3 Things I Learned at the Red Hook Hackathon
It’s a beautiful New York City evening and I’m sitting on the B61 bus traveling from Downtown Brooklyn to Red Hook quite pleased with myself. Because: (A) I’m actually venturing outside of my usual stomping grounds and (B) I’m actually going to an event I had pre-scheduled into my calendar! (how often does that happen?!)
The destination: HACK RED HOOK — a 48 hour hardware Hackathon at Pioneer Works that “addresses neighborhood challenges through interactive hardware solutions.”
Red Hook is quite a unique Brooklyn community — removed from all subway lines, you step off the bus and it feels like you’ve arrived in a small seaside town. Geographically isolated: surrounded by water on three sides and by the Gowanus Parkway and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel on the fourth. I learned that Red Hook was built as a thriving industrial neighborhood of mainly Italian and Irish American dockworkers. To accommodate the growing families of the longshoreman, one of the largest public housing developments in America was built here. Roughly 70% of the residents still live in public housing.
As I walked to the Hackathon I passed by a few biker bars, a bustling lobster roll cafe, a film production rental shop and a beautifully curated bookstore. There was a stimulating mix of history and community based entrepreneurship all around.
Then I arrived …
Peeking out from under an industrial gate, inside of a reclaimed warehouse, a slew of hackers had begun to gather.
A group of about 40 technologist, community planners, designers, engineers and artist of all ages filled the space. So naturally I switched my “ease-dropping ears” on and began to roam. (kidding…not kidding)
… and here are the 3 THINGS I LEARNED that night at HACK RED HOOK:
1. Embrace Ambiguity
“New ideas are not perfect at inception, being able to embrace ambiguity allows one to keep an open mind and be receptive to new ideas which may over time and with some effort be developed into breakthrough solutions” — CreativityCards.com
I was struck by the sense of adventure and faith all the attendees had to embody in order to participate. Here we were in a beautiful space. With labels and signs visible everywhere. A well thought out sense of structure and choreography built to mask the chaos of the creative collective process that was about to begin.
It started off with a murmur. One by one the host and sponsors went up to the mike to share with the group the rules, resources and goals of the weekend. When they were done the bell rang and the hackers were let loose.
Some sat and started writing ideas down on paper, some stared into space allowing the broad nest of the challenge to wash over them and others began having brainstorming sessions with mingling peers. There were awkward hellos exchanged, polite negotiations that you witness when strangers become team mates, and a lot of stops and false starts.
This was the phase in the process where teams were being created and project ideas were being defined.
In one of the growing ideation cyphers I witnessed a turning point occur when one woman proposed the following questions to help her group choose a project — “We need to think about what are we going to have enough time to do? What will we feel passionate about creating? And how can we use both art and technology to bring about our ideas?”
2. Hackathons are great civic engagement tools
“Everybody has creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can change the world” — Paulo Coelho
I had the great luck to find myself in a seat right next to a long time community organizer and resident of Red Hook. A woman beaming with pride as she watched a group of young people, mostly black and latino , organize and steward the event. These “Digital Stewards” were all students from the Red Hook Initiative and had spent the past few months pulling everything together. I later learned she was recruited by the stewards to speak in front of the group and share her knowledge with the hackers as one of the key community stakeholders.
Through her sharing, she helped the hackers to gain a broader understanding of the community they had landed in — their hopes, needs and achievements. She spoke of the challenges that faced Red Hook after Hurricane Sandy and how the community banned together to overcome and create solutions.
Other speakers joined her, sharing ideas around buzz words I jotted down that included : #HumanTerrainMapping, #IOTSmartCities, #FloodPreparation Apps, #PublicWifi initiatives, #VRHistoryGuides and more.
When the speakers were finished I managed to pull one “Digital Steward” aside to ask her more questions about her experience as a young black woman in the tech arena. We discussed how awesome it is to pick up new skills and to be able to do things that you once felt intimidated by. She shared with me a project she had recently completed — a local weather sensor she had built using soldering equipment, 3D printers, CAD drawings, solar panels and electrical wiring techniques. Tools that she learned just this year and would now support others to use throughout the 48-hour weekend.
I asked her what she was most looking forward to at the completion of the Hackathon and she responded:
“I’m interested in seeing what solutions people from outside our community are able to come up with. We have a lot of ideas already but its going to be cool to see what others can create”
3. Hackathons are where the best science fair ever + the most epic slumber party come together for a weekend
I am definitely signing up next year to officially participate as a design hacker. I found my self geeking out the ENTIRE night, because they had EVERY tool you could possible need right there at your disposal….AND if they didn’t have it in stock, there was a special ops guy you could call up on the phone, he would pull some strings and have it delivered!
Need an API tool — check
Need a 3D Printer — check
How about a circular saw — check
Or a circuit board — check
Or a laser cuter — check
If you would like to learn more about the event and see who won you can visit their WEBSITE
Also if you are inspired and would like to host your own civic minded Hackathon I found this cool “how to guide” created by a group in Chicago. CLICK HERE
AND lastly… I have my metro card and will travel. So… if you know of any other cool tech events I should attend here in the Greater New York area please let me know. You can just add it to the comments section below.
