On October 13th, a very special event is happening: the Access Hackfest. A tradition since Access 2002, the Hackfest brings together library practitioners of all kinds to tackle challenges and problems from the mundane to the sublime to the ridiculous. If you can imagine a spectrum with three axes (Axes Hackfest? forget I mentioned that), you might be just the person to pose those challenges to the Hackfest participants! What we're saying here, folks, is that we need suggestions for Hackfest projects. There are no limitations to these challenges: oh sure, you're bringing together complete strangers and asking them to accomplish in eight hours or less what the rest of the library ecosphere is incapable of or uninterested in solving during the rest of the year - but that's what makes the Hackfest MAGICAL. Example results of previous Access Hackfests are available from http://library.acadiau.ca/access2004/hackfest.html and a podcast by Hackfest alumnus Dan Chudnov that captures the spirit of the Hackfest is available from http://ur1.ca/1qtj4 We plan to keep the Hackfest suggestions secret until the moment of their unveiling on the morning of October 13th - can you feel the anticipation mounting? - so please submit your challenges in one clearly written paragraph or less via the Hackfest submission form at http://access2010.lib.umanitoba.ca/node/45, or if you prefer, via email to [email protected].
