Participate as a Technologist

1. Get started on match-making and solutions.

In the summer of 2012, Code for Change will welcome technologists to peruse Challenge Briefs that have been vetted and posted for solution-gathering. As you begin to think of solutions, we encourage you to post your solution idea for feedback from others and to begin to form teams. The C4C team will help to facilitate grouping, as needed, by identifying technologists with similar interests or solution proposals.  Throughout the summer and into September, we welcome teams (our suggestion is no more than five per team) to work together in person or virtually.

One place to start is a paper prototype of your app using the paper prototyping template. You may also start the development work with your technology team to create the real thing. For inspiration, see examples here.  The C4C team will facilitate three group webinars to guide you through the solution process, help with project planning or match making, and answer questions (dates TBA).

2. Refine your solutions and vote on ideas.

You and your working team can post and continue to edit your solution descriptions through the C4C website. Once a solution is published, the person who entered it becomes the editor. You can invite friends, colleagues, constituents, and the general public to vote and comment on your solution. Publishing your solution early allows you to get more public votes before the final event and to get critical feedback on your work. See sample solutions.

3. Attend Code for Change and enter to win prizes.

On Friday September 28th, 2012, all competing participants will convene at NYU for the kick-off event.  The purpose of this event is to allow any teams who have not yet met in person to meet, as well as to allow new groups to form.  Technologists and innovators will meet and learn from Challenge Brief entrants – the nonprofit and public organizations – and mentors will circulate throughout the afternoon and evening to provide feedback. Teams will also draft charters together outlining their goals and expectations for the next two weeks, as they work to develop solutions. Charters will address roles, plans for collaboration, time, communication, and other team essentials.

After the kick-off event and throughout the next two weeks, C4C competing teams will collaborate virtually and in person to develop prototypes and models in advance of the competition day.  Similar to Google’s “20 percent time” philosophy, for two weeks, teams should dedicate roughly 20 percent of their time to developing and crafting new solutions to benefit public service organizations.

On Friday, October 12th, after two weeks of working on their own time, participants will come back together for a working day at NYU.  Teams will finalize their work, gather their last votes, commit to some user testing and ultimately present their applications to a panel of judges to compete for various cash, product, and service prizes.

4. Build on the momentum – and lasting partnerships for real impact.

After the competition in October, winning teams will be awarded mentoring and consulting prizes to keep your projects growing. At the end of the year, you will showcase your products in our App Catalog.