This year's theme is "Monitoring Our Rivers."  For Lowell-area folks, that typically means the Merrimack and Concord rivers, which merge right in downtown Lowell.  However, this hackathon is meant to challenge and inspire people to devise ways to monitor and track information about any river, anywhere.

What kind of monitoring?  That is up to you.  It could be a distributed network of sensors that tracks water level, turbidity, contamination, Ph level, or other water quality and conditional metrics you believe important to track and share knowledge of.  It could be software that aggregates data from numerous sources to derive new insights and information.  Your imagination and creativity are the only limits.

It is a little-known fact that most rivers are actively monitored - but few members of the public see the raw data.  The effects of construction, damming and other activities on rivers, their ecosystems, and those who live around the rivers often go unnoticed until a tragic event occurs.

Today's modern computers and electronics, combined with the Internet and crowd-sourced data gathering and sharing could enable never before imagined capabilities to understand the health of our rivers and waterways, allowing for proactive water management and protection.

The hackathon is open to all members of the public.  Minors may participate with parental or guardian supervision.  All participants or their parent/guardian will be required to sign our standard liability waiver and agree to our rules of conduct.

Participants will have from 12:00 PM on Saturday, November 1st until 12:00 PM on Sunday, November 2nd.  Participant are not required to stay for the entire period, but all assembly, code writing, testing, etc. must be done on premises during the hackathon.

Judges from a wide variety of professional and civic backgrounds will award cash and other prizes.  Winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 5th at the Lowell Makes weekly open house.

If you have questions, please email info@lowellmakes.com.  To participate, register here on ChallengePost and then arrive at Lowell Makes by 11:45 AM on Saturday, November 1st.

What will YOU make?

To enter, simply arrive shortly before 12:00 PM on Saturday, November 1st.  Once you are registered, you will be assigned a work area and then have until 12:00 PM on Sunday, November 2nd to complete your submission - all work must be done at Lowell Makes.

• Affordability
  The participant's submission can be produced cost effectively such that it could be reproduced in different socioeconomic environments, funded either by government and/or privately.
• Safety
  How safe is the idea to create and implement? Are there risks or concerns which might cause administrative and/or legal resistance to deploying it?
• Novelty/Creativity
  How novel and/or creative is the idea? Does it help bring new data and insights to both government and the public? Does the idea make something possible by civilians that government cannot do or are unwilling to do for legal or publicity reasons?
• Ease of Use
  How easy is the idea for someone other than its creator to setup and use? Is it meant for experts or amateurs? Do you need to be a "rocket scientist" to make it work? How will this help those that monitor rivers do it better?
• Path to Commercialization
  Many ideas are left on the scrap heap because of failure to visualize a way to profitability. If there is something that needs to be made, will it make business sense for someone to make it? Note: Not applicable to all ideas.