What is this Dribdat?

MakeZurich is a hackathon powered by Dribdat, where we collect and showcase all projects from the hackathon in one place, explain the essential conditions, track time and other progress indicators. This platform helps hackathon teams to sustain and to document their efforts, streamlining things for the organising team. For more background, see the FAQ page.

Why does MakeZurich use Dribdat?

At MakeZurich, we have are users of Dribdat since our first edition. All previous hacks and projects are documented and linked in there.

Since Dribdat itself is open source -just as all our hackathon content is- we want to foster the idea that this event can be replicated in other cities by other members with very little effort.

And finally, we are thankful to @loleg, the author of Dribdat for the endless hours of support and advicing on how to run hackathons that don’t suck! 😄

How do I use this?

Once you’ve decided for a challenge, joined the project in Dribdat, joined your group’s private channel on Slack, and started brainstorming daring and innovative solutions, you can use Dribdat to post updates about your team’s progress, and embed your collaboration efforts in a direct and transparent way. Having a readable, regularly updated overview of what your team is working on is your secret weapon in this hackathon. Remember to emphasize the importance and increase the power of evaluation! Here is a quick tutorial:

1. Sign in

Click Login at the top of the page and look for a button that looks like this:

Or, alternatively, create an account with email and password.

If you have issues with the sign in process, contact us at [email protected].

2. Start a new team project

Every team is suggested to start a private channel on Slack, and a public project page at now.makezurich.ch. To start your public project page, look for the green Start a Project button on the homepage:

3. Join your team’s project

Once a team has already created the project, it will be shown categorized according to the challenge they address. The challenges are the #hashtags in the blue boxes at the top of the event page. This page is basically a map of the hackathon. The button at the far right (☰) switches to a list mode, which can also help you to find your team.

Once you have found your group, open the project page, and tap on the blue Join button at the top, which looks like this:

You should then see your name along with any other team members listed underneath.

4. Post an update

Once you join a project in step (2), buttons appear at the top of the page allowing you to Post and Edit updates about your hackathon experience. You can also Leave (★) the project if you joined one by accident.

By clicking the Post button, you can give a quick status report of your progress. A dialog box asks you to self-evaluate your team’s Progress, as well as enter a few words or sentences to describe at which stage you are at in the process.

5. Share your results

If you need to make changes to your posts, click the Edit button. You will also see other fields there allowing you to set up how your project is presented. The most important field is the Project link. Here - or in text form, in the Description - we will expect you to post your final results, such as a video or slide presentation, summarizing your outputs.

Shared text documents, a folder full of sketches, datasets, and any other online materials can be showcased in this manner. Put whatever is currently the most actively developed prototype at the top, and list links to any other relevant materials in your description or project updates.

But..I’m a complete beginner!

You have never participated in such a team work, you are not quite sure what you can contribute and you do not know anyone yet? Then you are in the right place! We will give you a hand to get started and answer any questions on Slack in the #makezurich-help channel. Remember: there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

What about Intellectual Property?

The following licensing conditions apply to works created at Make Zurich 2023:

• No transfer of rights: everyone retains the rights to anything they have created.
• Waiver: No one will exercise any rights of exclusivity with respect to information they bring in, even if otherwise could exercise such right of exclusivity under the law.
• Openness: all participants are required to submit code under a recognized open source license (we suggest MIT License) and creative works like text, pictures, music or designs under a creative commons license (we suggest CC-BY-SA 4.0).
• Courtesy: Give credit. Ask if you can, but by default assume to include all those who have somehow contributed to the project.

I want to use this elsewhere

Please contact the Dribdat project through the homepage, where you can also download a free copy of the software, or ask the MakeZurich organizing team for leads. We will be happy to get you any help you need to get started.