By Ashley Marcus
The Emory University Goizueta Business School partnered with the Coca-Cola Company to host last weekend's Coca-Cola Hackathon, which featured winning ideas geared towards changing the way that users interact with their music. One hundred and fifty students and professionals of various technical skill levels and areas of interest gathered from multiple universities from across the country to engage in and collaborate on computer programming tasks.
The winning team walked away with the opportunity to present his or her "hack," or collaborative software projects, to Coca-Cola and their partners, and up to $15,000 in prizes. Hackers were able to enter as individuals or on teams, and each participant or team was required to showcase at least two partner application programming interfaces (API). With just six weeks to plan and execute the three-day event, the organizers successfully put together a program consisting of keynote speeches, API talks with Spotify, Music Dealers and Misfit, presentations and API demos.
Participants responded to the event with enthusiasm, saying that it benefitted the entire Emory community. Hackathon participant and College sophomore Benjamin Bolte commented, "The culture [at Emory] is very much focused on pre-professionalism ... but there's a lot of stuff that Emory students can do here that doesn't get represented. [Events] like this really help to create that culture."
It's no secret that when someone thinks of computer science, Georgia Tech pops into the mind before Emory University. Even on Emory's campus, the computer science program is overshadowed by Emory's well-known pre-med and business programs. The Hackathon gives students an opportunity to highlight computer science skills and entrepreneurship.
Many participants see this event not only as a chance to win prize money and to network with prolific computer software companies, but also as a chance to learn from and connect with other students who share interests and skills.
"My favorite part of hackathons, from the perspective of an organizer, is getting to meet awesome people who are willing to give up a weekend to see what amazing things two days, their creativity, passion and a severe lack of sleep can produce," the event's equally sleep-deprived organizer Toby Gosselin said.
Companies used the Hackathon as an opportunity to "put companies like Spotify in touch with the next generation of developers," Director of Developer Platforms at Spotify Paul Lamere said. From looking to adopt students' ideas to awarding students the funds to develop their own programs, participating companies certainly benefited from the Coca-Cola Hackathon.
In listening to each developer's presentations, companies gain a better understanding of what this generation is currently looking for in new applications and gadgets. Most of the participants presented hacks revolving around music, fitness and sustainability.
At the end of the weekend, the participants presented their innovative ideas to the judges. Judges evaluated the 20 hacks on the following criteria: innovation, problem solving, scalability and other merit.
Justin Kim, Jennifer Ren, Summer Wu and Joan Shang, the winning team, created a platform that they call "Heartbeat," which gives customers the ability to customize a playlist to match the tempo of their workout and boost physical potential. They were awarded $10,000 worth of prizes, including PS4s, Parrot AR Drones and $7,000 in Amazon credit.
A group of local professionals took second place with their platform, "Tru Chainz," which streams the lyrics and gives music analysis of the current song. The judges awarded the group with GoPro Hero 4S, Sol Republic Gear and $2,500 in Amazon credit.
Emory alum Hyo Yul Byun ('15C) won third prize for his creation of music services that allow the users to switch tracks based on time series data from any source such as weather and sine wave.
One particular team of Emory hackers, including Fei Gao, Ben Chang, Lara Lu and Tony Wang, gained particular recognition from Spotify with its creation of a program that targets "hipsters."
The program compares playlists and connects the social group with little known songs that it predicts that they would enjoy. Spotify awarded the team a Spotify Premium Package, a speak system, and membership to the Atlanta Tech Village, an entrepreneurial technology community located in Buckhead.
When asked to reflect on his experience working with Coca-Cola, Gosselin commented, "It is very rewarding to see something you've put so much time and effort in actually happen and succeed." Despite the short amount of time that the organizers and participants had to plan, they did succeed and far surpass their own expectations – coming away from this weekend with fresh ideas and intensified passion.
– By Ashley Marcus, Contributing Writer
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