Hackathon FAQ's
Practical FAQ's:
1/ What is a hackathon?
A hackathon is a collaborative gathering around specific programming challenges. We have set out 2 potential challenges for our July event.
2/ How long will the hackathon be?
Typically hackathons occur over a few days. Ours will start with lunch at 12:30 pm on 3 July and end 6 pm 4 July.
3/ Will we need to work round the clock?
You are not expected to work the entire duration of the event, but the accommodation and venue are adjacent to each other, so you can decide how much time you want to work outside of the scheduled time.
4/ Who can attend?
Please complete the sign-up form with your details and we will respond by email if you meet the criteria.
5/ Will my accommodation be paid for?
Yes. All participants will have one nights free accommodation at Homerton College in Cambridge.
6/ Will there be food?
Yes. Two lunches, dinner and breakfast will be provided. Fresh fruit and biscuits will be available throughout. We will offer a set number of Barista coffees on demand for each participant.
7/ Is there help with travel?
We expect participants to organise their own transportation to the event. Homerton college is a short walk from Cambridge main railway station.
8/ Is the venue safe for equipment storage?
The venue will be locked by porters whenever it is not in use.
9/ Do I have to team up in advance or I can join a team?
If you want to form a team prior to the event you can, otherwise we will help find you a team to join.
Technical FAQ's:
1/ Do I have to bring my own laptop?
Yes. You are expected to bring your own laptop, which should have an up to date operating system and anti virus software. The venue provides a WiFi connection.
2/ Are there any other hardware requirements?
If you need access to a GPU, you will have access to this on the University of Cambridge’s High Performance Computing Cluster. We will try to make sure common deep learning frameworks such as Tensorflow will be available. If you are able to bring a laptop with a GPU or are able to access your own GPU resources remotely, this may reduce any set up difficulties!
3/ Are there any restrictions on the data that can be used?
You will have access to open source annotated datasets such as DOTA, and usage is governed by the dataset’s license terms. If you have ideas for other datasets that could help, then please discuss with us during the hackathon.
4/ What is the expected submission format of any results?
We are aiming for an informal approach, rather than rigorous submissions you will be invited to briefly present back to the group at the end
5/ Will there be formal ranking of results or judging of work?
No, see above
6/ Will there be prizes?
University of Cambridge participation certificates will be awarded to those who take part.
7/ Who owns the intellectual property generated at the Hackathon?
All submissions remain the intellectual property of the groups that developed them.
8/ Can I submit others' work?
By submitting work, you represent and warrant the following: you will not submit content that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the content.
9/ Do I need to download the data for the example challenges?
For the event we are planning to offer use of the University High Performance Cluster, and will load the datasets to a shared location.