While the chaos of Brexit plays out at the top of UK politics this week, it’s very hard to know what the effects of Brexit are “on the ground”. Local news no longer has much of a business model to concentrate on specific subjects or campaigns. Social media is a mess of local facebook groups which only locals can see. MPs often ignore email / online campaigns from constituents.
The Great British Hack-Off aims to address this. In a 2-day intensive, overnight “hackathon” on the weekend of July 21-22, the aim will be to get a groundswell of interest in helping to improve local communities and economies. The aim is to connect people with their decision makers and MPs about their concerns for jobs, services and the economy.
The event is also going to be used to pressure MPs to back a new, ‘people’s vote’ on the terms of Brexit, with the option to remain in the EU.
It will be held by Tech For UK (Twitter, Hashtag:#GBhackoff, Instagram,
Facebook) the tech industry body calling for a meaningful people’s vote on Brexit, with the option to Remain, and anti-Brexit group Best For Britain .
Anyone interested can apply to attend the event via this form.
The Great British Hack-Off will ask a number of questions and try to build products to address the answers.
Are local community projects, some formerly funded by the EU, still going? Are they being replaced? What about local factories, businesses? What about health Services? Are local or central governments stepping in to help, or are people’s concerns being ignored? Is European and other foreign investment ebbing away from local communities or is it being replaced? Are local news sources sharing what is going on?
What are the human stories? How can social media and video be used to tell those stories best?
The Great British Hack-Off will be a festival of tech and creativity to address these issues.
Tech For UK says the ultimate goal will be to engage the tech community to help Best for Britain connect people in local communities to the information they need on Brexit and, in turn, connect them to their decision makers and MPs. Attendees to the Hackathon will also be able to work on their own projects and ideas related to Brexit.
Tech For UK says this will be the first event in a series, to be continued at other cities around the UK, not just in London.
Structured like a “Hackathon” it will be held at a central London venue, bringing together engineers, designers, storytellers, marketers, data scientists, designers, artists, journalists / PR / media people, analytics experts and social media influencers to work on these problems.
Participants will be selected from applications and given full instructions about the event.
There will be capacity for 120 people and the opportunity to stay over-night at the hackathon. Food and beverages will be provided. This will be an ’18s and over’ event. There will also be wheelchair access.