By Rob — Sat, 25 Jun 2016
GovHack 2016 is just around the corner! This is a nearly 48 hour competition for people to use Government data to enrich our lives. Some of the previous year's entries have been an app to help emergency response by a community, and visualising our city of Ballarat.
GovHack is run by the Federal Government, and has significant input from industry. The competition is open to anyone (check the rules if you are underage, and get your parent's to come along), and isn't just open to programmers - there is no requirement that entries be software (although most are), and there is significant non-programming work needed in most programs anyway.
Anyone with an interest in data, the community, government or those who just want to learn how to build something in a weekend. If you have the following skills, or even a passing interest in them, you will be really useful!
Note that these are the skills used by an standard entry. If you have an interest in geology, or mathematics, or running, or baking, or well, whatever, you help shape the project you are working on!
The Ballarat Hackerspace has competed at the last couple of these events in Ballarat, and we have done really well, both in winning prizes, putting Ballarat on the map internationally for hacking, and teaming up with new people on new projects. We won a local prize last year, as well as a second in an international category.
More information will be available on the official GovHack Ballarat portal in the near future. In the meantime, send the local organisers a tweet @GovHackBallarat with any questions you have. Further, drop by the hackerspace if you want to participate - we'd love to have a chat about your thoughts and we will offer any assistance we can!
