Summer of Hacks is an annual series of friendly, practical, & free events in Oxford organised by the local tech community.

Our 2019 events:

Nodeschool

13th Jul

NodeSchool is a collection of workshops that help you learn JavaScript by writing code and solving challenges. The event is for everyone, whether you've never written a line of JavaScript before or you're a pro; NodeSchool has challenges and activities for all different levels.

All ages are welcome: it'd be awesome to have some younger hackers—say, aged 6+—bringing their smarts and enthusiasm.

Bring your laptop (and a charger), there'll be mentors and chances to pair with other attendees. You’ll need Node.js on your computer to get started, and if you have a chance to install it before the event you'll be able to get started straight away.

Here are the slides for the event.

Sign up for Nodeschool

Hardware

17th Aug

This is a day of hacking on hardware. It's for anyone who is interested in learning about hardware. There are no minimum entry requirements other than an inquisitive mind.

If you've never touched a breadboard before, that's fine: we’re bringing some starter packs, complete with wires and components and all the fun gizmos and doodads. We'll also have plenty of helpful people to guide you. If you're a bit more experienced that's great too, as you'll get to play with some new kit or hack on a project with like-minded people.

All ages are welcome: it'd be awesome to have some younger hackers—say, aged 6+—bringing their smarts and enthusiasm.

You'll probably want to bring a laptop and its charger. You're also welcome to bring any other tools and components you have. We recommend marking them up somehow—using washi tape, stickers, etc.—so it's easy to check you're taking the right things home.

Here are the slides for the event.

Sign up for Hardware

Language Hackday

14th Sep

The Language Hackday is a day-long event primarily geared towards making machines do things with human language, either in text or audio form. It is for anyone interested in using computers to analyse, create, transform, or otherwise play with any of the 6,000 human languages (though the major world languages will be easier to find data on).

This event is for anyone who wants to play around with language and programming. An understanding of JavaScript or Python will help you make the most of the day, but there will be many knowledgeable people to help you out if you get stuck, so don't worry about pressure to perform. Whatever your experience, you'll have the opportunity to think about language processing in new ways and work with new people.

All ages are welcome: it'd be awesome to have some younger hackers—say, aged 6+—bringing their smarts and enthusiasm.

Some things that you might find people working on include figuring out if a twitter bot is happy or sad, creating rap poetry as a mashup of Shakespeare and Eminem, or even creating web-based materials to help others learn languages.

All you need is your lovely self and a laptop (with its charger).

Here are the slides for the event.

Sign up for Language Hackday

Indie Web Camp

28th Sep

Indie Web Camp is a one-day gathering of web creators building & sharing their own websites to advance the independent web and empower ourselves and others to take control of our identities and data.

It is open to all skill levels, from people who want to get started with a web site, through to experienced developers wanting to tackle a specific personal project.

Indie Web Camp is for independent web creators of all kinds, and all levels, from graphic artists, to designers, UX engineers, coders; to share ideas, actively work on creating for their own personal websites, and build upon each others creations.

Sign up for Indie Web Camp

Sponsors

We’re grateful to our sponsors for helping make these events awesome. Haybrook IT Logo

How to get involved

→ Attend an event

The best way to get involved is to come along to one of our events.

→ Sponsor Us

To keep our events free we depend on sponsors to fund food, drink and venue hire. If you are able to help out we'd really love to hear from you: Tweet or email us.

→ Slack

We discuss Summer of Hacks on the Digital Oxford Slack. Come and say hi on the #soh channel.

→ Twitter

Some short and sweet tweets will be served from our Twitter account. Let us know anything that's on your mind.

Code of Conduct

All of our events follow a code of conduct and are dedicated to providing a harassment-free event experience for everyone, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion (or lack thereof). We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any event venue. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event at the discretion of the event organisers.

tl;dr: Be excellent with each other

Need Help?

The Summer of Hacks organisers are there to help you have a good time. If you have any questions, concerns or need help, please reach out to us:

The Less Quick Version

Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately.

Sponsors and speakers are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualised images, activities, or other material. Sponsors, speakers and event staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualised clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualised environment.

If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, the event organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the event with no refund (if applicable).

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of event staff immediately.

Event staff will be happy to help participants contact venue security or the police, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the event. We value your attendance.

We expect participants to follow these rules at event venues and related social events.

It's our absolute priority that attendees are safe and feel respected. If you have any issues, concerns, or questions then contact us: organisers will share contact details at each event so that all attendees will have a number of ways to raise issues or concerns both on the day or after the event.