Recap from FTL’s first online hackathon
This past weekend the Female Tech Leaders (FTL) Hackathons team hosted their first ever online hackathon, Introduction to Big Data: COVID-19 and its Global Effects. This event connected 25 participants with varying skill sets from eight different countries (and seven different time zones)!
Reasons stated during registration for participating in the hackathon, FTL Hackathons team
The FTL Hackathons team pulled this virtual event together in record time, creating a diverse and friendly environment for all participants, regardless of their gender or experience. During this 42-hour coding marathon, participants were able to leverage each other’s strengths and work on solutions collaboratively with open data sources. The main goal was for participants to get together in teams of 3-6, and to present projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic using big data in an innovative way. In order to focus their ideas, the organizers provided two main tracks for participants: 1) The Economy and Finance and 2) Individuals and the Media. A third track was also offered, which allowed teams to work on a topic of their choice.
The participants split off into six teams and then chose the track that they would work on. Next, they collected data from open sources such as Yahoo Finance or Twitter, and used techniques on that data such as machine learning, regression analysis, topic modelling and sentiment analysis, in order to gain statistically significant (and insignificant) information. As is typical in a hackathon, the teams spent their weekend fetching, cleaning and analyzing the big data, which culminated in a final presentation that was judged by a panel of experts. In the end, each team provided valuable insights and research into how COVID-19 has affected individuals and the economy across the world since its inception.
Screenshot of judges asking questions during Team CircuitBreaker’s final pitch
EVENTS
The main challenge of the virtual format was to help hackers feel connected, as one participant pointed out, hackathons are generally “super interactive”. Indeed, this was definitely the case with previous FTL hackathons. So the first order of action was to create a website that would act as the one source of truth. Next, since the hackathon was titled “Introduction to Big Data”, it was important to provide direction to the participants who might be more beginners in data science. Therefore, two technical workshops were designed and presented by the FTL Hackathons team, who also acted as mentors during the weekend. The aim of these workshops was to take participants through a small coding project, explaining the steps and providing live technical support along the way.
Yahoo Finance Data Workshop, Machine Learning in action, FTL Hackathons team
A third, non-technical workshop was offered by Norbert Distler and Katrin Scharpf called Empower Yourself and Unlock your Potential. This workshop gave teams a break from coding (and developing their hard skills) by teaching them the power of focusing on their strengths and how to let their strengths flourish in their lives. Finally, a yoga training session was held by Asal Azghadi from Toronto, Canada to encourage everyone to take 45 minutes for themselves, to stretch and clear their minds.
Saturday evening yoga session with Asal
WINNERS AND SUBMISSIONS
The first place winners received a half-day training session in Artificial Intelligence with the hackathon’s main partner INTENSITY GmbH. The top 3 teams got social media exposure, while all participants received a certificate from the FTL Hackathons team about the event and their team’s standing.
Congratulations to all those who participated. Click here to see submission details!
Team Quatrefoil applied VADER to Reddit comments to map the sentiment of face masks over time
HACKATHON TAKEAWAY
Overall, I was amazed at the projects that the teams were able to come up with in such a short amount of time. This was my first hackathon experience and I was blown away by the passion and dedication of everyone involved. It was truly inspiring to see people from all over the world come together to analyze big data over the course of two days.
FTL Hackathons Team
To learn more about Female Tech Leaders, visit our website or check us out on LinkedIn, Instagram or Youtube.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maddie Thomsen is a communications and public relations professional based out of Toronto, Canada. In 2019 she received her post-graduate degree in Public Relations from Humber College. She is passionate about connecting with audiences and telling their story.