Teams build charity websites against clock

TECHNOLOGICAL TREND expert and keen observer of the online human condition Clay Shirky has talked a lot recently about the concept of “cognitive surplus” – or how creativity and generosity are emerging in the internet age. A unique event that epitomised the concept took place in Dublin last weekend.

Called “24theweb”, it was a 24-hour, non-stop coding, designing and content creation marathon that saw 21 internet professionals get together and donate their time to create fully functional websites for three Irish charities.

Beginning at noon on Saturday, the volunteers were organised into teams and briefed on the charities involved: Hand in Hand, Musical Youth Foundation and the Myasthenia Gravis Association.

The goal was to begin with a design brief and end up with a fully working website live on the internet by noon on Sunday with some quick breaks for food in between.

The idea for 24theweb, says organiser and designer Stewart Curry, came from a similar project that took place in New Zealand, called Full Code Press, where teams from different countries competed against each other.

For the Irish event, all three teams were gathered in one room at Rothco’s offices in Dublin city centre. Curry remarked that it wasn’t difficult to get people involved. A blog post and word of mouth on Twitter saw the applications flying in and, on the day (and night), social media played an equally important part in raising awareness for the charities involved.

The marathon rapidly became one of the trending (most popular) topics among Irish Twitter users.

With a bit of friendly competition, the teams were told that the judges would arrive at midday and award top prize to the best finished product.

The team working with children’s cancer charity Hand in Hand won the prize.

Curry reckons the man hours contributed worked out at “about 168 hours” and estimates that each team contributed about €10,000 worth of web design work during their 24 hours.

“I think it’s great and it makes me feel very positive about the web design community to know people were willing to help out,” he said.

“It’s a great time to be working in this industry, especially with events like the Irish Web Awards, Design Week, Build, Refresh Dublin and Belfast bringing people together,” he added.

Curry says he is planning on running the event again but on a bigger scale: “so we can help more charities and get more people involved”.