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iHub By Angela Oduor / June 9, 2010

Random Hacks of Kindness Update:Day 2

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Day 2 of the Random Hacks of Kindness hackathon continued with the same energetic pace as the first day, with teams diligently working through the whole night in order to have their aapplications finished in time for presentation. The event continued to be streamed live, with us being able to watch the live presentations from the RHOK team in Sydney.

The kenyan teams continued to work on their applications uptil 1.30 p.m E.A.T, before begining their presentations.

• ENEZA: Their solution to the I Need Help problem was defined in three parts. Search and rescue system (SAR), Web Enabled and Accessible Via Mobile. The approach was, mobile application to receive emergency messages, website to register emergencies and forward text messages and then both systems to be compatible with social networks: Twitter and Facebook. The team did a commendable job and were able to achieve their deliverables by end of the hackathon.

• AMP- Their solution to the HAITI AMPs problem was to have a computerized registry: registration via mobile phone, amputee profiles self-reported in SMS format, creation of a data base designed to facilitate better planning and execution of collaborative service provision by NGOs. Access to the collected data wouls available via a Web dashboard. The team decided on a USSD based application so as to get structured information from the amputees. The team collaborated with the Sydney team and in the end there was a USSD application for the Haiti Amputees.

• Res-Q :This team’s solution to the Person Finder problem was creating a Person finder technology that includes a database schema to synchronize multiple databases. The team came up with a mobile and also a web app. The mobile app was in j2me and with this the registration process would take place. The web app was named Virtual Assembly Point since it emulated a fire assembly point.

• WAVE – This team’s solution to the WeHaveWeNeed problem was aimed at taking in needs and haves from individuals then once a “match” is made(pairing of a Need with a Have) then the resultant matched pair would be sent back to the system of origin for the order fulfillment function. The team worked through the night and were able to achieve their aim. They produced a Web application where both the Haves and Needs would put in information then the system would match them.

• O-Funds – This team’s solution to the The money tracker/ where did my money go problem was to come up with a smart way to make donations and track those donations. In this way you can leverage transparency — and it becomes a social change tool. The team came up with an application where donors would make a donation, view category targets and current amount collected, view donations to date and also view spending (what them money was spent on). In addition, Consumers would view donations made.

The judges then had to deliberate and pick the winners of the hackathon. Conrad Akunga, King’ori Gitahi, Emmanuel Kala, Billy Odero and John Wesonga made up the panel of judges for the RHOK Nairobi Chapter.

Judges deliberate

In essence, everyone who participated was a winner. All the applications developed were very innovative.

But in the end, Res-Q emerged the winners of the hackathon, winning a digital Camera, and ENEZA taking 2^nd place and winning a portable hard disk. In 3^rd place was the WAVE team, who won a portable DVD writer. All participants also walked away with cool T-shirts.

All presentations and applications will be available for downloads as soon as possible.

More photos from the event can be seen on our flickr stream here.

Thank you to everyone of you who participated in the RHOK Nairobi event for making it a success.

Author : Angela Oduor