Work with data in your day job, but wish you could hit the ground running using your skills to improve the world? You’re in luck - our #openimpact Marathon is moving full speed now through August 31. We’re looking for volunteers all over the world to help take solutions from 10 data-for-good projects and repurpose them to solve a new challenge or benefit a new community.
DataLook is a directory of replicable data-driven projects for social good where data do-gooders around the world can share how they are using data and technology to address tough social challenges. While the individual projects are inspiring on their own, we love to see things scale and wondered how much the impact of an individual project would grow if its solution was replicated in a new city or repurposed to address a new issue.
That’s where you come in.
From preventing food poisoning with predictive analytics to helping pets get adopted faster by scraping and republishing open data, we’re looking for data lovers like you to iterate on and replicate 10 high-potential projects. (In fact, you may recognize one project in particular - DataKind’s own DC Action for Children visualization!)
Our #openimpact replication marathon is a mad dash of virtual volunteers collaborating around the world to repurpose and iterate on these 10 solutions. If you too hate recreating the wheel and would rather help it build momentum, then join us to help scale these projects' impact even further!
Ready? Set?
We use Slack to communicate with anyone who is interested in replicating one of the projects. Signing up is super easy, just enter your email here. You are also welcome to just take a look and see what’s already going.
Make friends on Slack! You can join one of the project channels and meet others interested in the same project and start collaborating!
Absolutely! Just choose a project and start working. And if the #openimpact Slack is not the best way for your team to communicate, you should use what works best for you. Just let us know what project you're trying to replicate so we can keep track of what has been achieved and map your work. Hit us up on Twitter or email.
First, learn about the projects to see which one is most interesting to you! Then, think about how you might contribute - each project’s page includes suggested first steps at the bottom. Finally, go on Slack and find some teammates to work with or go solo as you like.
You bet it is. Less than two months sounds short, but some of the projects can be replicated within a day if all the ingredients are present. Other projects require more time, but the replication process can be started immediately.
Post them in #openimpact Slack, see our FAQ or email us - we’re happy to help you get started!