Arlington, VA – March 28-29, 2020
Combat Human Trafficking
** IMPORTANT UPDATE: Due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, George Mason University has closed its buildings to large gatherings out of an abundance of caution. This means that this Hackathon will be 100% ONLINE. Registrants will receive information about how to participate remotely through WebEx and Slack upon registering. There is still time to register so don’t miss out! **
This event will be ONLINE ONLY. GMU CAMPUS CLOSED. SEE DETAILS FOR MORE.
Blue Compass is honored to partner again with George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government -Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) on a second hackathon to combat human trafficking as a part of our #ExpeditionHacks series. Bring your collaborative energy and new ideas on March 28-29, 2020 to see what your team can hack together!
Why should we be inspired to do something? Human trafficking is a global enterprise, second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable criminal business. It disproportionately affects women and minors, exploiting lives through deception, coercion and fear. Experts report the proliferation of child sexual exploitation material– with a record 45 million images flagged last year alone- in online environments that grow increasingly difficult to police. At the same time forced labor, including sex trafficking, continues to affect an estimated 29.9 million individuals worldwide. This includes the United States. Trafficking hides in plain sight in communities across the United States; in homes, factories, farms and businesses. In many ways, technology has made it easier for perpetrators to operate. We want to ensure that the power of technology is leveraged to combat these atrocious crimes.
Create a solution to help combat child trafficking or assist its victims, using artificial intelligence/machine learning, augmented reality, or anything else! Some ideas to consider:
- How can law enforcement quickly analyze large datasets, including streaming video, to find clues to identify victims and perpetrators of human trafficking?
- How can technology help child survivors rebuild their digital identity?
- How can large companies self-govern themselves to remove labor trafficking in their supply chains?
- How can consumers participate in combating human trafficking through the choices they make?
- How can law enforcement or NGOs crowdsource to effectively perform their services in combating human trafficking?
- What can we learn from visualizing trending data that could combat or prevent human trafficking?
- Any other idea you might have to contribute to the eradication of this terrible crime and the suffering of its victims!
Please note this event will be held 100% ONLINE. The event was previously scheduled to be held at the GMU – Arlington Campus at Van Metre’s (formerly Founder’s) Hall near the Virginia Square Metro Stop on the Orange Line, but due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, George Mason University has closed its buildings.
It’s still early for us and so we’re still populating this page with sponsors and judges. In the meantime, register now to save your spot! And checkout the previous hackathon to combat human trafficking.
WINNERS
CONGRATS TO THE WINNING TEAMS OF THIS SOLD OUT EVENT!
$3,000 GRAND PRIZE WINNER
TEAM SIGNAL
Jameelah Young, Cameron Peele and Dorian Peele
$1,000 STUDENT PRIZE WINNER
IntelliSearch
JUDGES
Bill Woolf
Director of Human Trafficking Programs
US Department of Justice
Anna Fraser
Senior Public Affairs Specialist
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
US Department of State
Karen Buckley
Executive Director
Just Ask Trafficking Prevention Foundation,
National Human Trafficking Intelligence Center
Zach Beecher
COO
C5 Accelerate
Chris Conrad
Global Project Lead, Investigations Technology
International Justice Mission
Crysta Price
Founder & CEO
HTI Labs
GOLD SPONSORS
SPONSORS
PARTNERS
PRIZES
Grand Prize: $3,000 + 1 hour mentoring session with C5 Accelerate
Best Student Team: $1000
Other prizes for first timers, farthest traveled, and more!
RULES & INFORMATION
GENERAL RULES
- A max of 5 people per team will be enforced.
- All participants must be in the building for kick-off and demos.
- All code must be fresh.
- Participants must provide their own laptops, and mobile/tablet devices for use during the event.
- Seats are limited to 100 people.
- Come on your own or create a team when you get here. We also want to encourage collaboration among attendees so if you find a team or person with a valuable asset to support your idea/concept, feel free to team up when you arrive.
- External hard drives are permitted for the hacking event itself. If you want a power strip, bring it!
- As much as we appreciate people’s interest, no one will be allowed inside the event other than participants, sponsor representatives, subject matter experts and invited media. No spectators please!
JUDGING CRITERIA
Projects will be judged based on the following criteria:
- Impact: How impactful will this solution be for it’s target audience? Is it scalable?
- Creativity: How original is this solution?
- Design: How well designed is this solution, from front end through to UI/UX?
- Execution: How well executed is this solution from start to finish?
TOOLS, DATA, AND IP RIGHTS
Participants are allowed to use the open source tools in addition to other commercially known open source tools. Participants are also encouraged to use their own proprietary solutions to develop creative and efficient products. If you are representing a company, your company’s proprietary software assets are also allowed to be used with the appropriate permission within your organization. Please reference the Terms and Conditions data to confirm that all IP rights remain with the participant and/or the organization they are representing.
All participants must agree to the terms and conditions.
Checkout highlights from the previous hackathon to combat human trafficking!
SCHEDULE
**Schedule is subject to change and will not be final **
Saturday
*** THIS IS NOW AN ONLINE EVENT ***
9-10 AM – Teaming | Check in to WebEx
10-10:30 AM – Opening Ceremony and Keynote Presentation
- Dr. Louise Shelley – Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center, GMU
- Mike Barretta – Manager of Solution Architecture, Elastic
- Jim Jones – Director, Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center
- Evelyn Chumbow – Survivor Activist, U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking
10:30 – 11:30 AM – The 4 P’s of Human Trafficking – Panel Discussion
- Chrissy Duke – U.S. Director, Beauty For Ashes
- Erin Fisher – Director of Community Engagement, Just Ask Trafficking Prevention
- Jennifer Long – CEO, Aequitas
11:30 AM – Teaming | Hacking Begins
12:30 – 1:30 PM – Human Trafficking Breakout Sessions
- Federal Approach to Human Trafficking Investigations – Jason Kaplan, Special Agent, FBI Charlotte
- Illicit Massage Businesses: A Community Problem – Rachel – Director of Technology, Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Initiative
- Title TBD – Joe McGrath – Detective, Arlington Police Department
- Following the Money to Combat Human Trafficking – Theresa Forbes -Policy Advisor, Department of Treasury
- Leveraging Technology to Serve Survivors – Andrea Powell, Director of Survivor and Youth Engagement, UNITAS
- How Traffickers Use Technology – Chrissy Duke – U.S. Director, Beauty for Ashes
- Lessons Learned from DHS Research – Jennifer Foley, Acting Deputy Director, DHS Office of University Programs
1:30 – 2:30 PM – Technology Breakout Sessions
- Image Recognition with Python – Michael Chestnut – Data Science Program Alum, Georgetown University
- CANCELLED—Strategic Empathy and Human Centered Design – Greg Bernard – National Security Innovation Office, US Dept. of Defense
- The Power of Location: Using Maps for Impact – Heather Scott- GIS Engineer, Mapbox
- Search, Observe, and Protect Your Systems and Data with the Elastic Stack – Mike Barretta, Manager of Solution Architecture, Elastic
- Automated OSINT Collection and Analysis for Human Trafficking Use Cases – Michael Ramirez, Solutions Engineer – Public Sector, Recorded Future
- Accelerating Your Growth – Zach Beecher- COO + Daniel Dammann – Director, Strategic Advisory, C5 Accelerate
7 PM – Pitch Workshop
–– Hack Thru the Night ––
Sunday
1:30-2 PM – Judge’s Briefing (JUDGES ONLY)
2 PM – Code Freeze/Hacking Ends! Watch the deadline closely!
3-4:00 PM – Demos Begin!
4-4:30 PM – Judge Deliberations
Speaker: Sanjay Subramanian – Partner, PwC
4:30 PM – Winners Announced
5 PM – End of Event
Sunday Afternoon Presentations
- Each participant and/or participant team will present their product or solution to the group on Sunday afternoon.
- Presentations will be 3 minutes long with 2 minutes of questions from judges. Representatives from sponsors will be the primary audience for the presentations.
- No formal presentation is required. Demos of your product or solution will follow this general outline: introduce yourself/teammate, introduce your concept, identify what tools you used, explain (loosely) how you derived your solution and what problem you are solving.
- Presentations require direct connect from your laptop to the projection system. USB sticks are permitted for presentation purposes.
Sponsors will be marketing this event heavily. Don’t be surprised if a news crew shows up along the way.
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