1. Hack for the Homeless: A Humanitarian Technology Hackathon Natalie Linnell, Silvia Figueira, Neil Chintala, Lauren Falzarano, Vincente Ciancio Santa Clara University

2. Goals of Hackathon  Advance progress of research  Give students a positive experience  Research Contributions Applications and ideas for tech for the homeless Lessons learned for offering a humanitarian hackathon

3. FIL and CTA partnership  College students building technology for the homeless?  Partnership: The Frugal Innovation Lab Research group at Santa Clara University focused on humanitarian applications The Community Technology Alliance (CTA) San Jose-based NGO that helps other NGOs serving the homeless and low-income to adopt technology  Tech-savvy NGO and people-savvy technologists

4. Previous work: StreetConnect  Text messaging broadcast system for NGOs serving the homeless  System built to meet specific needs of this population  Clients register for the system  NGOs send mass texts to clients who have registered  Clients can interact with system using SMS only

5. Hackathon  Kicked off the next stage of StreetConnect  Move from pushing information to clients, to allowing clients to pull information on demand

6. Technology Platforms  CTA-Conducted Survey Homeless have cell phones, but not smart phones  Mobile4All Distribute smart phones and data plans to homeless AAAA Target: Dumb phones for now Smartphones for the future

7. Project ideas presented to students  Developed with CTA and other partners  211 connects people to social services Human representative  Grand vision: 211 on a smartphone Since hackathon is short, break into pieces ○ App for finding Health Clinics ○ App for food notifications  Other project ideas Medical reminders Student ideas

8. Student participation  24 hours  Students organized logistics of hackathon  50 students (our goal), plus waitlist  11 groups finished 7 received prizes up to $1000

9. 2 nd place project  211 on a smartphone Re-integrated 2 projects ○ Food, clinics ○ Searchable by location, open times ○ Provides directions using Google Maps Added emergency services “From the Wall” ○ Allowing individuals to offer goods and services

10. 1 st Place Project: Homeless Helpline  Automated 211  User calls, is prompted to enter zip code, and select the service they are interested in Results are presented using text-to-voice Can also request a text message with the organization's hours and address  Web application for non-profits to interface with the system.

11. Lessons Learned  Build on a partnership  Get companies involved  Student organizers

12. Future work  Working on deploying projects  Hackathon will be held next year Wearables

13. Conclusions  Student engagement Experience building applications Exposure to humanitarian technology Ownership of hackathon and solutions Involvement of sponsors was key  Building apps that advance research goals Students had excellent ideas Involvement of non-profit partners was key

14. Special thanks to CTA, IEEE SIGHT, Dew Mobility, Western Digital, Vodafone, Microsoft, HTC, and Blackberry. Questions? Thanks!