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My Top 3 Ahas from the NASA Space App Challenge

I loved spending the last 2 days at the NASA Space App Challenge.

The first day I was at the Women of Data with 75 amazing women ranging in age from 13 to 75.   Each was incredible -- and I learned so much from each one.   Saturday was the first day of the Hackathon ,and while IBM was engaged in over 70 of the hacks and the virtual hack with IBM Bluemix, I was at the NYC hack today with 3 astronauts, the NASA CTO, and Beth from NASA who runs the Innovation Program.  I had so many AHA moments but I thought I'd pick out my top 3 and share with all of you!

1.   Community Matters.

Yesterday I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Brian Solis:  "Community is much more than belonging to something; it's about doing something together that makes belonging matter."   As we were chatting yesterday after a session, our circle of "girls" kept growing and growing.  I loved the community that formed as we were all united in a common goal!

2.  Hacks Give Confidence

Today I met amazing people who have gained tremendous confidence through hacking.   Olivia who "borrowed" an XML book from her brother, and then googled Ruby to learn language, Tae who attends Leigh University who could hardly sit still for a chat cause he wanted to go and code, and Katie who is a great combo of theater and code !!

3.   NASA's Data Gift not only helps NASA, but all of us!  Open source and crowdsoucing has a MAJOR impact!

During this Space Apps Challenge, NASA opened up new APIs and 200 data sources.   They did this not for their own gain, but for helping space, earth, and entrepreneurs.     Their own astronauts are committed to the collaborative economy -- authentically !

This era of the collaborative economy is going to change the world.  And that's what I witnessed today -- a world changing event!

by sandraanncarter