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Shop now open! Share your love of music and support Playlist for Life. Visit now.

Playlist for Life takes part in 24 hour ‘hackathon’

We want everyone with dementia to have access to a personal playlist and students from across the UK have come up with ways to make creating and accessing a playlist even easier.

Playlist for Life had the fantastic opportunity to take part in a ‘hackathon’ supported by JPMorgan Chase’s Code for Good, where six teams of very talented students worked on tech projects for our cause.

What is a hackathon?

A hackathon is a gathering where technologists collaborate in teams to rapidly conceive, create and prototype tech solutions. The Code for Good ‘hackathon’ is an initiative that brings together students to help charitable organisations achieve their vision through tech-based solutions. Since 2012 this programme has supported over 300 ‘social good projects’ in 16 cities around the world.

Playlist for Life with one of the participating teams at the 'hackathon'

Playlist for Life set a musically themed tech challenge to make it as easy as possible for everyone to create personalised playlists, adapt them over time and use them therapeutically at different time. Participants worked through the night to generate ideas at how technology might help us achieve this. They worked on prototypes for web applications, algorithms and tools for creating, adapting and listening to personal playlists to support people living with dementia, their families and carers.

Frances Wallace, Associate Project Manager with JPMorganChase, said:

It was amazing to see everyone come together – from dedicated students and volunteers to the incredible non-profits we collaborated with. We were really impressed with the participants and their enthusiasm for our goals, creativity and hard work.” 

 

Frances Wallace, Associate Project Manager with JPMorganChase, speaking at the 'hackathon'

Douglas McIntyre, Trustee at Playlist for Life, who attended the event said: 

“What a weekend we spent courtesy of JP Morgan’s Hackathon!  It was such a privilege to have been chosen to present our Tech challenge to such a select group of talented young people, and to have them bring their considerable collective brain power to bear, focussed as one, to help our charity.”

 

 

Douglas McIntyre, Playlist for Life Trustee

 

Learn more about some of the participants and their insights from the hackathon in the Linkedin posts below.