What: The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is sponsoring a hackathon , as part of a worldwide initiative called Brainhack Global. The main thrust of this 3-day hackathon will be to work on coding projects related, broadly, to the brain. It will also include talks, demos, and tutorials from people at WUSTL and beyond. Coffee, bagels, and pizza will be provided daily.
Where: The hackathon will be held in Danforth University Center Room 234 (see map below).
When: Friday, March 3, through Sunday, March 5, from 9AM-5PM (see calendar below).
Why: This is a great opportunity to work intensively in a collaborative environment on a project you've really wanted to get to, but haven't had the time, or to help out with another person's project if you don't have an idea of your own! In the spirit of collaboration, this is not a competitive hackathon--attendees are free to work on whatever they choose, either alone or in groups. Individuals will propose projects at the beginning of the hackathon and then present a progress update, if they'd like, at the end of the 3 days.
How: Register HERE.
Questions?: Email us
FAQ:
- What the heck is a "Brainhack"?!: See this open access article for an overview.
- I'm relatively new to coding. Where can I learn more?: SoftwareCarpentry is a great resource. Feel free to dig into their online lessons either before or during the hackathon. I would recommend being (or becoming!) familiar with the following:
- Can you give me examples of projects?: Here's a list of project proposals from a Brainhack that happened last year, and here's an open-access write-up of projects from the various Brainhacks in 2015. Some general suggestions (borrowed from the Cambridge Brainhack) include:
- Work in teams through openly available tutorials for neuroimaging analyses
- Work in teams through roadblocks in your analyses that are holding up your research
- Add a feature to some code that you want to update
- Develop a new workflow on old data, or an old workflow on new data
- Build collaborations between people in different departments
- Use the global brainhack network to access replication data for your analyses
- Great! I have a project idea. What now?: Start chatting with others about in the WUSTL Brainhack Slack. Feel free to start your own Slack channel once you have the basics outlined. Prepare a super-brief (~5 minute), super-casual project pitch for the first day of the Brainhack to get others excited about it. If you'd like, set up a GitHub repository to facilitate collaboration.
- I am overwhelmed and out of ideas. Help?: Don't despair! The hackathon is meant for people of all skill levels and capabilities. Feel free to join in on a project that interests you, or simply introduce yourself and see if a project could use someone with your background. Do you have experience with graphic design? Knowledge of a semi-obscure technique such as pupillometry? You never know when a project could need someone like you! Also feel free to work independently during the hackathon; if you are really stumped in finding a Brainhack-specific project, just hang out with us and code!