Friendly reminder to hack outdoors. Iowa is gorgeous, yo.
If You Build It, They Will Come… and Build Some More
What do I think about when I think about Iowa?
Election straw polls, perhaps. Maybe farmland. I had initially thought that Iowa was the state where Superman grew up, but that turned out to be Kansas. (Whoops) A Google search would later inform me that Iowa was once a part of French Louisiana. Of that, I had no idea, and I now find myself on the verge of falling down a Wikipedia rabbit-hole.
I do know what I want to think about Iowa, though. In a year or so, I would love to primarily think of Iowa as the home of HackISU – the premier Midwestern college hackathon, perhaps rivaling nearby Michigan’s MHacks. Until then, HackISU is best regarded as a very fresh, very excitable, and very passionate emerging hackathon event coming out of Iowa State University.
This weekend will see HackISU’s second iteration, coming off a successful first-run this past April. The first HackISU saw an attendance of about 150 students and some pretty solid hacks, including the winning hack “Hackulus Leap” — a grassroots reconstruction of an Oculus Rift that uses a Leap Motion and a Nexus 7 to interface. For more information about HackISU I, you should really check out this really lively recap. Note of caution: the word “kumquat” is involved.
This semester’s HackISU will probably see an expanded group of attendees. As I write this, hacking groups are in the middle of solidifying — if you’re hitting up HackISU and still looking for a team, you should check out this Facebook group.
Alright, some details:
Registration : 6 pm on Friday, Sept 12th.
Hackathon Begins : 8 pm on Friday, Sept 12th.
Hackathon Ends : 8 am on Sunday, Sept 14st.
Project Fair/ : 9 am on Sunday, Sept 14st.
Judging
All events will take place in Howe/Hoover Hall on the Iowa State U campus.
For more information, check out the HackISU website here.
If you’re a hacker alum, a kind sponsor/mentor, or just somebody with a lot of love to give, tweet the HackISU team nice words at @HackISU.