Tag Archives: Wilson Center’s Commons Lab

Science Hack Day (May 16 – May 17, 2015) in Washington, DC

I received an April 28, 2015 announcement from the Wilson Center’s (aka Wilson International Center for Scholars) Commons Lab about the first ever and upcoming Science Hack Day in Washington, DC (May 16 – 17, 2015),

The Wilson Center and ARTSEDGE from the Kennedy Center are proud to host the first-ever in Washington, D.C., Science Hack Day! Science Hack Day is a 48-hour-all-night event where anyone excited about making weird, silly or serious things with science comes together in the same physical space to see what they can prototype over a weekend.

Designers, artists, developers, hardware enthusiasts, scientists and anyone who is excited about making things with science are welcome to attend – no experience in science or hacking is necessary, just an insatiable curiosity. Food is provided both days to fuel hackers during the day and throughout the night. The event is completely free and open to the public (pre-registration required).

The event will kick off with a series of lightning talks from a diverse group of people in the civic sector. Participants will hack through the night and on Sunday they will demo their projects to a DC Tech panel.

For more detailed information, logistics and updated speaker list please visit: http://dc.sciencehackday.org/

Sponsors & Collaborators

Thomson Reuters End Note

GitHub

ARTSEDGE Kennedy Center for the Arts

For anyone who might need a little more information as to exactly what a ‘science hack’ might be, there’s this description from the Wilson Center’s DC Science Hack Day 2015 event page,

What’s a Hack?
A hack is a quick solution to a problem – maybe not the most elegant solution, but often the cleverest. On the web, mashups are a common example of hacking: mixing up data from different sources in new and interesting ways.

There’s also a video interview where Elizabeth Tyson, one of the organizers, describes it. First some text from an April 13, 2015 Wilson Center Science Hack Day news article,

Elizabeth Tyson is a New Projects Manager/Researcher for the Wilson Center’s Science and Technology Innovation Program. She co-directs the Commons Lab and scouts and maintains new collaborations. Additionally, she conducts original research exploring the uses of citizen science in industrializing nations. Currently she is coordinating Washington, DC’s first ever Science Hack Day.  Elizabeth reviews and edits publications on citizen science and crowdsourcing including Citizen Science and Policy: A European Perspective and a Typology of Citizen Science from an Intellectual Property Perspective.

Now the video,

You can also a Science Hack Day DC 2015 wiki here. Here are some logistics,

May 16, 2015 at 9:00am to May 17, 2015 at 5:00pm
The Wilson Center
Ronald Reagan Building
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20004

Enjoy!