Are you interested in Shakespeare? Are you tempted to take part in a hackathon or know someone else who might be? Do you have a great idea for a new app? Do you want to mash your own data with ours? Then get involved in the Will’s World Online Hack! We are pleased to announce that registration for this event is now opened at http://willsworld.edina.ac.uk/wiki.

This hackathon aims first to promote innovative use of the Shakespeare metadata registry built by the Will’s World project to hold metadata describing online digital resources relating Shakespeare,but also to explore an online format for hackathon.

How does an online hack work?

Well, like a traditional hackathon, technical and creative people with different expertise like software developers, graphic designers, domain experts and project managers, get together and collaborate to develop applications and explore concepts. But instead of getting physically together in one location, social media technologies are used to communicate and collaborate online. We used your very useful and positive feedback to our online survey to plan this event.

The event will take place over a week:

• Opening session on Wednesday, 5th December, 1pm (BST):
  This will be a live and interactive session to present the data, the goal of the event, prize categories, the set of social media tools and technologies to be used during the hack and the Will’s World project itself. Participants will be able to introduce themselves and put forward ideas.

• Hack, 24 hours spread over 6 days:
  The participants will have six days to form teams, familiarise themselves with the data and code. Participants are free to organise when they spent their 24 hack hours over these six days. They will have the flexibility to work when it suits them. Teams can set their own schedule either for members to work concurrently or consecutively. The Will’s World project team will be on hand throughout to answer any questions and regular interactive drop-in sessions are planned.

•  Closing session on wednesday, 12th December, 1pm (BST):
  This will be a live and interactive session where each team will present their hack either live or as a pre-recorded video and prizes will be awarded.

We are hoping to capture as much as possible of the communication taking place. In particular, the opening and closing sessions will be videoed. All recordings will be shared on the event wiki or the blog.

The use of technology and social media is at the core of this online hack. We will be using a wiki to act as hub to support communication, before, during and after the event. Mailing lists, Google+ hangouts, YouTube, Skype, Twitter, IRC, Github and Dropbox will all help the communication and creativity flow. You will find more information about the event, the data, the technologies and how to take part here.

Register now and receive a goodie bag!

If you fancy taking part in this exciting event and be one of the first pioneering online hackers then please register on the Will’s World Online Hack wiki. Participation is free and the first 50 participants to register will receive a goodie bag!