What do hackathons do? Understanding participation in hackathons through program theory analysis

TY - GEN

T1 - What do hackathons do? Understanding participation in hackathons through program theory analysis

AU - Falk, Jeanette

AU - Kannabiran, Gopinaath

AU - Hansen, Nicolai Brodersen

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 ACM.

PY - 2021/5

Y1 - 2021/5

N2 - Hackathons are increasingly embraced across diverse sectors as a way of democratizing the design of technology. Several attempts have been made to redefne the format and desired end goal of hackathons in recent years thereby warranting closer methodological scrutiny. In this paper, we apply program theory to analyze the processes and efects of 16 hackathon case studies through published research literature. Building upon existing research on hackathons, our work ofers a critical perspective examining the methodological validity of hackathons and exemplifes how specifc processes for organizing hackathons are modifed for diferent purposes. Our main contribution is a program theory analysis of hackathon formats that provides an exploration and juxtaposition of 16 case studies in terms of causal relations between the input, process and the efects of hackathons. Our cataloguing of examples can serve as an inspirational planning resource for future organizers of hackathons.

AB - Hackathons are increasingly embraced across diverse sectors as a way of democratizing the design of technology. Several attempts have been made to redefne the format and desired end goal of hackathons in recent years thereby warranting closer methodological scrutiny. In this paper, we apply program theory to analyze the processes and efects of 16 hackathon case studies through published research literature. Building upon existing research on hackathons, our work ofers a critical perspective examining the methodological validity of hackathons and exemplifes how specifc processes for organizing hackathons are modifed for diferent purposes. Our main contribution is a program theory analysis of hackathon formats that provides an exploration and juxtaposition of 16 case studies in terms of causal relations between the input, process and the efects of hackathons. Our cataloguing of examples can serve as an inspirational planning resource for future organizers of hackathons.

KW - Hackathons

KW - Participatory design

KW - Program theory

KW - Research methods

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85106679506

U2 - 10.1145/3411764.3445198

DO - 10.1145/3411764.3445198

M3 - Article in proceedings

AN - SCOPUS:85106679506

SP - 1

EP - 6

BT - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

CY - New York

T2 - 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths, CHI 2021

Y2 - 8 May 2021 through 13 May 2021

ER -