Software, Hardware, Data Visualization and Citizen Science
The Apps Challenge benefits solvers and sponsors alike if we can engage a diverse set of communities, allow for overlap between those communities, and help them focus on what work needs to be done. Toward that goal, we proudly introduce the four main categories of challenges for the event. We hope they grab the attention of skillful people around the world, provide balance and focus to the challenges, and still allow unexpected successes to emerge.
"And the categories are…."
Making our world signficant
The questions are what drew me in to the first codeathon-type event that I ever attended. We started with a handful of short briefings that seemed to spin off more thoughts and questions by the minute. How can we get better information into the hands of people more quickly? How can we make government legislation more accessible to citizens? How can we better support small, local non-profits in their efforts to do good? How can data from space change the way we make decisions on Earth?
The Apps Challenge Community
The International Space Apps Challenge is a 2-day technology development event during which citizens from around the world will work together to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need. It will provide the bridge between valuable space data and the energized and passionate technical development community.
This is my elevator pitch for the International Space Apps Challenge. For the most part it has served me well - I can introduce the topic to almost anyone and proceed with the conversation from there scoping the discussion for the audience. The elevator pitch for the event has allowed me to do exactly what it is designed to do - launch into further conversation about the event itself. However, what I have found in the process of working on the event is that the benefit of The Challenge is not just the solutions that will be produced at the end of the development marathon; rather, the community networking, international interaction and support for space exploration and social good may well be some of the best benefits of this effort.
Introducing the International Space Apps Challenge
Today we are proud to announce the latest developments for the upcoming International Space Apps Challenge! Last September, we announced that we would be hosting the two-day event as part of the United States’ domestic commitments to the Open Government Partnership. Since then, we have been hard at work planning the collaborative technology development event during which citizens from around the world will work together to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need.