Unlike a typical conference session, the Maker Day/Hack Together Day will provide an opportunity to collaborate on short projects with fellow astronomers and computer scientists on wide range of topics spanning software development, community outreach, scientific research, and trying out new analysis tools.

Outreach ideas?

You have a fantastic outreach idea on a gravitational wave model using chocolate and donuts (hmmm... Donuts!)? You're really into sculpting DNA models with coffee beans (coffee ❤️!)? Maker Day allows you to share your idea with other Makers, and realize it with their help. Or maybe you are just very good at transforming other people's ideas into masterpieces. In all these cases and more, Maker Day is for you!

Software ideas?

The goal of a hack day event is to come with a small, do-able project and fully execute it in one day, benefitting from the wide range of expertise in the room and coming up with creative solutions. Hack day project solutions aren't always the most beautiful or elegant or precise solutions, but they work, and typically they provide a prototype for future work on a larger related topic.

We aim to create an event where up to about 60 people with varying computational skills and levels of expertise can work together to achieve well-defined goals (learning or creating). Due to its cross-disciplinarity and non-exclusivity for any programming language, our session appeals to a large audience at EWASS 2018.

Previous experience with programming is not required, and people new to 'hack day' events are extremely welcome! See links to project lists from other hack days:

• EWASS 2017: https://goo.gl/U1Lw6K
• NAM 2017: https://github.com/OpenAstronomy/nam2017_hackday/wiki

We will be working in close collaboration with the proposed Software in Astronomy session and will request presenters in that session to be available at the hack event. This way they can help participants who may want to install or ask detailed technical questions about a given software package.

How to participate

Participation in the Maker Day / Hack Together Day is open to all EWASS/NAM attendees. If you plan to participate and/or propose a project, please let us know through the link below (for planning purposes). We will strive to promote diversity among participants in scientific topic and demographics such as seniority, gender, race/ethnicity, and country of origin.

Scientific organisers

Matteo Bachetti (INAF-OAC, IT)

Amruta Jaodand (ASTRON, NL)

Alice Allen (ASCL, US)

Abigail Stevens (UvA, NL)

Andrew Newsam (LJMU, UK)

Alex Hamilton (Hull U., UK)

Harriet Brown (LJMU, UK)

Andreea Font (LJMU, UK)

Matt Darnley (LJMU, UK)

Tom Robitaille (Aperio Software, UK)