I didn't realize there is such a competitive aspect in a "real" hackathon (which, to be clear I never attended).From what I experienced at ZuriHac, I had the feeling there was two side to the event. Certain persons where pretty much in the "getting-things-done", taking the opportunity to be together and achieve great things in a small amount of time.Definitely not for the competitive aspect (at least I never felt it that way), but more for getting things done.There was other folks like me who actually didn't wrote much code, but spend time discussing/socializing/helping/...So I understand it's not sticly a hackathon, I think it would be nice to have the word "community" in it as it's really what is at the core of such event.On 28 August 2014 19:50, Tikhon Jelvis <tikhon@jelv.is> wrote:I'm really not sure what the best noun to use is, but I'm leaning towards describing it as a mini convention or conference.I ran into this issue when telling people about Bay Hac. In college, at least, "hackathon" has acquired a pretty specific meaning: a *competitive* coding marathon, often with prizes. Bay Hac, on the other hand, was really more like a mini-conference: talks, sessions and lots of socializing, but no competitive aspect at all. (Personally, I like this quite a bit more than a normal hackathon!) I didn't want to send the wrong impression, but I also didn't know what else to call it except for "hackathon".Even though BayHac had *some* aspects of a hackathon, I still don't think it's a great description. If focuses on the wrong aspects. In my view, the most important parts of BayHac were educational and social, and it was incredibly valuable even if you didn't finish or even work on a project. This is pretty much the opposite of most actual hackathons I see; even when they have some focus on education, they still tend to be heavily "getting-things-done" project oriented.
On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 7:23 AM, Brandon Allbery <allbery.b@gmail.com> wrote:
IMO it's not; the difference is one of focus, more specifically is there one or a small number of specific projects or is there a larger slate of things that one can pick and choose from and which may well change their form based on participation *plus* unorganized gatherings (socialization/"hallway track"). My "hacker-con" take on the second form implicitly recognizes that the "hallway track" may well be as continuous as it is at many other conventions....On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 10:19 AM, Alois Cochard <alois.cochard@gmail.com> wrote:
In fact Zurihack felt pretty much like a coding marathon, I'm not sure if the "not sleeping" thing should be considered as part of the definition of a hackathon...
--brandon s allbery kf8nh sine nomine associatesunix, openafs, kerberos, infrastructure, xmonad http://sinenomine.net_______________________________________________
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