Codeathon 6.0 Brussels
A few weeks ago, the sixth Red Cross CBS codeathon was held, this time in Brussels. 43 coders, from Belgium and beyond, spent three days improving various features of the new CBS platform and contributing to saving lives!
Codeathon 6.0 took place at The EGG Brussels on October 17th-19th. New volunteers worked together with our wonderful Core Team volunteers — who came to Brussels for the event! — to improve and develop various functionalities: a custom-developed SMS gateway, responsive versions of the report/line list, first versions of two analytics graphs, a mobile reporting application, improvements to the CBS website and a light version of the analytics for limited bandwidth connections.
Another important purpose of the event was to extend the network of coders to include more French-speaking volunteers!
On the first day, everyone was familiarized with the platform, its evolution, and its application to date. There was a range of speakers both from the Belgian government and from Médecins Sans Frontières, as well as representatives from the Belgian, Senegalese, and Norwegian Red Cross Societies. The new volunteers and other guests were also taken through a simulation exercise to demonstrate the platform.
Shortly thereafter, the space was bustling with discussions and hard work within the different teams — exploring how to best utilize everyone’s various backgrounds and skill sets. The remainder of the event was dedicated to the teams working on problem solving and code contributions, which resulted in a lot of shiny new and valuable features!
Huge thanks to all the volunteers who participated, our Core Team, and the Belgian Red Cross team that took such good care of all of us and carefully prepared a great event.
And to all our new volunteers: we are so grateful and impressed by your contributions, and look forward to what is to come.
Merci et bievenue à la famille CBS!
Text contributions by Tim Strange, Croix-Rouge de Belgique volunteer.
Photos by Croix-Rouge de Belgique and the Norwegian Red Cross.
