AquaHacking?!
On May 30th, after months of preparation, the very first #AquaHacking in Canada came to a close! IBM was a large corporate sponsor of the Aquahacking event where teams submitted applications that would help improve and preserve the Ottawa River. This event involved presentations by environmental experts and government representatives, as well as a discussion by Alexandara Cousteau, granddaughter of the legendary explorer, Jacques Cousteau, on water preservation benefits from the social tech/digital connections being established.
IBM has a history of involvement in water issues in Canada and has partnered across the country to implement smarter water solutions for many years. Lila Adamec, the IBM Ecosystem Toronto City Leader, was the key leader for this event from IBM, helping to establish the sponsorship and promotion of Bluemix (http://ibm.biz/Aquahacking) as part of the event. More than a dozen teams submitted applications as part of the AquaHacking event. Those teams that chose to use IBM’s Bluemix as their platform were awarded bonus points for their solution scoring. Environmental and technical experts worked closely with the coders on their applications and submissions. The applications were then evaluated by a jury of experts ranging from environmental and technical backgrounds.
The First place award for the AquaHacking was split between the My River team, who created an app enabling citizens to easily report water issues, allowing municipalities to resolve issues quickly and the River Ranger team, who built a geospatial social network, enabling members to view and share information with others based on shared geographic regions. The Aqua Radar team, led by IBM's Nick Edgar, won the competition's Future Star award for their app that looks at hydrometric data and lets users pull data based on locations. All of these solutions were built using IBM's Bluemix platform (http://ibm.biz/Aquahacking).
The next coding competition will take place in Montreal! For more information visit: www.aquahacking.com
Twitter: @AquaHacking
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AquaHacking
For more coverage visit:
ITBusiness.ca: The Ottawa River is about to be hacked and that’s a good thing
CBC News: 'Aquahacks' design apps for Ottawa River
Women in Technology Auction! Check it out!
WITI's Executive Auction is a great opportunity to compete for a meeting with corporate executives that could potentially propel your career skyward. At the same time, you will be contributing to the Women in Technology Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit Foundation which supports WITI's Hall of Fame. There is still plenty of time to place your BID on some amazing Executives, such as Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of Space X, CIO Paul Chapman of the GAP Inc., Esther Dyson, and the list goes on. Click here to BID NOW. Bidding Ends Wed, 10 Jun 2015
3 Things I have learned from my daughters about Disruption and Social
Yes, my 2 daughters have shared with me
- Dude Perfect. There are 5 guys who were friends at Texas (and a Panda) that have a cool and fun YouTube channel. They started with basketball tricks and earned "endorsements" from their videos. Now they do comedy like sterotypes and more sports tricks. Now they have added games, books, and more. What I learned: My daughters love the quirky video fun and can't wait for the next episodes. Their use of social is amazing and they have taken their passion and used it as a great example of the power of social and passion!
- Augmented reality (AR) art. My daughters recently showed me 2 postcards with art on them that came alive with a small AR app on my phone. Simply put -- wow! The art came alive with flames that were painted and then on the phone it was real! What I learned: The world is changing to such a visual experience. My daughters expect an experience -- whether it is AR or IoT sensors embedded to create an experience. A good lesson to learn and experiment with!
- They want our help. My daughters showed me today this note that a mom wrote to her son's facebook friends. They wanted to chat on it but it was interesting that they "liked" reluctantly what the mom had done. What I learned: Kids do like help on social. My daughters AHA moment was her telling me that the accountability I have with her on Instagram helps her maintain "her" standards.
Infographic: Power of Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship
I love this Infographic of the Silicon Valley ranking of cities for entrepreneurship!!!
The top 5 scores were:
- Menlo Park,
- Mountain View,
- Palo Alto,
- Sunnyvale,
- Redwood City
Did you see that there is a geographic dominance of Northern California? The top 4 Silicon Valley cities in the MIT rankings possess 20 times the average start-up quality as California's median city!!!! WOW!
