A hackathon against hate

This year Police Rewired, a volunteer community working on projects and events in public safety, are running Hack Hate. It's an online, data-driven hackathon and it's focussed on hate crime.

We're working with the Metropolitan Police in London, and a number of agencies that work directly with communities affected by hate crime.

Why hate crime?

Hate crime comes in many forms, and affects many different communities. It's painful, and can be devastating for the communities it affects. It's getting worse and, as volunteers in public safety, we wanted to do something about it...

In the UK, policing bodies work with a wide range of partner agencies to reach into affected communities to help understand the issue, take reports, and take action against those who perpetrate it - but policing alone won't stop the trend.

A lot of hate material is moderated by social media organisations, such as Twitter and Facebook. Many people who are targeted by it need help understanding what their options are, how to report it - and to whom.

There's also a lot of data about hate crime, and there are plenty of opportunities to use that data for good.

Doing the right thing...

We're great believers in tech for good. To us, it means creating opportunities to apply the skills we use in our jobs, or new skills we are studying, to effect positive social change. Hack Hate is an opportunity to form a team and build something that could help or protect people. It could be a prototype for a new tool, or new insights into the spread of hate and misinformation that can incite crime.

We're opening on October 11th, and tickets are FREE. You'll hear from experts on the subject and explore new data sets. You can come as a team, or join one during the event. The hackathon runs for 3 weeks...

In the first week we'll help you to choose a project, and then you and your team will have 2 weeks to develop a prototype or unique insights, and a presentation. There will be prizes awarded in a number of categories that will be announced at the beginning of the event.

We're grateful for the generosity of our sponsors, without whom this event would not have been possible: AWS UK, Clue UK, Computacenter UK, and ESRI UK.

If you're interested in contributing your skills for social good, grab a ticket now and join us on October 11th!