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Random Hacks of Kindness

Posted by kdawson on from the changing-the-world-requires-the-source-code dept.

Elizabeth Sabet writes "Google, Microsoft, NASA, The World Bank, and Yahoo! are unlikely partners, but they are bringing together the best and brightest in disaster relief management and the ever-growing hacker community in a progressive initiative called Random Hacks of Kindness. Its mission is to mobilize a world-wide community of technologists to solve real-world problems through technology. RHoK is gearing up for its first world-wide 'hackathon for humanity' on June 4-6, 2010. Following last year's inaugural event in Mountain View, California, which produced software solutions that were used on the ground during the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the partners have decided to take the effort global. RHoK engages volunteer software engineers, independent hackers, and students from around the world in a marathon weekend of hacking events and coding competitions to develop software solutions for problems posed by subject-matter experts. This first global Hackathon will feature sponsored events in Washington, DC, Sydney, Nairobi, Jakarta, and Sao Paulo." Here's where to go for more details or to register for the DC event.

6 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. in other words by mxh83 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They're gonna take the use the event as a front to get ideas...

  2. And how is it used? by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How is the code used though? Do you still own the code? Is it licensed under the GPL? BSD? Apache? Or is it just given to the companies or placed in the public domain?

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  3. Re:Just make sure by fustakrakich · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Jeeze! First three comments... effectively saying, "Don't feed the bears"

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. Re:So what? by fustakrakich · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, the problem is they could conceivably stop you from using it... Making money is not the issue...

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  5. Re:So what? by Ceriel+Nosforit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    TFA:

    Random Hacks of Kindness

    Clueless:

    Is it licensed under the GPL? BSD? Apache?

    Anonymous:

    Who cares...?

    A voice of reason, thankfully.

    "The very first Crisis Camp bar camp was held in Washington, D.C. in May 2009. During one of the opening sessions of the camp an industry panel spoke, and clearly stated that some issues of global importance take precedence over competitive business concerns."
    - RHoK.Org

    --
    All rites reversed 2010
  6. Hack for Life by oldhack · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I most heartily approve.

    And I hope there are many interesting results, other than buncha nerdy half-assed bullshit software projects. There are a lot more out there in life in need and want.

    Build a better water pump. Build a better wiring harness. Things people in need can use.

    And for god's sake, stop wasting your good brains cooking up another social network bullshit. You young people can do way way better than that.

    --
    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.