Overview

We are excited to announce that we are running Summer Hack again this year — a week-long team programming competition for young people of secondary school age (aged 12 and over).

The Summer Hack will take place 10:00 am – 4:00 pm every day, July 22nd–26th 2019 at CodeBase Events Space, 38 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH3 9SJ.

  • What is involved? You will be working in a small team, collaborating on a small project.
  • Will there be prizes? Yes. At the end of the week, each team will give a demo of their project, and prizes will be awarded in various categories.
  • Do you need to bring a laptop? Not necessarily — we can provide one.
  • What about food? We will provide snacks but you will need to bring your own lunch.

Because you will be working as a member of a team, you must commit to attending every day of the Summer Hack.

Theme and Challenges: Improving our Environment

The theme of this year’s Summer Hack will be the environment. On the principle of “think globally, act locally”, we will explore how digital technology can help to make the city we live in more sustainable, healthy and friendly towards nature. The challenges for the Summer Hack will contribute to this theme in different ways.

The world — and our city — faces three major environmental problems:

  1. Loss of biodiversity, including insect pollinators.
  2. Global warming caused by CO2 emissions.
  3. Air pollution, due to emissions from a variety of sources.

For the Summer Hack, we want to consider ways of using digital technology that will contribute towards solutions.

In order to think about more specific ways of addressing these problems, have a look at this page with possible approaches.

Outline Schedule

Monday

Time Activity
10:00 Welcome and introduction to Summer Hack 2019
10:15 Team Formation (including snack break
12:00 Lunch (bring your own)
13:00 Challenges
14:00 Project planning (including snack break)
15:30 Review the day
16:00 End of the day

Tuesday

Time Activity
10:00 Prompt Start!
10:15 Daily update
10:45 Hacking (including snack break)
12:00 Lunch (bring your own)
13:00 Quickfire team updates
13:30 Hacking (including snack break)
15:30 Review the day
16:00 End of the day

Wednesday

Time Activity
10:00 Prompt Start!
10:15 Daily update
10:45 Hacking (including snack break)
12:00 Lunch (bring your own)
13:00 Quickfire team updates
13:30 Hacking (including snack break)
15:30 Review the day
16:00 End of the day

Thursday

Time Activity
10:00 Prompt Start!
10:15 Daily update
10:45 Hacking (including snack break)
12:00 Lunch (bring your own)
13:00 Quickfire team updates
13:30 Team presentation rehearsals
14:30 Snack
14:45 Hacking
15:30 Review the day
16:00 End of the day

Friday

Time Activity
10:00 Prompt Start!
10:15 Daily update
10:45 Hacking (including snack break)
12:00 Lunch (bring your own)
13:00 Presentations
14:00 Judging
15:00 Awards
16:00 End of the day


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