Photography and Video

  • Participants acknowledge that the organisers and sponsors of New Futures Hackathon, including the University of Newcastle (the “Organisers”) will be recording the New Futures Hackathon (the "Hackathon") event on video, photographs, audio recording and other media, and therefore agree that:

  • The Organisers have the unrestricted right to use your likeness, image, voice, opinions, and appearance, and also any images of your projects, developments, materials and belongings made at or brought to the Hackathon, captured through video, photographs or other media during the Hackathon for the express purpose of creating promotional material (the “Images”), for the purposes of use in websites, promotional materials, publications and other media of any of the Organizers, whether in print or electronically (the “Materials”). The foregoing right includes permission to copyright, use, re-use, publish, and republish Images in which you may be included, intact or in part, composite or distorted in character or form, without restriction as to changes or transformations, in conjunction with your own or a fictitious name, reproduction in colour or otherwise, made through any and all media now or hereafter known;

  • The Organisers shall solely own the Materials in which you or your Images, in whole or in part, may appear, including copyright interests, and you have no ownership rights therein;

  • You give all clearances, copyright and otherwise, for use of your Images, and waive any moral rights that you may have in the Materials in which you or your Images may appear. The rights granted to the Organisers herein are perpetual and worldwide. For greater certainty, my Images may continue to be used after the completion of the Hackathon;

  • You relinquish any right that you may have to examine or approve the Materials in which you or your Images may appear or the use to which they may be applied; and

  • You hereby release, discharge and agree to save harmless each and all of the Organisers from any liability by virtue of any blurring, distortion, alteration, optical illusion, or use in composite form of the Images whether intentional or otherwise, that may occur or be produced in the recording of the Images or in any subsequent processing thereof, as well as any publication thereof, including without limitation any claims for libel or invasion of privacy.

Eligibility

  • Attendees from all backgrounds, genders and geographies are welcome.

  • To be eligible for an award, at least one team member must be located or based in Newcastle and the Hunter Region, Australia.

  • There is no country restriction, but you must be eligible to receive prizes (in case you win) and you are responsible for paying any taxes on the prize winnings.

  • All participants must be registered via the New Futures Hackathon for Ageing in Place Eventbrite by 10:00PM (AEDT) Friday 21 October, 2022.

  • Participants under the age of 18 years are required to have a permission slip signed by a parent or guardian and returned to the the Organisers between 5:30PM and 6PM on Friday 21 October, 2022 (AEDT) via email at i2n@newcastle.edu.au.

Participation

  • Participants agree to take part in the Hackathon in an open and respectful manner and agree to comply with the Organiser’s Code of Conduct.

  • Teams must consist of a minimum of three members to a maximum of five members. Exceptions can be made on a case by case basis as decided by the Organisers.

  • It is recommended that each Team have at least one coder and one designer. A Team can submit only one entry for the Hackathon. Participation at the Hackathon is subjected on a “per-team” basis meaning you are not allowed to be on more than one team at the event.

  • Changes to Team members are not permitted after 10:00PM (AEDT), Friday 21 October, 2022. Exceptions can be made on a case by case basis as decided by the Organisers.

Project Development and IP

  • No development may start before 7am (AEDT) Saturday 22 October, 2022. Any Team that violates this rule will be automatically disqualified. However, participants are encouraged to brainstorm ideas and create wireframes/mock-ups beforehand.

  • Any software development tools, game engine, IDE, and programming language can be used for the event. If a team member uses a purchased tool licensed to him or her and the license is not transferable to other members the team should choose one available to all developers in the team.

  • To ensure a level field for all contestants, all code must be created only at the hackathon. You are permitted to use publicly developed API’s for your project.

  • You will only be able to use a pre-public release product for use in developing your creation if you bring at least one extra version that can be used by other teams in the Hackathon and provide any user support needed to teams using a device.

  • Project design/assets can be created prior to the start date of the hackathon. All assets should conform to the Creative Commons License agreement standard, or is freely available and you have permission or license to use it. Proof of permission must be given upon request.

  • Assets, SDKs, APIs or other tools or components available under a trial licence may be used.

  • Any intellectual property ("IP") developed during and within the scope of the Hackathon must be open source and licensed under one of the licenses referenced here.

  • Any IP developed will be jointly owned by the members of the team. However, if I am an employee of the University of Newcastle (UON), I agree and acknowledge that my share of any IP will be owned by UON in accordance with UON’s IP Policy as may be amended from time to time. Policy found here.

  • Teams are free to use and commercialise the IP generated from the Hackathon as agreed by the Team (subject to UON’s ownership rights as stated above) provided any use of the IP must acknowledge the IP was developed during the Hackathon (unless it is unreasonable to do so).

  • Teams may request the assistance of UON to commercialise the IP noting that UON is entitled to recover the costs of any assistance.

Code and Data

  • You will find the list of suggested data available for the New Futures Hackathon on the main New Futures Hackathon website.

  • You are not required to use datasets.

  • Some data sets listed on data portals may have additional resources available with further information on how to use the data or other supporting material. You are encouraged to download and use these resources.

  • If you have questions about a data set let the Organisers know and we will try to find a data mentor for you or post the question on NewFuturesHack Slack Team.

  • You agree to only include code, data, or other materials in a submission for the Hackathon that you have the right to use and release consist with these rules. All code and data must be available under an appropriately open license that allows reuse, commercial use, remixing and redistribution.

  • As the owner of the code you can fork that code and commercialise if you want, but to be eligible for the competition, the codebase and demonstration submitted must be open sourced.

  • All other content submitted must be Creative Commons BY licensed. For instance, you may choose to submit an incredible dynamic or static data visualisation as your team contribution.

  • Use of third party tools and APIs under open use license is allowed. If you use such a tool or API in your entry you must note and take responsibility for adhering to the third-party terms of service.

  • The reason for the open licensing of code and content is because the Hackathon is about awesome outcomes that anyone can use and build on. Great innovation comes from building on the greatness of those who came before.

Project Submission

  • All teams should have a team name and be registered with Devpost by 10:00 PM (AEDT), Friday 21 October 2022. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis as decided by the Organisers.

  • The Devpost team page listing should include the following by 4:00 PM (AEDT) Saturday 22 October 2022:

    • Team member’s full names

    • Team captain name and mobile phone number

    • Name of the project with a one-sentence description

    • A longer description of what your project is about, include these headings:

      • Backstory

      • Design goals

      • What we've done

      • Challenges and wins

      • What's next

    • An image that best captures your concept i.e. a logo or image

    • Development tools used to build the project

    • SDKs used in the project

    • APIs used in the project

    • Any datasets used with links and a description of how the data has been reused

    • Any assets used in the project

    • Any libraries used in the project

    • Any components not created at the hackathon

    • For applications, you must create a link to a video of a screen capture of the application on YouTube

    • For artistic works you must create a photo library or document (available via Google Drive) that contains evidence of the stages of your project.

    • Teams must include code/source on GitHub and make the URL available

    • Teams must include a downloadable link to their PowerPoint pitch deck (available via Google Drive, email or Slack DM)

  • All technical projects should be submitted to the hackathon GitHub account by 4:00PM (AEDT) Saturday 22 October 2022. Failure to submit will result in disqualification.

  • All projects submitted will be subject to a code-review where relevant. When the Hackathon ends at least one member from each team will meet with the code review team for a brief review of their submission and to confirm that the team’s Devpost page has been correctly updated. Applications will be spot-checked by code reviewers. All the projects selected by the Judging Panel as finalists will be code reviewed to confirm that the code is original work created at the Hackathon.

  • Submissions and comments will be posted live, but occasionally they may not make it through our anti-trolling and anti-spamming filters and may need to be moderated manually. We reserve the right to remove or not post any submission that reasonably appears to breach any of these rules.

Judging

  • All Hackathon entries will be judged by the Hackathon Judging Panel against the following criteria:

    • Innovation: How innovative is your solution? Is it an improvement to existing systems or a breakthrough new product/service?

    • Solution fit: Is there a real problem? Is your solution really going to solve it?

    • Feasibility: How likely is the project to work and be accepted by the market / community?

    • Prototype: What progress have the team achieved during the hack and how functional is the project?

    • Pitch: How well you can your team communicate the value of your solution?

  • Each team will have a maximum of 5 minutes to pitch their solution to the Judging Panel, with another 5 minutes allocated for question time from the Judging Panel.

  • The Hackathon Judging Panel will choose all winners. The Hackathon Judging Panel will consist of a mix of Organiser representatives and industry supporters.

  • All submission elements detailed in ‘Project Submissions’ section of this document must be completed by the required time. No requests for extensions will be considered.

  • Final arbiter is the Hackathon Judging Panel whose decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. This is a competition of skill. Chance plays no part in this competition.

  • Each winning team must nominate a team captain in the Devpost team page. This person will be required to liaise with and provide their details to the Organisers following award announcements. They will coordinate the distribution of awards including prize money that must be evenly split between all team members.

Attendee Code of Conduct

  • All participants of the Hackathon (Organisers, Judges, Mentors, Competitors) and their associated Guests (Family & Friends), and any Service Providers or Visitors (Supporter Representatives, Media, Emergency Services, Providers, IT support, Entertainers, etc) are expected to uphold the national & state laws of the event they are attending or registered to compete from, and this code of conduct, and any of the sub-codes of conduct listed below.

  • The Hackathon is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, previous hackathon attendance or computing experience (or lack of any of the aforementioned). We do not tolerate harassment of Hackathon participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate for any Hackathon venue, including hacks, talks, workshops, parties, social media and other online media. Hackathon participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the Hackathon at the discretion of the Organisers.

  • Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, photography or audio/video recording against reasonable consent, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Photography is encouraged, but other participants must be given a reasonable chance to opt out from being photographed. If they object to the taking of their photograph, comply with their request. It is inappropriate to take photographs in contexts where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy (in bathrooms or where participants are sleeping).

  • Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately. As this is a Hackathon, we like to explicitly note that the hacks created at the Hackathon are equally subject to the anti-harassment policy. Sponsors and partners are also subject to the antiharassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Sponsor representatives (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/ uniforms/costumes or otherwise, create a sexualized environment. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the Organisers immediately. Organisers will be happy to help participants contact any local security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the Hackathon. We value your attendance. If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, the Organisers may take any action they deem appropriate. This includes warning the offender, expulsion from the Hackathon with no refund (if applicable) or reporting their behaviour to local law enforcement.

  • This Hackathon has been designed to demonstrate the benefit of open access. Please participate in and engage with the Hackathon in that spirit and in good faith. You must not include submissions that are:

    • potentially libellous, false, defamatory, privacy invasive or overtly political;

    • material which is potentially confidential, commercially sensitive, or which would cause personal distress or loss;

    • any commercial endorsement, promotion of any product, service, organisation or publication;

    • language which is offensive, obscene or otherwise inappropriate; or

    • misleading, deceptive, violate a third party’s rights or are otherwise contrary to law.

  • Participants are expected to follow these rules during the Hackathon and workshop venues and Hackathon related social events.

  • The Hackathon should be an awesome experience for everyone. Be nice, play fair, or go home.