Hacking for a Cause: 2012 Sanitation Hackathon in Manila Dec1-2 #sanhack #hackathon

Blog Watch is a media partner of the 2012 Sanitation Hackathon organized by the Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank . We invite you to join this cause. It is open to all individuals or groups. You can join by filling up this Registration form

What: Sanitation Hackathon
When: Dec1 and 2, 2012
Where: Globe Telepark, 111 Valero Street, Makati City (check see google map)
Twitter hashtag #SanHack
Sanitation Hackathon Portal: Tapping Innovation in Sanitation
Registration

 

You are walking inside a mall and then you feel the call of nature. What do you do? you look for signs pointing to the nearest toilet. What if you are not in the mall? What if you are in an unfamiliar place what do you do? What if you are on the road traveling ? There is an app that was developed to aid you when nature calls or when the need to urinate or defecate come upon us. It is a hand thing to have, with one check on your phone your problem is solved, crisis averted – you found a toilet.But what if there was no toilet paper or water in the toilet room?

This is just one of the problems we face when we face the business of feces. Sanitation has been a concern of ours since the beginning. The Ancient Romans had public toilets as well as public baths. Sanitation was a major health concern in London ever since it was founded. Indoor plumbing was a much heralded improvement in recent centuries.

Still the problem of Sanitation plagues us. In the Philippines we still have a issues and challenges to overcome. Adequate toilet facilities and bad habits are but two of the challenges that needs to overcome.

Still the mobile toilet app is such a handy thing. It is just one example of how we can improve our sanitation dilemma. And this brings us to the business on hand this coming Dec 1and 2 , because there will be a two day Hackathon or Sanhackathon which aims to bring developers together to solve a list of sanitation problems. What we hope will come out will be a set of tools that could be used by the public, the local and national government to solve our sanitation dilemma. There is no limit to the tools that can be produced. Perhaps only one.

It may sound ridiculous but there cannot be any tool/solution without a problem. This does not mean of course you or I have to create a problem. But we need to know what the problem is. In order for the hackathon to succeed we need your opinion and suggestions and what the problems are. The problem could be personal, local and national. If there is a problem we need to know it.

What sanitation problems are you most bothered by?