[okfn-za] Data hackathon challenges and why questions are important

[Siyabonga Africa]

I totally agree with this post. Hacking, designing, building without a
clear question to answer is almost always going to lead to disaster.

Thanks Adi for posting this.

Siya

On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 7:22 PM, Adi Eyal <adi at burgercom.co.za> wrote:

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "FlowingData" <newsletter at flowingdata.com>
> Date: 12 Mar 2013 6:03 PM
> Subject: Data hackathon challenges and why questions are important
> To: <adi at burgercom.co.za>
> Cc:
>
> **
>  <http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=b275b95e92&e=b011bde465>
>  Data hackathon challenges and why questions are important<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=3346985fd5&e=b011bde465>
> Mar 12, 2013 04:38 am
>
> Jake Porway, executive director of DataKind<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=1daea7725c&e=b011bde465>on data hackathons and why
> they require careful planning to actually work<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=d427c6d0cb&e=b011bde465>
> :
>
> Any data scientist worth their salary will tell you that you should start
> with a question, NOT the data. Unfortunately, data hackathons often lack
> clear problem definitions. Most companies think that if you can just get
> hackers, pizza, and data together in a room, magic will happen. This is the
> same as if Habitat for Humanity gathered its volunteers around a pile of
> wood and said, "Have at it!" By the end of the day you'd be left with a
> half of a sunroom with 14 outlets in it.
>
> Without subject matter experts available to articulate problems in
> advance, you get results like those from the Reinvent Green Hackathon.
> Reinvent Green was a city initiative in NYC aimed at having technologists
> improve sustainability in New York. Winners of this hackathon included an
> app to help cyclists "bikepool" together and a farmer's market inventory
> app. These apps are great on their own, but they don't solve the city's
> sustainability problems. They solve the participants' problems because as a
> young affluent hacker, my problem isn't improving the city's recycling
> programs, it's finding kale on Saturdays.
>
> Without clear direction on what to do with the data or questions worth
> answering, hackathons can end up being a bust from all angles. From the
> organizer side, you end up with a hodgepodge of projects that vary a lot in
> quality and purpose. From the participant side, you're left up to your own
> devices and have to approach the data blind, without a clear starting
> point. From the judging side, you almost always end up having to pick a
> winner when there isn't a clear one, because the criteria of the contest
> was fuzzy to begin with.
>
> This also applies to hiring freelancers for visualization work. You should
> have a clear goal or story to tell with your data. If you expect the hire
> to analyze your data *and* produce a graphic, you better get someone with
> a statistics background. Otherwise, you end up with a design-heavy piece
> with little substance.
>
> Basically, the more specific you can be about what you're looking for, the
> better.
>
> You are receiving this email because you opted in on FlowingData.
> *Mailing address:*
> FlowingData
> PO Box 3381
> Livermore, CA 94551-3381
>
> Add us to your address book<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage1.com/vcard?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=71ef3cfa3a>
>
> Follow on Twitter<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=385dd6bf44&e=b011bde465>|
> Unsubscribe<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=71ef3cfa3a&e=b011bde465&c=b3ebb35f59>| Update
> subscription preferences<http://flowingdata.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=f538bce868aac1144d248c0bc&id=71ef3cfa3a&e=b011bde465>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Open Data and Democracy Initiative (ODADI)" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to odadi+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>
>
>



-- 
Siyabonga Africa
Digital Strategist - 24.com
South Africa
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-za/attachments/20130312/e58f515b/attachment-0002.html>