About the Hackathon
Hacking Injustice is modeled after MIT CSAIL’s HackDisability, which paired teams of students with a form of disability, encouraging student pairs to uncover applications for AI to advance access under a given disability.
Hacking Injustice reframes this model, partnering with local advocates in various social justice arenas to explore how students can build technology that bolsters their advocacy. Sample areas include:
- Housing justice (affordability crisis & homelessness)
- Environmental justice
- Tech policy
- Racial justice
- Criminal justice
How It Works
Interested students apply to the Hackathon (alone or otherwise) to be matched with other teammates and an issue area. The Hackathon takes place over a weekend, during which:
- Saturday: Students learn about the issue area and scope their technology.
- Sunday: Students build their tech and present to a panel of judges.
The best-adjudicated projects then receive pilot funding for the students to deploy their technology with local advocates.
Why a Hackathon?
Hackathons offer rapid prototyping spaces for students—who otherwise do not have longitudinal exposure to public interest tech—to learn by building. We expect that this hackathon will serve as a first touchpoint for students interested in public interest tech.
By running a Hackathon that centers community voices and leaders, Boston student technologists can:
- Give back to the local community (to which they are indebted).
- Explore a movement-centric definition of social impact.
- Employ their skillset in spaces technologically under-resourced sectors.
- Begin meeting other students interested in these intersections.