Hornstull Hack #1 — Ideation and Prototyping.
- How to get amazing people to do amazing things during hardly no time.
Every day we get reminded of the easiness of just to do something for others — still we don’t do anything. This whole thing started with us, two Swedidh designers, that simply got tired of just that. We spend our days surrounded by truly talented and creative people — in that sense we are spoiled. Our strong belief is that if these people just did something for society together it would for sure be awesome. One saturday we gathered them all into one living room, hammered them with different ideation processes and crafting materials with the goal to create a new services that would make change.
Why Hornstull Hack isn’t a “regular” Hackaton.
First and most we’re now a group of people that together hack for good during several sessions. This spring we will think, build and launch our ideas and everyone is invited to join. This is about our first session, #ideation and prototyping.
Preparations
Before the hack, everyone was asked to think of one issue in society that they got reminded of on a daily basis. These issues became the starting point.
When the day finally arrived
First we had a great plan; 12 hours with 30 people in a rented space with sponsored food. Very soon we realised that we were doing it all wrong. We needed to start small to test our own hypothesis first. 7 hours with 12 people that were friends and friends of friends in one of our living rooms luckily became the reality — Start small! The food however was sponsored. We are grateful to Ted Valentin, Knackeriet, Hack away and Good store for that!
Workshop Exercises
Phase 1: What can you do today?
After putting up everyones “issues” on a board we asked ourselves “What can we do already today to make this better?” followed by “What is the craziest thing you could do about it?” (…or “What didn’t you dare to say the first time”) 7 minutes later the board was filled with post-its.
After that we all gathered in groups of the issue we felt for the most to start transforming these initial ideas and actions into services and products. The issues we have continued working with are: Waste management, Integration of newly arrived Swedes and gender equality within tech.
Phase 2: Mid crit
Unlike any other hackaton, we had a mid-crit. 1,5 hour in, all groups had to present their ideas and give feedback to others.
Many ideas where presented at this point. Just to give you a short brief about what we discussed:
Waste management: Textile bags for shopping instead of plastic, map of waste facilities nearby, something to attach to cigarrett boxes to put cigarette butts in and a service for give away stuff you don’t need any more.
Integration of newly arrived Swedes: Open offices seats where they could come work, internship programmes, a cultural exchange service or skill exchange to better meet on equal terms.
Gender equality within tech: School programs for young kids and gamification tools to increase the interest tech in early ages.
Phase 3: Finalizing ideas
The last 3 hours was put into realization of ideas. Our intention is to continue to meet during the spring to actual build. This time we wanted sharable assets to better pitch the ideas to others. We believe in early feedback and user involvement.
What the groups were asked to produce:
- An elevator pitch recorded in an elevator with four floors as maximum duration. Fun, hard and crammed.
- “What would The Verge say?” A review as if the service was already made to better evaluate the goal and main features.
- How far can you take it? Creativity went wild in design mocks, landing pages and business plans.
Final ideas
Only three ideas survived the whole day…
Put the stuff you don’t need “Up for grabs”
— An idea on how to make use of stuff you no longer need.
Everyone has a culture. Please share yours.
- “Come join” is an idea on how to share cultures, learn and reduce prejudices.
Decreasing gender imbalance in tech by an early start.
Digiton is an idea of fun game introduced as a part of the pre school education, aiming to decrease gender imbalance by showing the fun in tech for children in early ages.
Everyone is invited
We’re now a group motivated to take this further. Next step is the building phase. Everyone is invited to join so don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sponsors and links
- Ted Valentin, Knackeriet and Hack away (The most amazing hackaton I’ve ever been to) We’ll forever be grateful for food and overall support.
- Good Store — Thanks for vegan snacks and drinks! Link
- Outlet Sverige — Our website — we have it thanks to you. link
- Kompis Sverige — Such an amazing lightening talk about all the inspiring things you do.
- Hornstullhack.se
