The first ever Hack4Europe! took place 6 – 10 June 2011. Organised by the Europeana Foundation and its partners Collections Trust, Picasso Museum, Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center and the Swedish National Heritage Board, these four events provided an exciting environment to explore the potential of open cultural data for social and economic growth in Europe.
The UK event, led by Collections Trust, took place on the 9th June 2011 and was partnered and hosted by The British Library, with a special prize sponsorship from the Technology Strategy Board.
It attracted 23 keen and dedicated participants from across the UK and Europe, inspired by the diverse and rich Europeana collections of over 18 million items to produce ideas, designs and prototypes for people to engage with, share and learn with culture in a range of ways, including social media; ebook readers and mobile devices.
Hack 4 Europe UK! 2011
In all, thirteen designs and prototypes were rapidly produced to showcase the social and business value of open cultural data from Europeana. A ‘best of’ was chosen in each of the areas of ‘Social Inclusion’; ‘Commercial Potential’ and ‘Innovation’ by a panel from Europeana; Collections Trust; The British Library, Technology Strategy Board and Pesky People. And there was a special ‘Audience Award’ from participants. The four chosen for awards on the day were:
‘Casual Curator‘, by the Decipher Project Team – Systems Simulation Ltd and Dublin Institute of Technology, chosen for the Social Inclusion award and also to represent the UK event at the Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels, 16th June 2011. Casual Curator is an android app for touch screen devices that uses semantic enhancement to help people find, organise, annotate and share items from Europeana for learning, research and enjoyment.
Casual Curator by System Simulation Ltd and Dublin Institute of Technology
euKindleSearch, by Mike Hirst, DAS-360°, chosen for the Commercial Potential award and also won the Technology Strategy Board prize. euKindleSearch is a project to exploit the possibilities for delivering Europeana content using the Amazon Kindle. A search box allows searching item records from UK collections. Search results are displayed in the Kindle Browser. Links display items in a separate page with a complete description. Further links lead to the data Supplier. It is also possible to download search results as an eBook (mobipocket) either to PC or direct to Kindle.
euKindleSearch by Mike Hirst, 360 DAS
Cultured Canvas, by Dom Hodgson and Alistair Macdonald, chosen for the Innovation award. Cultured Canvas lets people choose and create backgrounds for their Twitter page, putting Europeana content directly into the social media experience.
Cultured Canvas by Dom Hodgson and Alistair Macdonald
Share What you See, by Mia Ridge and Owen Stephens, chosen for the Audience Award. Share What You See enables visitors to museums/galleries to easily share their experiences and favourite objects with friends, family and others on all devices, via the Wordpress blogging platform.
Share What You See by Mia Midge and Owen Stephens
Many thanks to all those who attended and supported the event.
