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Hack Hate: Tech specialists, students, problems solvers and police join forces to fight hate crime, Policing Insight π (mirror)
A hackathon against hate crime
Hack Hate is an online, entirely virtual, FREE, data-driven 3-week hate crime hackathon that took place in October 2020.
π 50 participants
π 11 teams
π 3 weeks
Presentations and prize giving took place in early November 2020. Our participants were developers, designers, data scientists, students, academics and creative problem solvers...
Volunteering against hate
People came in teams, or formed teams during the first week to make new friends, build cool tools, and come up with ingenious solutions to #SpreadLoveNotHate
π Using skills for good
π Making new friends
π Having some fun
π Competing for prizes
A hackathon is a creative event: Itβs not about breaking into things, itβs about working together to build new ideas, prototypes, and solutions.
Winners announced!
Watch the presentations, the magical performance, and prize-giving below...
Opening talks
Our opening featured lightning talks from our partner agencies - the Metropolitan Police, Stop Hate UK, GALOP, Inclusion London, CST, and the College of Policing.
We were also fortunate to be able to share lightning talks, data and tools from the Alan Turing Institute, Rutgers University and Indiana University's Observatory on Social Media.
We also shared info, data, and tools from our sponsors, Clue, ESRI, AWS Cloud, dxw, and Ctrl O.
Experts worked with teams to help them devise a great new prototype or find new insights in open data that could positively impact the fight against hate crime.
Weβre proud to have worked with partners from across the UK to tackle issues of hate crime.
Closing presentations
On November 8th, participants presented the projects and prototypes they have developed to help communities affected by hate, and the people who work with those communities.
π£ Presentations of exciting new ideas
β¨ A magical performance
π Judging and awards
The judges retired to discuss prizes immediately after the team presentations, and we were treated to a mind-blowing performance from magician Darren Delaney.
Projects and prizes
11 teams presented 11 projects:
Hate Detector ππ
Sweep Hate
POLAR - Portraying OnLine hARm π
Rate the Hate
HateX Search and Analysis Tool π
Hate Networks
Victim Report and Support π
Data Collator π
Hate Hawk
Hate speech identifier π
BeNice ππ
Find out more about each of the projects, and the prize winners: Projects and prizes
Q&A
Is it an open event?
Yes - Hack Hate is open to all creative problem solvers, regardless of experience. Just be willing to pitch in, and help to create something new. You'll get to participate alongside friends, students, amateurs and professionals.
Is there a code of conduct?
Yes - all our events have a code of conduct. Nobody should feel uncomfortable at any of our events - and we'll take action, if necessary, to ensure that.
Aside from our code of conduct, we specifically ask that participants not make unsolicited interactions with perpetrators or victims of hate crime for the event. This protects you and the victims of hate crime - who may not wish to be contacted. Any data you gather online must be done passively.
Isn't this just an excuse to censor free speech?
We're not in the least bit interested in censorship. In an ideal world, nobody would want to hurt others with their speech, nor would they want to discriminate based on the characteristics of others' identities. We're interested in ways we can help the victims of abuse, and insights into how we can make our world a kinder place.
Is it a hackathon?
We're taking some of the best elements of a hackathon and a datathon, and mixing them together. There will be prizes awarded in a number of categories by our judges, and an opportunity to create a presentation to be shown to everybody. We're hoping to combine the fun of a hackathon with the practicalities of an online event.
But not a physical event?
Yes - it's just not safe to run physical events yet what with the pandemic, and we'd rather not put our participants at risk. Instead, we're running the event online. You're welcome to get together with your friends to work on the challenges, if you can do that safely.
Why is it 3 weeks long?
We wanted to give everyone the ability to plan their own time, and create something awesome. Perhaps it's not as frantic as a weekend hackathon, but maybe with the extra time you can get more creative with your project.
The registration asked for my physical address. Do I have to give it to you?
No, that's entirely optional. If we meet our sponsorship goals, we're hoping to be able to send you some giveaways and freebies as a thank you for taking part in the event.
How will it work online?
We're going to be live streaming our opening ceremony, sharing information about the challenges and then we'll be using our Discord server to help teams get together and communicate. We'll be setting up check-ins with experts to help you choose your project. Towards the end of the 3 weeks, you'll be able to submit a video presentation of your project, explaining what you've done. We'll show those presentations as a part of the closing event.
Do I have to present?
Nobody has to do anything - we're all volunteers, but if you've got a great idea this is an opportunity to try it out, and show it off to the world - and maybe do some good! If you present a project, you might also win a prize.