Day Zero Intro & What Makes a Good Hackathon?

Two short presentations for DotAstronomy7 Day Zero, University of Sydney, Tuesday 3rd November 2015

Conference website: http://dotastronomy.com/events/seven/

Transcript

1. Welcome to Day Zero #dotastro #dayzero @dotastronomy Amanda Bauer @astropixie Arna Karick @drarnakarick James Allen @j_t_allen Vanessa Moss @cosmicpudding Rob Hollow @roberthollow
2. W E L C O M E T O D AY Z E R O
3. So what’s it all about? Learning some new skills and web tools to better prepare you for the hack day… Skills that you can start using in your research, or for small projects should you wish to pursue and an alternative career — within astronomy or elsewhere
4. So what’s it all about? Tutorial/Demo sessions + Slideshows during coffee sessions + Use Slack #dayzero for contributions to the Day Zero guide. Tools and tips etc. + DotAstronomy #unconference sessions for the overflow of tutorial ideas and participant demos
5. Software installation & troubleshooting during morning coffee
6. We have a pretty packed schedule, but it’s going to be great!
8. What makes a good Hackathon? Tips and tricks for the uninitiated… Arna Karick @drarnakarick
9. What makes a good Hackathon? What I’ve learned from Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) and DotAstronomy6. Arna Karick @drarnakarick
10. a "hack" is a small project that solves one problem, designed and executed as quickly as possible — but it’s not just about coding or knowing how to code well…
11. created with wordle.net
12. My tips for hack day… 1. Decide on a hack project or decide who you want to work with 2. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you can do 3. Don’t dwell on what you can’t do 4. Love your neighbour: you might be the person they need to solve their problem, and vice versa 5. Buddy up with veteran DotAstros. They are your mentors 6. But be selfish: work out what you want to get out of the day: a new skill? a finished project? knowledge? 7. Ask other groups for suggestions when you get stuck 8. Do the simplest thing that will work, you can extend it later 9. Use sticky notes, Slack & existing web tools 10. Ask other groups for suggestions when you get stuck 11. Keep your eye on the prize! Yes there will be prizes and yes, they will be awesome. 12. Embrace the silliness and have fun
13. What is Slack?
14. http://slack.com 
 Slack is *the* communications tool for hackathon and research teams. It's the easiest way to share basically anything with the team. It integrates beautifully with a ton of other tools. With a few clicks you can pipe Github notifications into your #myawesomehackproject channel. You can also upload code snippets, documents, links, leave comments and send private messages. The best bit… it’s private and archivable. Which means that (unlike Twitter) in 6-12 months time when you want to check on the progress of a hack you don’t have to filter the crap in your twitter feed… — so far not an issue for #dotastro What is Slack?
15. Ok enough about hacking let’s get caffeinated and learn some skills Slack invites to follow shortly