/04/students-fromblackberry-apps-lab-excel-in-sa-hackathon/ http:/ /ntww1.csir.co.za/plsql/ptl0002/PTL0002_PGE157_MEDIA_REL?MEDIA_ RELEASE_NO=7525493 http:/ /nerdberry.net/2012/10/09/blackberry-apps-lab-students-win-southafrica-m2work-hackathon/ http:/ /web.up.ac.za/default.asp?ipkCategoryID=18198&ArticleID=13691
Remarks
mHub Nepal
S.no.
1
Link
http:/ /www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews. php?headline=M2work+hackathon++to+be+organised+soon&NewsID=346661
http:/ /www.aakarpost.com/2012/09/hury-up-hackers-m2work-hackathon-in. html http:/ /mobilenepal.net/featured-story/m2work-hackathon-get-readyseptember-15-16
Remarks
Published in The Himalayan Times (THT) Published in Mr. Aakar Anil's Blog Published in MobileNepal's website
http:/ /pivoteast.com/blog/2012/09/m2work-hackathon-winnersannounced/
2 3
mLab ECA
S.no.
1 2 3 4 5
Link
http:/ /armenpress.am/arm/news/693283/hay-eritasardnery-masnakcum-engaxaparneri-tsragravorman.html http:/ /lratvakan.am/?p=2828 http:/ /www.itel.am/am/news/5205/ http:/ /168.am/2012/09/15/127027.html http:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvmTVO5aURo
Remarks
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Online Presence
Twitter Hash Tag Statistics
#m2work
Total number of tweets Total number of unique tweeters
https:/ /www.facebook.com/pages/m2work-Hackathon/143780505760121
Total Likes Total Reach
34,816
191
Friends of Fans
65,478
209
893
Top 10 Tweeters
109
24
#m2work
65 45 42 35 29
29 28 27 22 20
225
Hackathon Day 1
Hackathon Day 2
224
86
Visitors by Regions
Number Tweets on September 17
5,569
173 37 36 20 268
3,028
Unique Visitors
19,396
Pageviews
33
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3. Tier 3: Traction Funding worth USD 5,000 Stage one, Stage two traction will be awarded by m:lab East Africa as seed investment to the team with the most traction on their finished product and intend to grow it into an enterprise. Due to the nature of the funding as illustrated above, teams have made more effort to make their products better in a bid to secure funding.
Lesson Learned
In the preparation journey of the hackathon, we have learned so many worthy lessons which need to be shared. There were many which we did outstandingly well. There were some challenges we faced but overcame with hard work. There were definitely many missed opportunities. Had we tapped on those missed opportunities, the hackathon would have been more successful.
event. Therefore, network of mLabs and mHubs can be suitably utilized to pull off a global event efficiently. 2. Increased awareness and acceptance of the m2work concept Before the hackathon, clarity of the m2work concept was blur not only for general participants but also for the organizers. m2work concept was initially resisted to the extent of being ridiculed. But, as we moved along the path of preparation, gradually the concept settled in the minds of the people and the visibility of the m2work concepts as plausible business model became clearer. Clearly, after the hackathon, from the response we received from participants and organizers, and number of apps developed during hackathon, we can conclude that, people have shown interest and have accepted the m2work concept. 3. Proactive sharing of information and resources are required for the success We prepared toolkit, planning materials, banners, posters etc and shared those
mHub Nepal
10 prototypes were produced in the hackathon. Out of those, 3 were judged winners. Winning ideas have the potential to be viable business in Nepal if groomed, mentored and guided properly. mHub will look for opportunities both locally and at an international level to raise support for winning ideas so that they can be taken forward.
mLab ECA
Support the teams to finish development of their prototypes and upload to stores. Assist in promotion of apps in mLab, mHub countries.
Therefore, this section enumerates the lesson learned in the m2work hackathon both from global perspective through the role of the facilitator and from local perspective through the role of the organizers.
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with the regional organizers so that they need not worry about preparation of the planning materials. We proactively prepared all the materials, circulated the information before the hackathon. They solely focused on the executing the plan and connecting with participants. Therefore, clear division of the responsibilities( role of facilitator and organizer) helped to prioritize the tasks and organizers could complete those tasks with the support from facilitator. Also, we launched the website in two phases. First phase with static content and second phase with dynamic content. The website helped to disseminate information before the hackathon and later report the progress during the hackathon. Eventually website became the one stop location for m2work hackathon. Therefore, information and resources shared pro-actively can help immensely to run the event successfully.
planning instead of the one central planning. Time and resources required to seek partnership, media and outreach were different for each region. Time was inadequate for such detail level preparation. So, in future when we plan events like this, we need to be definitive about the dates at least couple of months before so that not only planning and execution time would be sufficient but also administrative processes such as contracts, fund release etc. would be completed on time. Despite the short time before the hackathon, we were successful in organizing the event. Still we believe, more time would have been better for the event to be more effective. 2. Low level of m2work Website updates during the hackathon We expected a lot of updates in the form of blogs, photos and videos during the hackathon. However, the updates were not very frequent. It could be because of the following reasons: Human Resource crunch in the regions Frequent and timely updating the website requires dedicated human resource. So, human resource allocation should be planned before the hackathon. Lack of training to use the m2work website
Although we prepared the tutorial to use the website, perhaps because of time crunch the organizers couldnt update it. Therefore, in future we need to have adequate time for website development and training. Also dedicated human resources need to actively update the website. Had there been more updates about the progress of the hackathon such as sharing of experience by hackers through blogs, the videos from the presentation, the event would have had more global feel as the participants could have seen one anothers work from different locations.
we could have done a lot better had we got enough time for preparation. 2. Global level media coverage Some of the local news agencies, avid tech bloggers helped in spreading the news about the hackathon. We believe that it would have been lot easier to create the buzz if a global news agency published or covered news on the hackathon. So, for future, we need to try and get the event covered by global media agencies so that we can reach out to more people. 3. Disconnection between m2work idea challenge and m2work hackathon Although the m2work hackathon is a succeeding step to m2work idea challenge, we saw disconnection between the two because the winning ideas from the m2work idea challenges were not worked on during the hackathon. Out of 61 prototypes produced during the hackathon only 10 ideas were from the idea challenge. It would have been better if the winning ideas and winners from the idea challenges participated in the hackathon. We have to contact winners before the hackathon and request them to participate. Probably, we couldnt do it for the lack of time and there was a long duration between the two. Best would have been to have the hackathon within a month after the idea challenge.
Missed Opportunities
1. Partnership and collaboration with tech companies and universities As the preparation time was short, we didnt have enough time to communicate about the possible partnership and collaboration with tech companies and universities. Although, in some cases we communicated, the time was too short for planning the partnership. Partnering with tech companies and universities is important to get more quality participants, sponsorship and also create a buzz about the event. But the silver lining is that we were indeed successful in some cases. But in general
Challenges
1. A short Preparation time The date for the m2work hackathon was finalized only 5 weeks before the hackathon. Therefore we had so much to do in so less time. We learned that the organizing environment for each region is different hence it required separate localized
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4. Global Competition and global participation There was no competition among the ideas and applications on the global level. It was like 5 disjoint local events happening simultaneously around the world under one theme. Communication, collaboration and competition among the regions were missed in the hackathon. Also, in each region, there were participants from only the host country. For example, although, Nepal represented South Asia for the hackathon, there were no participants from other South Asian Countries. If we had financial resources, adequate preparation time, perhaps we could have made possible for people from multiple countries to participate in the hackathon. That participation could be virtual or physical. Probably then the hackathon would have had the global feel.
Sleeping area: mLab East Asia needed more space for sleeping that is separated by gender. Devices for testing: How mLab East Asia lend the scarce number of devices to participants at the end of the hackathon. Food for breakfast: Hot broth and filtered milk-coffee for the breakfast, avoid sandwiches. Opportunities/missed opportunities Media outreach sooner with three different phases: (1) Building social attention on the topic of the hackathon, (2) promotion for registration, (3) result analysis and report. Failure to attract professional coders in mobile industry: A key interest to this group was not clearly identified. Outreach participants through FPT University and National University. Recommendation for next time: Different posters and outreach texts to different target groups: Professional
One of the greatest challenges mLab East Africa faced before and during the hackathon was the limited supply of funds for the event. There was a delay in the process of expedition of the funds for the event, and therefore some of the resources acquired were in limited supply. Based on this observation, a favorable recommendation would be that in the future, arrangement for the transfer of funds should be made in advance before the start of the event.
Opportunities A global competition should ideally have a global prize just to tie the message together. mLab Southern Africa had some success with hosting a virtual hackathon as part of the local m2work challenge with ten participants, including a developer hacking from Nigeria participating. There might be opportunities to do this on a global level to create the largest hackathon or even at much lower cost host regular virtual competitions to promote this cause. Overall, mLab Southern Africa would probably do a couple of things differently within the local context but the overall organization of the global event was great and there are not any recommendations on that level, apart from the potential to include a virtual element next time.
mLab ECA
Challenges Potential beneficiaries and app users should be involved as well. Opportunities/missed opportunities The event showcased that we could have had participants from neighboring countries, if mLab ECA could cover their travel expenses. Recommendation for next time Virtual Expo of apps could be organized to help teams and mLabs promote and market products internationally.
mHub Nepal
Opportunities It was first hackathon for most of the participants and in addition to that for most of them it was their first global event participation. The hackathon gave a platform to all to show their skills, talent and more than that they got opportunities to exchange perspectives, skills and knowledge with each another. It also helped to bond with new faces and created an environment of teamwork. The synergy between them was strong to hold them together even after the hackathon.
developers or students. Increase the creativity and participation from local organizers by using guidelines rather than a centralized model.
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It helped everyone involved in it to explore their competencies and weaknesses. mHub Nepal got chance to work with organizations such as MIC Nepal and learn from their expertise. Challenges/ Missed Opportunities The time to prepare for the hackathon was short. The number of teams and participants were unpredictable as only few had responded back and gave the information about their teams and ideas prior to the due date. mHub Nepal had planned to help the participants to form teams and help them to choose ideas from m2Work idea competition in meetings before hackathon. The plan did not go very well as many were not present for the meetings and most of them had little or no idea of m2Work and hackathons. mHub Nepal provided server configured with Apache and PHP but participants had
to use their own server when they needed server with different configuration. mHub Nepal provided SMS gateway but experts in it were not available the whole time. Because of which one of the teams had an issue with it. While the teams were showing demo of their applications, the Internet devices failed. Many teams could not give proper demo of their applications. Some of the participants expressed that the feel of global event was missing. It would have been better if mHub Nepal had boarded subject matter experts to help teams to make their ideas better. The lack of resources in MobileNepal and lack of culture of incubation in Nepal deprived the teams to add business value to their creation. Lesson Learned/ Recommendations Although, mHub Nepal had less than a month to organize this hackathon, the
organizing team made it a successful one. Nevertheless, they are now aware that they can organize hackathon within limited time. Also, it helped them to know the strengths and weaknesses of their teams and of the individuals. More focused meetings along with general ones with potential participants will be helpful to give the clear message to them about the event and learn their needs. A small change in the schedule when needed is required to make the event successful. The demo of participants did not go well. Then mHub Nepal arranged for 5 teams to give their demo to the judges in closed room session. mHub Nepal could have conducted small sessions to inform the participants about the status in other countries or make interaction among the global participants. Events such as this give a boost to developers and students to be creative and innovative.
In future events, mHub Nepal needs to change its communication strategy for promoting such events in media. It needs to reach out to more media houses rather than few selected ones, conduct formal meetings with them. It needs to bring in technical bloggers such as Mr. Aakar whose blogs are popular amongst the technical people in the country. However, this event has given them an exposure to media persons which will be helpful in their future events. Besides its own network and local partners, who helped to reach out to developers and students for the hackathon by promoting it in their networks, it also posted about the hackathon in other groups. Such as Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Monsoon Collective. In future too, it will include such active groups to promote the events.
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Annex
Third prize: The Earth Team with app named Smart Blackboard
Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Trn Lu Tho Nguyn Phm Tn Phc Tin Bch ng L Trung Hiu Trn i Phc
1. 2. 3. 4.
Bi Khc Thch Trn Xun Chin Nguyn Hu Minh Nguyn Thanh Bnh
Second prize: Seniors Team with app named Gesture Language & You
Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Phm Phng Nguyn Chung Vnh Khang Nguyn Duy Phng Trn ng Khoa
Second Nokia Lumia 800 prize: OU Team with app named Product Preview on-line
Team Members:
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Third Nokia Lumia 800 prize: THASA Team with app for Anti counterfeiting FPT Software prize: Seniors Team for app in education named Gesture Language & You
Team members:
Team Members:
Tafsiri is a solution that aims to provide companies or organizations with the translation of specific information to the language of the local community, creating employment to multitudes. The team won prize money of KES 100,000. Team members:
1. Nancy Wang 2. Allan Onchuru 3. Roy Wnyaga 4. Jason Rogena 5. Kennedy Murimi 6. Robert Oruru 7. Ian Karanja 8. Rita Kimani 9. Peris Nyaboe 10. Lee Ibrahim 11. Nitram Kamunyu
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
David Israel Bwire Felix Kwizera David Maraba Fredrick Otieno Oluoch Michael Kaboro Maina Mogaka Peter Winnie Ndessy
mLab ECA
1 Prize: MicroForester project aims to green our planet with the help of microwork.
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3 Prize: MobiAgent
rd
MobiAgent is a solution that gives its user the ability to be an agent and get commission every time he/she sells a product e.g. event tickets to people on his/her phone contacts. The team won prize money of KES 40,000. Team Members: Team Members:
1. Judy Wawira 2. Masiror Victor Kipkoech 3. Nelson K. Bore 4. Chrisphine Ochieng Otewa 5. Jacob Teko 6. Stephen Gakere 7. Stephen Kimani 8. Mercy Kemunto Orangi 9. James Ndegwa Maringa 10. Jackline Moraa 11. Paul Masana
Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
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Leonard Korir Emmanuel Nyachoke Joseph Murgor Joseph Langat Cosmas Cheruiyot Albert Opondo Edwin Nyarangi
2nd Prize: Help me see project streams video and coordinates of people with limited eye sight or blindness to micro-worker, allowing the later to help in giving verbal directions.
Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Eugene Masinga Collen Mphabantshi Ndivhuwo Nthambeleni Ernest Mashele Mitch Dart
MediU (Medical Ubuntu): This solution tries to solve two major issues in Southern Africa (and possibly Africa): i) Creating work opportunities for qualified but unemployed health workers; ii) streamlining and improving the health services offered by Government that face issues due to the ratio of Doctors : Patients (estimated at 1:1300). The application allows family members, neighbors, community leaders, unemployed health workers etc., who accompany patients to their appointments to capture patient information in digital format, make appointments, receive information,
A compliance and authenticity monitoring system that enables organizations and/or individuals to track down fake products and/ or non-compliant individuals. The team won prize money of KES 30,000.
Smart Blackboard is a solution that allows students to pose questions while doing their homework or preparing for tests and receive answers from qualified teachers. The team won prize money of KES 70,000.
1. Sergey Hayrapetyan 2. Gevorg Zakaryan 3. 3rd Prize: Test my app allows delegating app testing and bug reporting to microworkers.
Team Members:
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reminders to take medicine and a range of other services while earning small remunerations for helping build a centralized patient registry. Both these teams received a prize sponsored by Vodacom as well as an offer from mLab to assist them in commercializing their application. In order to receive the funding the teams must have the interest and ability to finalize the application and funds will be paid out on project milestones. Team Members:
lot of time to do micro work but also needs additional income. The application allows the guards to do random checks on vehicle information by entering registration numbers. The app will interface with the licensing department and provide basic information like make, color, model etc and ask for confirmation. Should the registration number not match the vehicle they are requested to provide the correct information while the system flags the department to reference potential crimes and warrants related to the vehicle that was Geo-tagged when the registration was searched. Micro workers earn micro remuneration for every 10 checked. This team received a prize sponsored by Nokia. Team Members:
mHub Nepal
Winner: Medic Info
Medic Info is a mobile application which is used by micro-workers to digitize the medical history of a patient that is provided by the medical institutes in scanned form. Team members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4.
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determining the best routes, or strategic points such as filling stations, shopping centres, vehicle repair workshops, etc.
Mtafiti
Companies need research data and reviews for their products, or adverts. What customers want or what they think about certain product. Team Members: 1. Weda Moses 2. Ruth Kinuthia 3. Francis Kinuthia 4. Jeremy Njihia 5. Ngugi Karani 6. Daniel Kihia 7. Josephine Ayienda 8. Elijah Mwathi 9. Margaret Adhiambo 10. Gabriel Lando
Where
Team Members:
Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
Nguyn Phc Thnh T Hunh Tn Lng Nht Huy on Trn Cng Danh
xDict
Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. Accadius Ben Sabwa 2. Liyosi Collins 3. Erick Ndungu 4. Edwin Waswa 5. Edith Njeru 6. Anthony Kabetu 7. Anicetta Kabego 8. Stephen Kimiri 9. Musa Ogonda 10. Joanne Mahinda
iContact
Micro-workers collect contact information and addresses of different businesses around them and submit the information to a database. This information can then be fetched by users in need, using a mobile application or from a mobile website from their phones. Team Members:
1. Nguyn Hunh Duy Hng 2. Trng Thi Chu 3. Hng Ngc Minh Trm
Trash Up
Trash-up is a platform that seeks to create employment while also having a positive impact on the environment. It helps improve and maintain sanitation through garbage collection and recycling it in ways that generate revenue. Jobless individuals signup and receive notifications of places that need cleaning. Team Members:
1. Nguyn Tn Triu
1. John Slater 2. Gideon Mburu 3. Christine Aoko 4. Theophilus Machogu 5. Timothy Mwirabua 6. Johnson Ndungu Macharia 7. Esther Wanjiru 8. Maryline Cherutich 9. Happiness Nduka 10. Sylvester Mwambeke 11. Felix Wahome
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Paul Mutie Julius Munene Antony Oroko Allan Mukhwana Dennis Riungu Elkanah Kibet Chris Kivaze
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TestSync
Application developers are faced with the challenge of testing their apps given the high cost incurred in acquiring mobile devices for testing. Testsync is a user-based testing platform for app users to test an application from vendors and give feedback through the platform. Team Members:
mLab ECA
Anticounterfeiting
The system will be a mobile solution to help fighting against counterfeit products. The users will be able to take a photo of the product and submit the report to the system. The original manufacturers will then buy this information from the submitter, as it will help them undertake measures fighting against counterfeiting. The report will contain a photo of the fake product and its location. The submitted info will be visualized on a map, showing where most of the counterfeit products are sold or made. Team Members:
Business Plan
Business Model enables entrepreneurs, who have ideas to start new business, in making their business models. Entrepreneurs give short description of their ideas in our app and microworkers get money for making a part of business plan for that idea. Team Members:
SMS as a letter
The application will help users to manage their time in a more useful way. From our point of view another useful aspect of the program is that if you send a message to another continent you will save more money by using the SMS as a Letter Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Hutchinson Murage Joseph Agina Dickens Mawira Walter Ayieni Jacqueline Njeri Robert Gichohi
Butterfly Effect
Our application can help people to save environment and get money at the same time. Application lies on idea that people who saw for example in street same garbage capture it and upload to our database which we provide to environmental organizations all around the world.
Hamaspyur
This is a mobile application for selling goods from Teghut village to demonstrate the practical implication of our models. The Teghut Market application helps to meet the buyers and sellers directly and involves volunteer efforts to facilitate the process. Team Members:
Car Inspector
Car inspector application is meant for reporting driving violations when spotting them. The microworkers record the violation act they have witnessed by taking a picture or a video. Then the material is sent to the police station database. Team Members:
1. Thomas Santakallio 2. Osborn Wambua Nyamai 3. Grace Guyatu 4. Mercy Kangogo 5. Kelvin Maundu 6. Joshua Ngari 7. Stephen Mbuvi 8. Caroline Wanjiku Maina 9. Shem Orupto 10. Gilbert Karogo
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Narek Kostanyan Marat Aleksanyan Hakob Martirosyan Lena Nazaryan Karen Ghandilyan
mTech
Team Members: Personalized Greetings and Love Letters Writer Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4.
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X-Tech, CityBugs
CityBugs - Application dedicated to finding and solving city problems... Everyone can write bug and pin on map where is the issue, User can attach Photo, Video and detailed description of it. Team Members: 1. Arman Atoyan 2. Aram Mkrtchyan 3. Levon Kirakosyan 4. Hovhannes Aghajanyan 5. Lilit Harutiunyan
mHub Nepal
Quick Heal
With this app, farmer can upload the pictures of infected plants/ animal and the microworkers gives suggestions and remedies after analyzing the pictures of the infected plants/ animals. Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
MyNews
Allows citizen journalists report using the app
1. 2. 3. 4.
Samrakchan Ghimire Roshan Karki Prayag Raj Upadhyay Regendraman Singh Basnyet
org/sites/default/files/downloads/ quickhealsource.zip
1. Sola Salami
Showplaces
Tour guide based on tours developed by microworkers, which includes specific places not often mentioned in guides for tourists Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
Cubix
Sales tracker, for tracking discounts in the city shops Team Members:
1. Harut Arakelyan
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Rajan Gautam Manish Kunwar Suraj K.C. Subhash Karki Tikaraj Neupane
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Medical Helpline
It facilitates the patients/user who wants to share the health problems that they are facing and seeks help for that problem. Team Members:
Digital Lalpurja
This app helps to digitize the land owning documents (Lalpurja). The documents are scanned and divided into small chunks and delivered to the micro-workers who will record the text as per the picture. Team Members:
Toolkit
8. Banner Design 9. Coffee Mug Design 10. Tee-Shirt Design (Black) 11. Tee-Shirt Design (White) 12. Judges Toolkit 13. Plan for updating website and social
2. Outreach Text 3. Budget Plan for Orgnizers 4. Checklists 5. Milestone 6. Communication/ Outreach Strategy 7. Poster and Flyer
1. 2. 3. 4.
Sodh Khoj
The users will ask questions using this app and the micro-workers will answer the questions according to their expertise and earn from it. Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Diwaker Ghimire Muna Maharjan Punya Ruchal Rohit Shrestha Nirajan Panthee
media
idwaker/lalpurja
Photo Credits:
mlab East Asia mlab East Africa mlab Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, Armenia (ECA) mlab South Africa MobileNepal
Mobile Survey
Any organization that want to get feedback from their audience, sends a simple form to this system and it will make that form available to the mobile application for the micro-workers to conduct the survey.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Wish List
When a user wants to get some product or service but have no idea where to consult Mobile Wish List aims to be the solution. Team Members: Team Members:
1. 2. 3. 4.
wlist