
The Carolina Across 100 Civic Hacking Competition
UNC Engagement Week
March 21-25, 2022

A reception was held on March 25, 2022 at the UNC School of Government, where winners of the 2022 Civic Hackathon were announced. Congratulations to the following teams of UNC students whose visualizations were selected as winners of the top two $500 cash prizes. All submitted visualizations will be used in a variety of ways as the Carolina Across 100 initiative begins engaging with communities across the state. They will continue to be accessible on the Carolina Across 100 website and they will be brought into community conversations about the pandemic. Submitted visualizations will also be archived by UNC Libraries.
The Carolina Across 100 team would like to thank all students who participated and our distinguished panel of judges. Thank you also to the Carolina Center for Public Service for hosting the first-ever Engagement Week at UNC-Chapel Hill. We look forward to more collaborations like this one!
Who Participated?
17 teams of all undergrad students and 3 teams of grad/professional students
The most popular major of our registrants was computer science
About half of the teams had cross-discipline membership (e.g., one team was comprised of a psychology major, a political science major, and an environmental science/computer science double major)
The total number of students who registered to compete was 55
Majors Listed for our Hackathon Registrants
Computer Science
Statistics
Biostatistics
Neuroscience
Environmental Science
Marine Science
Math
Chemistry
Biology
Comparative Literature
Public Policy
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology
Media and Journalism
Art History
Business Administration
City and Regional Planning
School of Public Health
When is the next Carolina Across 100 Civic Hackathon?
Stay connected to Carolina Across 100 as more opportunities for student engagement are announced. Subscribe to regular e-mail updates. Submit a student interest form to explore deeper involvement with Carolina Across 100.
FAQs
This competition is focused on the impacts of COVID-19 to the people and communities of North Carolina. This state, like every other across the country and every place across the world, is home to many people and places deeply affected by the pandemic. Some have borne disproportionate burdens related to its impacts. Among the rubble lie shuttered small businesses needing a path to reopen, workers requiring retraining to return to changed workplaces, and youth yearning for focused efforts to mitigate long-term effects of learning loss. We will use data visualization to capture the information and stories about these impacts.
Yes, but with one main caveat – the data must be free and publicly available. This means data that is available to anyone without restrictions, special permissions, or additional costs. Examples of these types of data sets can be found here.
- Attend the kick-off session as part of UNC Engagement Week on Monday, March 21st at 10:00am
- Register to compete by Monday, March 21st at 11:59pm
- Submit your visualization by Thursday, March 24th at 11:59pm
- Attend the recognition reception at the UNC School of Government on Friday, March 25th at 6:00pm
Teams can include 2 to 5 participants.
Each team is allowed to make up to one (1) entry.
In order to submit your visualization for review and judging, it will need to be uploaded on this site by Thursday, March 24 by 11:59 p.m.
Visualizations will be evaluated on three main criteria: creativity, clarity, and usefulness. You can find the full judging rubric here.
Lorin Bruckner, Data Visualization Services Librarian; Matthew Bhagat-Conway, Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning and Affiliate at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science; Jamilla Hawkins, Chief of Staff, NC Pandemic Recovery Office; Terence Oliver, Walter Spearman Distinguished Professor, Hussman School of Journalism and Media; Lamar Richards, UNC Student Body President
Unfortunately, we are not able to offer feedback on submissions.
After the competition, the visualizations will be used in a variety of ways as the Carolina Across 100 initiative begins engaging with communities across the state. They will be accessible on the Carolina Across 100 website with a discussion guide and brought to community conversations about the pandemic. They will also be archived by UNC Libraries.
Visualizations will become part of the Carolina Across 100 initiative’s toolkits and individuals/creators will be credited. They will be shared with communities to facilitate conversations about recovery aspirations and innovations. Some legalese: By submitting a visualization for consideration, you are agreeing to give Carolina Across 100 and its agents, representatives, and contractors a fully paid-up, royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to use and display any visualization submitted by you, including any additions and modifications, in connection with the Carolina Across 100 initiative, which license shall remain in full force and effect throughout the term of the initiative. In other words, you are giving Carolina Across 100 permission to use your visualization in connection with our work and at no cost. Visualizations will always include attribution to the student creators
If you have questions or experience any trouble along the way, contact Jess Dorrance at dorrance@sog.unc.edu. If she is unable to help immediately, we will get you connected to the appropriate support.
Two winning teams will be selected to win $500 each. The teams are responsible for determining how those funds are divided between all team members. All student prizes are entered through the UNC award system, GradStar, and processed as a refund through the Cashier’s Office. These awards are considered financial aid. If a student is receiving financial aid and has not exceeded their need or cost of attendance, it will not have an impact and they will receive the full amount of the award. However, if a student has met this threshold, that they may not receive the full amount or any. There is a Cost of Attendance & Remaining Aid Eligibility Calculator for undergraduates and one for graduate students that can be utilized to determine if the payment will impact your aid. If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact Jess Dorrance at dorrance@sog.unc.edu.
Resources
The Media & Design Center in the Undergraduate Library
Students can use the media lab on the lower level. Email mediadc@unc.edu for help with audio and video projects.Adobe Creative Cloud
Students can download the Adobe Creative Suite for free!The Davis Library Research Hub
We are located on the second floor of Davis and help students with projects that involve data. Chat and walk-in assistance are provided from 12-5. Our computer lab is available during library hours.
Davis Research Hub Experts
Each person on this list has their own area of expertise. Mine is data visualization, but students may be interested in GIS (Phil) or analysis (Matt) as well. Consultations are made by clicking on a name and then finding the “Schedule Appointment” button.Computer Lab and Virtual Computing
We have both physical and virtual machines with a number of different software applications for working with data.
Research Hub YouTube Playlists
Students have free access to many training videos through LinkedIn Learning.