FHSST relies on volunteer contributions to constantly evolve, stay current and up to date. In the past we have run Hackathons at the University of Cape Town (UCT) campus, tapping into the science students that study there and that want to be involved. It therefore made perfect sense that we have a stand at UCT’s O-Week, from Monday 7 – Wednesday 9 February. It was the perfect opportunity to speak to more potential volunteers, and get the FHSST and Siyavula brands out there.

We started bright and early on Monday morning and set up our gazebo, which we proudly decorated with Siyavula and Shuttleworth Foundation banners, posters and photos from the Hackathons we ran last year. It wasn’t long before Jammie Plaza was buzzing with students, music and much activity. The Siyavula team and our volunteers were kitted out in our smart Siyavula golf shirts, and with fliers in hand we chatted to students as they browsed the stands.

Most people that we approached thought FHSST was a great project and were keen give us their contact details. Some wanted time to think about it and promised to return, but for most, sign ups were done on the spot. What makes us different to other clubs and societies run on UCT campus, is that we have no joining fee (that was one of the first questions some people asked), and that all we ask is that if a person has some time, that they join us when they can for our Hackathons, as every contribution we get goes towards improving FHSST.

We were given a time slot to speak about our project on the Jammie stage, and our volunteer Richard offered to speak about FHSST and his involvement in the project. We proudly stood by and watched him on stage, and cheered as his 5 minutes came to an end.

Siyavula was on UCT campus for all three days, and overall we got the contact details of 126 potential volunteers. As we are streamlining the Hackathon process as much as possible, we needed to collect information from our potential volunteers. For example, do they own laptops (we want to minimise the use of paper each week and rather get the work straight into the online books and our websites – we need students with laptops to make this happen); do they own cars (is it viable to move Hackathons to a venue off campus – how many people will transport be an issue for?), as well as find out what they are studying and their year, as this will affect how we allocate FHSST assignments. Below are the pie-charts reflecting our findings:

Pie chart to show volunteers with / without laptops:

Pie chart to show volunteers with / without transport:

Column chart to show year of volunteers at UCT:

The potential volunteers are doing degrees in mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering, computer science, maths, finance, architecture, music, information systems, actuarial science, accounting, stats, psychology and law. We are very excited to have such a range of interested students, and will definitely be able to utilise their skills and knowledge.

Our first Hackathon will be taking place on Tuesday 22 February (the venue on campus is still TBC), and it will be an introductory evening where we will explain what FHSST and Siyavula are all about, as well as how such a diverse range of volunteers will be able to contribute to our project.

Thank you to our dedicated volunteers Kosma, Pierre, Umeshree, Richard and Terence for being great FHSST ambassadors at our stand. We look forward to an exciting year of progress for FHSST!

read original post on bridget's Site