DPLA Appfest Hackathon

November 8-9, 2012
Chattanooga Public Library, 4th Floor, Chattanooga, TN

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is delighted to announce our first Appfest, an informal, open call for both ideas and functional examples of creative and engaging ways to use the content and metadata in the DPLA back-end platform. The first Appfest will take place on November 8-9, 2012, at the Chattanooga Public Library on The 4th Floor. We’ll have access to their new 1 gig wireless internet connection, so anything you build should be smokin’ fast!

For more information, see the main website for DPLA Appfest.

We’re looking for web and mobile apps, data visualization hacks, dashboard widgets that might spice up an end-user’s homepage, or a medley of all of these. There are no strict boundaries on the types of submissions accepted, except that they be open source (the DPLA platform is released under a AGPLv3 license) and interoperable with the DPLA platform. Participants are asked to pitch ideas for apps on the DPLA Appfest wiki page before the event, as pitches made on the wiki will inform what is made on Friday, November 9th.

For inspiration, participants might consider building or pitching an app that recommends cultural heritage content such as maps and photographs based on user preferences or a certain set of criteria, an app that helps kids find content related to the topic of their upcoming history paper, or an app that visualizes metadata in new and interesting ways. Any number of approaches to building or pitching an app that utilizes the DPLA platform are open for exploration. Please note that the platform will largely contain cultural heritage data from the DPLA’s seven service hubs, as part of the Digital Hubs Pilot Project. We encourage participants to make their development process open, sharing their designs and sketches and draft code as it develops.

The introductions, Appfest demos, and closing session will be streamed live.

You can pitch ideas on the DPLA Appfest wiki page here.

You can learn more about the DPLA platform and API here.

You can learn more about the service hubs and DPLA content here.