Random Hacks of Kindness: hackathon led by Michael Brennan, sponsored by Drexel University and Technically Philly

Updated: Friday June 3 reception will now take place at Indy Hall.
Michael Brennan owns a big, old West Philadelphia rowhome. He runs a tiny DIY record label.

He also wants to solve global problems with data and technology in small ways. So, when he heard about plans for the third national Random Hacks of Kindness, a weekend hackathon of coders and developers developing practical open source solutions to disaster risk management and climate change adaptation challenges, he thought Philadelphia needed to take part.
REGISTER HERE
“There needs to be a stronger connection between the technology community and the broader problems happening in the world,” said Brennan, 28, a PhD candidate in the Computer Science Department at Drexel University and a technologist for the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection at the Federal Trade Commission. “I don’t think there’s been enough focus on bringing computer scientists and coders into the room for big problems, here or anywhere.”
So Brennan has taken the lead with Random Hacks of Kindness Philadelphia, co-sponsored by Drexel University and Technically Philly, to be held the weekend of June 4 and 5 and kicked off with a Friday, June 3 reception presented by Technically Philly and coworking space Indy Hall.
The reception will be an opportunity for those without the specific technical know-how to use data in interesting ways to be able to come with ideas about what projects could be broadly useful.
Brennan, a native of Long Island and University of Delaware alumnus, is passionate about being a part of the growing development scene here. “Philadelphia is my chosen home,” he says.
“There’s a large tech and a large nonprofit and academic community here and the strong links are coming together,” Brennan said. “I think this can be part of the common ground.”