Football Federation Australia, in partnership with Coder Factory Academy and Node Girls Australia, will be hosting the first digital Hackathon aimed at fostering and creating innovation for Women’s Football.
The Hackathon will take place over a weekend during Female Football Week, with participants spending their time creating and developing digital solutions that could be used to help improve the experience for girls participating in football and the Westfield W-League fan engagement.
Participants of the Female Football Week Hackathon will tackle one of two challenge areas:
- To improve the ability, access and pathway for females to become involved in the game of football as a player, coach, referee or volunteer; or
- To bring football fans closer to the action and enable greater digital fan engagement with the Westfield W-League.
FFA’s Head of Community, Football Development and Women’s Football, Emma Highwood, believes that the Hackathon is a fantastic, innovative way for girls to be introduced to football through the digital medium.
“This event is all about empowering girls to realise their potential – and what better way to facilitate that process than through football” said Highwood.
“Playing football and participating in this Hackathon share something in common. They both involve high speed problem solving to achieve an end goal.
“Our goal for this event is to get the participants to think about football in a different way to which they probably have in the past.
“We can’t wait to see what these talented young women will produce at this fantastic event,” concluded Highwood.
The Hackathon will be held from 17-19 March at Coder Factory Academy (Level 2, 7 Kelly St, Ultimo). Nominations are open from today at footballaustralia.com.au/hackathon with the application window closing at 11:59pm Thursday 9 March. The Hackathon will be capped at 150 participants and successful applicants will be notified on Friday 10 March.
Hackathon Event Information
Dates: 17-19 March, 2017
Venue: Coder Factory Academy, Level 2, 7 Kelly St, Ultimo
Nominations Close: March 9, 2017
Acceptance of Nominations Confirmed: March 10, 2017
Cost: Free
Website: footballaustralia.com.au/hackathon
What is a Hackathon?
A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest or codefest) is a short, intensive session where teams are given a problem area, data, tools, and bring their own skills and resources to solve chosen challenges.
The teams are made up of individuals with diverse skills sets, including computer programmers, product managers, user experience designers and subject matter experts.
Ideas can range from new digital features or content to entirely new digital products, ideally leveraging latest innovations and technologies (e.g. native app functionality, live video, wearables, VR/AR, artificial intelligence etc.)
At the conclusion of the Hackathon, teams demo their products to a panel of judges for a chance to win prizes and to have their idea further developed into a customer facing solution.
What are some challenge examples participants could work on?
Here are some challenge examples to get the creative minds working…
· Create software to assist Community Football Clubs with recruiting more females at their club (players, coaches, referees and administrators).
· Create a platform whereby the female football network can communicate and share information.
· Create an app that will generate interest amongst parents and drive participation outcomes for the Aldi MiniRoos for Girls program.
· Develop a game to generate interest in the Westfield W-League.
· Create a product that engages fans at the venue on a match day.
· Visualise Westfield W-League match stats and present some interesting views which can be shared across digital products.
· Create a portal for grassroots clubs to reach out / post / advertise and recruit new and existing females in football.
