[Freedomlab-london] Random Hacks of Kindness (London)

[ben]

I see nothing churlish sbout being warry of assisting the likes of the World
Bank or Microsoft in projecting a false image of social responsibility and
selfless acts. I`d find it hard to believe that politically aware and
engaged hackers would take part in this for any other reason than an
oppotunity to sabotage the PR efforts of these culture vulture scum. This is
not about taking their money (always worth grabbing whats available assuming
there are no strings). It`s about not allowing a few hundred quid (peanuts)
to buy the appearance of approval. These scum are not handing over the cash
because for any other reason than they hope some good will and media will
attach itself to their names in the process. If it was just microsoft I`d
think it vaguely funny to take their money but the World Bank ! ! ! ! come
on ! ! these guys push and fund some of the most socially and
environmentally damaging projects on the planet. How could we sleep while
letting them suck up good vibes from some notional disaster relief bullshit?

ben

On 11 May 2010 18:53, Marmalade Atkins <dodgytom at yahoo.com> wrote:

>  It seems churlish to turn down Mr. Kummel's offer of a few thousand for
> rustling up space, electricity and contacts in the name of random hacks of
> kindness simply because the money came from Microsoft and the World Bank.
> Myself, I have found that event space can often be found in the kind of
> timescale he's mentioned.
>
> The use of an organisational bank account to deal with funding might take a
> bit longer, though. Perhaps freedom can help.
>
> Anybody got strong (like veto-type) opinions on this?
> Else maybe message me off list...
>
> Here are our public-viewable thread archives:
> https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/freedomlab-london/
>
>
> T
>
> --- On *Mon, 10/5/10, Martin Kummel <martin.kummel at secondmuse.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Martin Kummel <martin.kummel at secondmuse.com>
> Subject: [Freedomlab-london] Random Hacks of Kindness (London)
> To: freedomlab-london at lists.aktivix.org
> Date: Monday, 10 May, 2010, 17:56
>
>
>
> TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
>
>
> Dear former FreedomLab / HackLab members,
>
> I am posting this message to you in hope that one or some of you may be
> able to help us with an exciting project that we wish to bring to London.
> I've read on your website that, before the Media HackLab was dismantled, it
> stood for using technology to bring about social change. In light of this,
> please allow me to shortly introduce our project which I hope some of you
> may wish to get involved with.
>
> The project is called *Random Hacks of Kindness (RHok)*, a joint
> initiative of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, The World Bank and NASA to bring
> together hackers for weekend codejams to develop software surrounding
> disaster risk/management (more information attached).
>
> RHoK is hosting a global hackathon on* June 5th/6th* in Washington D.C. in
> conjunction with the Understanding Risk conference at the World Bank and the
> D.C. Crisis Camp, and we are collaborating with Crisis Commons on making
> this hackathon *a global event with simultaneous hackathons taking place
> in Sydney, Jakarta, London, Sao Paolo and possibly Nairobi*.
>
> RHoK has a few thousand dollars (US) funding for each global satellite
> event which could go towards catering, t-shirts, AV, or other costs. But we
> are working with local organizations in each location *to source space,
> reach out to the developer community, and collaborate with RHoK and Crisis
> Commons on the logistical side.* The D.C. event will begin with a keynote
> reception at the U.S. State Department on the evening of 4th June. The
> satellite locations, however, do not need to have a reception component.
>
> Essentially we are looking for a local partner who can help us track down
> the appropriate space (electricity/connectivity/24 hour access for the
> weekend) and help us reach out to the local hacker community and invite them
> (act as something of a local lead). We are hoping that each local event will
> attract up to 50 participants but will leave it up to the local partners to
> determine what is realistic.
>
> We realize we are looking at a tight time frame but hope to nail down all
> satellite hacking spaces in the next few days. Naturally, this event will
> receive good press coverage and we are more than happy to showcase our local
> partners in all press releases and our website. Do you know anyone,
> individual or hacking space, which would be willing be able to help us with
> this project? I would be grateful if someone could get in touch with us to
> discuss this further.
>
> In any case, I am looking forward to hearing from you.
> Kind regards,
>
> Martin Kummel
> ----------------
> martin kummel | secondmuse
> mob +49 160 8581 889
>
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
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