We are less than a week away from the CityCampHNL Hackathon and the teams are forming their development strategies. Here is how the days will unfold:

Friday Jan 20th
5:00 pm – Sign In, Team name, lead and members
5:15 pm – Kick Off: Brief announcements
5:30 pm – Competition Begins
9:00 pm – Close down McCoy Pavilion

Saturday Jan 21st
7:00 am – McCoy Pavilion opens
11:30am – Break for lunch
2:00 pm – Call to wrap up projects
2:30 – 4:15pm Group Presentations 10 mins w/ 5 min Q/A
4::15 – 4:30 pm Judges Render Decisions
4:30 pm – Award Ceremony

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone there. If you haven’t yet registered there is still time.

We’ve been asked the question: What are the rules for the hackathon and what will the judging be based on? Granted as we try to objectify a process that is somewhat subjective we may not please everyone. These rules are meant to be inclusive and provide the means for broad participation:

• Apps need to have some connection to Hawaii.
• Apps can be based on open source software from other cities but need to be customized for Hawaii.
• Teams can be from anywhere but need to present at CityCampHNL Hackathon to qualify for prizes.
• Teams can be individuals, company employees, City employees or a combination thereof.
• Teams can form now (i.e. immediately), before the hackathon event.
• Work on applications and ideas can start now but will conclude at 3:00pm on Jan. 21, 2012.
• There is no restriction on team size, but teams need to be clear who is on their team.
• If code used is open source it should be made available to the open source community.
• If code is 100% proprietary to the team it can remain proprietary.
• Mobile apps, web apps, APIs and idea strategies (e.g. work on API ordnance) will be judged equally.
• Mashups with external webservices (like Flickr, Google Maps, etc) are allowed.
• Teams will have 10 minutes to present their apps.
• Judging will be based working prototype, user interface, depth of concept, impact of application.

For those concerned about prize money. The prize money is from CityCampHNL sponsors. The City & County of Honolulu is not involved with any financial transaction between CityCampHNL and the respective teams nor has any financial responsibility with any potential awardees.

As always we welcome your comments and suggestions. Most of all we encourage your ongoing participation. Mahalo!