This year, the inaugural Canvas hackathon is focused on “Media in Context”. Context has always been around us, from where we are, how we are feeling, what time it is, and even our history and culture. How can we apply the idea of context to media and journalism? How do different contexts affect the different phases of media, from production, to distribution, to consumption and interpretation? We believe that exploring new forms of contextually-aware media at this year’s Media in Context hackathon will help us tell a better human story.
CHALLENGES:
#1: Giving Voice to the Voiceless with Data
#2: What's in the papers today, HAL?
#3: Putting Things Back in Context
#9: Think Outside the Comment Box
Eligibility
- Participants: Teams of selected individuals participating from the physical hackathon at QNCC, Doha, Qatar. No remote submissions accepted, except if they are directly assisting a team at the event through our #CanvasConnect Twitter hashtag.
- Countries: International! We have participants arriving from Qatar, Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North and South America!
Requirements
- Categories: See the 12 challenge statements at http://canvas.aljazeera.com/challenges/
- What to create: functioning software application or data analysis or visualization; demonstration video; screenshots; materials for judges and presentation
Prizes
$25,000 in prizes
Most Innovative
Awarded to the team with the challenge solution that, overall, the judges decide is the most innovative. As elaborated in the Judging Criteria, “innovation” could involve the high level to which this team accomplished their chosen challenge and met or exceeded its recommendations; the level of risk-taking and experimentation apparent in the submitted solution; and/or the high level at which this team and solution shows what can be accomplished within a 48 hour hackathon.
Greatest Potential for Use
Awarded to the team with the challenge solution that, overall, the judges decide has the greatest potential for growth. As elaborated in the Judging Criteria, “potential for growth” could mean a viable business model; clear usefulness to Al Jazeera or another media organization; or even if this team or solution demonstrates good qualities for incubation.
Greatest Impact and Disruption
Awarded to the team with the challenge solution that, overall, the judges decide has the greatest potential impact on any or all of these fields. As elaborated in the Judging Criteria, “impact” here may mean that this solution advances the current “state-of-the-art”; or has substantial ramifications for how we will produce, distribute, and consume media in the future.
Highest Technical and Design Quality
Awarded to the team with the challenge solution that, overall, the judges decide has the highest technical quality. As elaborated in the Judging Criteria, “technical quality” involves the tools, technologies, APIs, and open standards used in the solution; the level of functionality achieved during the hackathon; aesthetic appearance and good design; and other characteristics.
Best Embodiment of Values and Ethics
Awarded to the team with the challenge solution that, overall, the judges decide best incorporates the values of Al Jazeera and journalism, including Al Jazeera’s mission to “give voice to the voiceless”; journalistic ideals of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, and diversity; and Al Jazeera’s principles like objectivity, independence, transparency, pioneering spirit, and Human-first.
Best Production Phase Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing a “Production Phase” challenge.
Best Distribution Phase Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing a “Distribution Phase” challenge.
Best Consumption Phase Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing a “Consumption Phase” challenge.
Best Personal Context Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing a “Personal Context” challenge.
Best Situational Context Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing a “Situational Context” challenge.
Best Cultural/Historical Context Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing a “Cultural/Historical Context” challenge.
Best Editorial Context Solution
Awarded to the team with the best solution addressing an “Editorial Context” challenge.
People's Choice Award
This is the only award that will not be determined by the judges. After the Media in Context hackathon, all submitted solutions from all teams and their presentations will be listed on the Canvas website with public voting capabilities. Public voting from the community will be solicited and conducted for about 1 month. At the end of the month, the “People's Choice Award” will be given to the team with the solution that receives the greatest number of votes from the community. All teams and solutions are eligible for this award, regardless of any other major or minor awards they have or have not already won. The People's Choice Award includes the same prize package as the 5 “major awards”: $3,000 cash.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
How to enter
To enter this challenge, you MUST be one of the selected Media in Context participants on a team at the hackathon in Doha, Qatar.
Include in your submission all links to code repositories, images or design assets, demos, and videos or other resources you will need in your challenge presentation to the judges. Basically, if it's not listed here in ChallengePost, it didn't happen!
Judges
Matt Carroll
MIT Media Lab
Matteo Penzo
frog design inc.
Osama Hassanain
Tech Wadi
Yaser Bishr
Al Jazeera
Haroon Meer
Thinkst
Aysha Al Mudahka
QBIC
Reem Al Mansouri
Al Jazeera
Judging Criteria
-
Innovation
How well does the team’s solution address the hackathon challenge they chose? Did they incorporate the challenge’s recommendations or even imagine their own criteria above and beyond these? How much risk-taking or innovation was involved in this approach? -
Potential for Use
How sustainable is this solution? Is it a good candidate for incubation? Would Al Jazeera or another media organization find this solution immediately useful, deployable, and continue to improve it? Are there established user communities? -
Impact and Disruptive Potential
How substantially will this solution change the way media is produced, distributed, or consumed? Does this solution make a significant advancement in a media or technology domain or impact the current “state of the art”? -
Technical and Design Quality
Does the solution make use of an appropriate variety of open source technologies and third party APIs? Is the solution aesthetically appealing and indicative of good design principles? Is it reliable and functional, even for a hackathon prototype? -
Values and Ethics of the Journalism Profession
How well does this solution embody the journalistic ideals of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, and diversity?
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