About 100 hackers from across the country are taking part in a ‘hackathon’ from early Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon. Rest assured, they are not planning something sinister like, say, breaking into top secret government documents and the like; instead they are developing new applications that could be used in an SMS platform.
“This is literally the first of its kind in India as we have about 100 developers working continuously to create various applications in the SMS platform for the masses. The internet still has not penetrated in the country and only 10% of the population is using it. There is more scope in the mobile platform,” said Deepak Ravindran, co-founder Innoz Technologies, which is organising the two-day event.
In fact, the use mobile phones for functions, usually done using internet, is a boon for people in rural areas, according to Ravindran. “You don’t even need to have a smart phone for several applications. You can use SMS as a search engine. You can get lyrics for songs. There are girls in rural areas who use the application to learn more about sex education. Mobile is more personal, they can use it without the fear of being found out,” he added.
Ravindran said the hackathon is a way of attracting young developers and entrepreneurs to move off the usual paths.
“People hear hackers and there is negativity attached to it. But these are people who are coding and it can be used for the development of the society. In the Silicon Valley, you will see many students coming fresh out of college and coming out with their own start-ups. That is simply not the case in India, where the goal is to get a job in an MNC. We are trying to get people to explore their own talents,” he added.
The hackathon also features talks and lectures by people from the industry. From the 100 participants, the best applications will be chosen for presentations at the end of the event and the best participant stands to win `1 lakh as prize money.
