Introduction.
Touted as “Singapore’s biggest hackathon ever”, the Hackathon @ SG 2015 was an intense 24-hour coding competition held at ITE College Central between 25 and 26 July. Luckily enough for me, I was able to live through it and tell the tale of what an amazing time I had!
The theme for the competition was “Towards a smart nation” (i.e. to contribute towards the SG50 Smart Nation initiative) and we were given 6 challenges to be addressed on the day itself. These were:
- Smart Living
- Smart Health
- Smart Business
- Smart Community
- Smart Education
- Smart Environment
Each team had to address at least one of the challenges. We were also offered a list of hardware devices or technologies to choose from, ranging from wearable devices (e.g. Tweeq, Nabu X), Cloud computing (e.g. Azure) and Virtual Reality (e.g. Google Cardboard).
That’s the basic information on the competition itself. What follows is an account of my experience of the 2 days of the Hackathon. Let’s get started, shall we?
Starting up.
Upon arrival at ITE College Central on the morning of 25 July (Saturday), we had to register ourselves. Once we did that, we were given a goodie bag containing items for each of our teams.
These items included an Information Kit (a set of documents showing instructions and other technical information), a nametag containing meal coupons, and other memorabilia such as badges and stickers. T-Shirts were also offered to us at a separate booth.
Soon, we were bundled into an auditorium where we were given a briefing on the event.
We were given an introduction to the event and a brief explanation of each of the given challenges. After that, it was off to lunch, then… the games began.
Challenges faced.
Coming up with an idea, or even a functional prototype of that idea, under 24 hours was certainly no easy feat.
There were certain standards we had to fulfil for our idea. Firstly, it had to address at least one of the challenges. Secondly, we had to incorporate at least one of the following into the idea:
- Wearable devices (e.g. Tweeq, Nabu X)
- Virtual Reality (e.g. VR One, Google Cardboard)
- Cloud computing (e.g. Azure, IBM Bluemix)
- Open data (e.g. Data sets from data.gov.sg)
We were also allowed to use other technologies in conjunction with any of the above.
It took my team some time to come up with something that was not only innovative, but could be implemented in a short period of time. While we experimented with some preliminary thoughts, eventually many were discarded, for reasons ranging from lack of innovation to impracticality.
Eventually, we settled on the following:
Our idea
Overview
Our eventual idea was a web application that allowed users to “reserve” their place in polyclinic queues without needing to be physically present at the clinic.
The solution, named Clinic Reservation, provided a catalog showing all polyclinics in Singapore, with technical information such as their opening hours, addresses and contact information.
In order to reserve their place in the queue, users are required to select the polyclinic he/she intends to go to, as well as specify their NRIC and mobile number. After this, they will be given their unique queue number as well as the current queue number being served at the clinic. A text message will also be sent to the number to confirm the user’s queue number.
Challenges Addressed
The two challenges addressed in our solution were Smart Living and Smart Health.
Our solution addressed Smart Living as it promotes time management and a more convenient means of living. This is because it eradicates the need to manually participate in queues, which can be rather tiresome, time consuming and inefficient.
The Smart Health issue is addressed from the solution’s application in polyclinics. Queuing up for polyclinic services is made more efficient.
Technologies Used
The application was written in C#. Technologies used in its creation included Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Azure, and MySQL. We were able to deploy our web application to Azure as well as use an Azure MySQL database.
Reflections
When I looked back at those two fateful days, I feel grateful that I had seized this opportunity to experience such an event.
During the hackathon, I got to learn more about how to ideate and think outside the box, as well as to convey thoughts effectively within a team.
Furthermore, the research conducted during the solution-making process introduced me to the inner workings of certain technologies. My teammates and I worked hard for this competition and we were happy to emerge a simple yet functional prototype at the end of the day.
The bonding within my team and with other teams will also remain in my mind as special memories. As a team, we ate, worked, joked, and stayed up all night together to get lucky (pun totally intended). Some of the highlights included going down in the middle of the night to get coffee and having pizza (the organisers had it delivered to us) together.
Some closing thoughts.
For anyone who wants to participate in Hackathons in the future, here are some words of advice that I can provide:
1. Firstly, although the Hackathon is primarily a coding competition, it isn’t all about programming nor all about knowing how to manipulate devices. In fact, the technology aspect makes up only about 20% of the final grading criteria. It is your team’s idea that is more important.
At the end of the day, the judges want to see an innovative concept that fits the requirements (i.e. addresses at least one of the challenges and involves at least one of the given technologies). So put on your thinking caps and come up with something superb! Do not be limited by coding knowledge.
2. That said, however, knowledge on how to apply various technologies and devices to problems are nevertheless important. Do conduct some research on the given technologies before the Hackathon; the knowledge gained will provide you and your team with an advantage.
These technologies include ICT (Information and Communications Technology) standards. At the end of the Hackathon, we had to give a final presentation to the judges. We had to tell them about our solution, how it works, the challenges addressed, etc. We also had to state the ICT standards used in our solution. It will definitely be helpful to learn more about these standards prior to the event.
This is just like preparing for an exam or test – it is best to do your homework beforehand and ready yourself for what lies ahead!
3. Keep an eye out for current and future technology trends and upcoming products – these may make an appearance in future Hackathon requirements. For instance, now that Windows 10 has just been released, its new features (including Cortana and the Universal Windows Platform) may be eyed as having the potential to shape the future. Other emerging technologies like Microsoft HoloLens, Google Glass and Smart Watches may also become important. Investing time on being knowledgeable in these areas can definitely be useful. You never know what they’ll ask for, so remain sharp!
With that, I’d like to thank the organizers of the Hackathon for providing us with such a valuable opportunity to showcase our talents. My thanks also go out to my teammates, who have been wonderful, and my teachers who have been so supportive and helpful.
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