Hacking the Monoculture

The following was written by Sonia Hamilton, our Summer Documentation Intern. Want to work on projects like these? You can! Apply to be a 2017 Code2040 Fellow and join a community of students changing the tech industry, one internship at a time: https://fellows.code2040.org/.

This summer, we once again hosted our annual hackathon, Hack4Diversity. There, our Fellows teamed up to solve tech’s diversity issue, proposing everything from daily, PoC centric affirmations to nationwide education data banks. All our teams killed it, but a few stood out from the pack:

Best Pitch: SlackGirlMagic

Sharon Kipruto, Omayeli Arenyeka, Patricia Perozo

“SlackGirlMagic is a Slack bot that pulls inspirational content from underrepresented communities and posts them in your Slack channel. Whether it be a quote, an artwork, or a video, we provide a range of enriching and educational content that appears at a configurable time in a channel of your choice. Our mission is to include, inspire, and empower people from underrepresented backgrounds as well as educate others about these communities and their histories. Whether you’re a minority in tech seeking motivation at work or an ally wishing to understand and support your coworkers, SlackGirlMagic serves to empower and enlighten everyone. Let’s diversify your Slack channel!”

To find out about their upcoming launch, go to: https://slackgirlmagic.herokuapp.com.

Global Impact: Footsteps

Andres Cuervo, Alexei Bastidas, Fidel Salgado, and Linda Ortega Cordoves

“Footsteps recognizes that as workplaces have diversified, many struggle to connect with people from different backgrounds. Our platform offers a curated collection of short films shot by prominent documentary filmmakers that highlight the daily experiences of underrepresented communities. We leverage cutting edge sentiment analysis and virtual reality technology to allow users to literally walk in another person’s footsteps. By acting as a more engaging empathy training, we envision this technology as being able to change the way people think about oppressed groups. By placing users in someone else’s shoes, we hope to cross cultural divides and make workplaces not only more diverse, but more accepting of that diversity.”

Most Technically Difficult: Athena

Giovanni Bonin, Josuel Musambaghani, Atl Arredondo and Monica Yupa

“Athena is an educational assistant that serves computer science students. Our app places a diversity of resources at your fingertips, connecting users with educational content and community events. Whether you’re seeking to learn a new language or attend an upcoming software event, tell Athena what you need and we’ll instantly guide you! Our app is inspired by the idea that anyone can learn how to program if they find the right resources.”

Athena is currently working on bilingual support! To watch a demo of how Athena works, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLKS6uOodpc.

Best Design: Break the Stereo

Rafael Takasu, Rodrigo Manubens, Diego Lazares, and Jesus Garcia

“Break the Stereo operates under the idea that music genres are often associated with different groups of people. In our app, users react to the music they’re listening to, allowing them to construct unique musical profiles. Our suggestion algorithm considers users’ backgrounds, connecting them with people from diverse backgrounds, who have similar taste. In this way, our users have a platform for music discovery, that simultaneously breaks the stereotypes associated with certain music genres.”

Want to work on projects like these? You can- apply to be a 2017 Code2040 Fellow and join a community of students changing the tech industry, one internship at a time: https://fellows.code2040.org/.