SI Camp comes to Crumlin Road Gaol
SI Camp, alongside the Building Change Trust, is set to open the doors to their first major event in Northern Ireland on the 26th November.
Students from various disciplines, colleges and universities, will come together to try to find digital solutions to some of the most pressing social issues affecting local communities.
The students have all taken part in a training exercise through September and October, during which time they were taught about the creative thinking process and how to think outside the box to problem solve.
Now they will face the opportunity to attempt to solve a live social challenge during which they will develop a concept for the end user.
At the end of the day this will be presented to the challenge owner who will feedback on how deliverable and effective the solution could be.
Patricia Flanaghan, Project Manager, SI Camp, explains their big plans to work with further education colleges in Northern Ireland:
“The main principle behind SI Camp is ‘Tech for Social Good’ and this is something that we are hoping to achieve in Northern Ireland in the coming months. Since April of this year I have been identifying social challenges by speaking directly to community groups".
There are nine challenges that will be tackled on the day:
- From NOW – How can NOW use technology to better/more efficiently support their clients with limited literacy or education to get forms filled in & access services?
- From TAMHI – How can TAMHI use technology to support sports clubs to focus on delivering sport rather than backroom functions, leading to healthier, happier communities?
- From DTNI – How can DTNI use technology to make its community asset transfer projects be environmental and social leaders in their communities?
- From NOW – How can NOW use technology to improve and expand the JAM (Just A Minute) card for users and businesses?
- From Bryson Future Skills – How can Bryson use technology to ensure that their trainees are well-supported throughout their 104 week training period?
- From Cara Friend – How can CaraCall use technology to make best use of their volunteer’s time and be there with critical support when it is needed?
- From Sandy Row Community Forum – How can the SRCF create and use individualised household data in order to create a strong community?
- From The Grand Picture House – How can the Grand Picture House use technology to capture and share stories across generations and communities?
- From Volunteer Now – How can Volunteer Now use technology to match volunteers with the best, most rewarding, appropriate opportunities?
Ms Flanaghan continued: “The primary goal of the day is to come up with innovative, potential tech solutions to these challenges.
"The day will start with the challenge owners giving a short pitch to explain their specific challenge and then participants will decide which challenge they are interested in working on.
"After lunch they will begin to refine and build their ideas into a prototytpe solution. The judges will then decide which projects they wish to give funding to in order to develop further".
She added: “We have students from Queen’s University Belfast Electronics, Communications and Information Technology, University of Ulster, Product Design, North West College, Art and Design and Health and Social Care, and South West College, Renewable Engineering all attending.
"In addition we have opened up registration and are currently seeking designers, makers, thinkers, solution builders, entrepreneurs, students and techies who are interested in contributing inspiration, ideas and opinions to solve problems together for collective social good".