Toronto Hacks for Social Good as part of Global Random Hacks of Kindness Event

TORONTO, May 31, 2012 /CNW/ - Toronto is hacking for social good on June 1-3, 2012 as part of a global hackathon, Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK). The Toronto event will bring together technologists, designers, subject matter experts, concerned citizens, data enthusiasts and developers for a weekend of problem solving, idea hacking and innovation.

Over 4,000 people are expected to participate in this year's RHoK hackathon that happens simultaneously in 25 cities across the world. With events occurring across Canada — including Hamilton, and Montreal — Toronto joins a community of makers and do-ers around the world working to make a difference by hacking for humanity.

"This marks Toronto's third year as part of this important global movement," said Claire Buré, volunteer organizer of Random Hacks of Kindness Toronto. "It is incredible to see a community come together to collaborate and develop solutions to some of the problems faced by organizations, governments and citizens faced with challenges brought about by conflict, natural disasters and a myriad of other issues."

The goal of RHoK is to match the brightest minds in the world to solve real-world social challenges by using open source technology solutions. This year's projects for RHoK Toronto include solving problems such as how to:

• Transfer and record ultrasound images in remote areas
• Improve First Nations' access to potable water
• Create an online learning environment platform to engage students and teachers that address the challenges faced in a diversity of learning environments
• Build a micro-collaboration tool for journalists worldwide
• Develop an interactive mapping platform for the growing number of low-income tenants involved in campaigns for fair housing

Random Hacks of Kindness Toronto is a weekend-long event starting with an opening celebration on Friday, June 1st from 6:00pm-9:00pm hosted by Idée Inc., based at 223 Queen St. E.

The Centre For Social Innovation (at 720 Bathurst Street) is host for the main event on June 2-3. Registration opens at 9:00am on Saturday, June 2, with introductory presentations at 10:00am. Hacking begins at 11:00am, continuing through the night until 3:00pm on Sunday, June 3rd. The event concludes with a RHoK pitch competition and judging from 3:00pm-5:00pm. Cash and tech prizes will be awarded to the winners!

Register for the event: http://www.rhokto.ca/register/

Random Hacks of Kindness Toronto greatly acknowledges the support by Wave Accounting (Gold Sponsor), Centre for Social Innovation (Host Sponsor), TinEye/ Idée Inc (Host Sponsor), Nokia (Silver Sponsor, Prize Sponsor) OneAPI Gateway (Silver Sponsor), Syncapse (Bronze Sponsor), FreshBooks (Bronze Sponsor), Rightsleeve (T-shirt sponsor), Architech (Prize Sponsor), Hackernest (Prize Sponsor), Microsoft Toronto (Prize Sponsor) Torstar Digital (Prize Sponsor) and in-kind sponsors Bento Miso, commons11, hashcaster, GameChangers and PepsiCo.

"Random Hacks of Kindness wouldn't be possible without the support of our sponsors who recognize with donations the value of having Toronto citizens participate in this global community of innovators focused on developing practical open source solutions to community development, humanitarian aid, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction," said Buré.

ABOUT RANDOM HACKS OF KINDNESS TORONTO - Random Hacks of Kindness Toronto is an ad hoc committee of civic-minded citizens with professional expertise across a broad range of industry sectors. RHoK Toronto hosts bi-annual events in hacking for social good, bringing together developers, business analysts, designers, storytellers, project managers, subject matter experts, and more. The first RHoK Toronto hackathon was held in December 2010, and since then RHoK Toronto has hosted 4 global events to date, including a Water Hackathon in 31 cities around the globe with over 3,000 participants. During the RHoK 3.0 global event in June 2011, over 120 problems were addressed by 110 technology solutions. Solutions developed by the RHoK community have been used by organizations such as the World Bank, governments, emergency responders, and citizens. In Toronto, we have worked on projects for Message Carrier, the toronto cyclist community and Water Voices.

RHoK Toronto is online at:www.rhokto.ca
RHoK Toronto on Twitter:www.twitter.com/RHoKTO
RHoK Toronto hashtag: #RHoKTO
RHoK Toronto hashcaster site: http://rhok.hashcaster.com

ABOUT RANDOM HACKS OF KINDNESS - Founded in 2009 by Google, Microsoft, NASA, Yahoo! and the World Bank, Random Hacks of Kindness is a community of innovators focused on developing practical open source solutions to community development, humanitarian aid, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. This is about technology helping people. On June 1st­- 3rd, 2012, RHoK will bring together thousands of people in 25 locations around the globe to create open solutions that can save lives and alleviate suffering. Solutions developed by the RHoK community have been used by organizations such as the World Bank, governments, emergency responders, and citizens.

Global Random Hacks of Kindness community:www.rhok.org
RHoK on Twitter:www.twitter.com/randomhacks
RHoK Twitter hashtag: #RHoK

Claire Buré
[phone]
[email protected]
Twitter: @ClaireBure

or

Heather Leson 
[phone]
[email protected]
Twitter: @heatherleson