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Hillsborough County (FL) Hackathon is a Sign of Increasing Tech Awareness (Video
The idea of the Hackathon was to develop either Web or mobile applications that would dovetail with county services and be useful for county workers, county residents or both. The winners got cash prizes, but many people on the nine competing teams weren't aware of them until the closing awards ceremony when the three winners were announced. But then, this is a helpful part of the country where, if an old person falls down on the sidewalk, strangers will rush to her side, whip out cell phones in case a 911 call is needed, and help her to her feet. A hackathon to benefit your neighbors is nothing but an extension of that spirit. One note: Several county employees said this was the first-ever government-organized hackathon around here, but there was a Tampa Mayor's Hackathon last June, and Tampa is the biggest city in Hillsborough County. But this is all good, and Hillsborough hopes to hold a bigger (and hopefully better-publicized) hackathon next year. Meanwhile, there are more home-grown tech events around here every year. April 25 saw the 3rd annual Ignite Tampa event, which brought together people involved in "technology, arts, communications, education, non-profits, the government sector and more" to meet with "the community" -- and local venture capitalists. And the inaugural Sarasota-Bradenton BarCamp is scheduled for May 2 - 5. And so on. Lots of events, many of which combine technology and the arts, which is always a delightful mix -- and one we look forward to seeing even more of in coming years, not only in Florida but everywhere in the world.
They're also holding a Hack-for-Change hackathon in June ( http://hackforchange.org/hack-change-tampa ) -- Tampa and Hillsborough are definitely working to push growth of the technology center and open data within the tri-county area.
WTF is up with TFT? A missing close paren on an article about programming? Are they trying to send a million slashdaughters into cardiac arrest?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
"the Tampa Florida Hackathon: rise of the GNU Geriatrics"
Good people go to bed earlier.
That is simply not true. I was working for a Tampa Bay internet start up circa 1995. Tampa was well known then as an technology area.
But then, this is a helpful part of the country where, if an old person falls down on the sidewalk, strangers will rush to her side, whip out cell phones in case a 911 call is needed, and help her to her feet.
The fact that this very basic behavior that I would expect any human being to do (and do regardless of the age or gender of the person who was injured) is exemplary of a "helpful" part of the country is just sort of sad. It really says something about the rest of the country, if true.