On September 26 and 27, we are organizing the Barcelona #peacehack to hack problems of peace and migration. If you are a developer or a designer based in Barcelona, you can sign up now to join us.
What’s a #peacehack?
#peacehack is an initiative of International Alert that brings together technologists, designers, developers and peace practitioners to create solutions that can be used to stop violent conflict and help build peace.
Alert is partnering with several groups to organise simultaneous hacks in five cities around the world over the weekend of 26–27 September 2015 as part of the second Talking Peace Festival.
In Barcelona, the #peacehack is organized by Build Up and supported by Data Pop Alliance, Catalan Agency for Cooperation to Development, Consulate of Colombia in Barcelona, PuntoJES, Impact Hub Barcelona and Impact Hub Madrid.
At the start of the hack, peacebuilding practitioners will present several challenges they face in their work. Hackers will then choose a challenge and work (individually or in teams) to build a prototype technology solution… in 36 hours.
Challenges for the Barcelona #peacehack
The Barcelona #peacehack will focus on peace and migration. Over the past few months, we’ve been talking to practitioners based in Barcelona and elsewhere about challenges they face in their work. We have seven very different challenges for hackers to put their brains and skills to:
- Help refugees fleeing Syria to keep in touch with family and friends
- Find ways to educate about and denounce human trafficking
- Simulate migration movements from Syria to raise public awareness of its causes
- Create the mobile version of a board game about population displacement due to conflict
- Design a collaboration platform for projects and ideas for PeaceStartup
- Build a prototype of a crime prediction model using crime and transit data from Bogotá
- Improve a system for identifying and dismantling rumors and stereotypes online
Want more details on the challenges? Check them out here.
And there’s a prize!
On Sunday afternoon, hack teams will present their prototypes to a panel of judges made up of technology and peacebuilding professionals.
The team that presents the best solution will receive a trip for two people to Build Peace, an international conference on peace and technology.
Here’s a video of last year’s conference to get you inspired.
