In 2007, a small group of people began an intentional, collaborative experiment in open, transparent, and direct communication about your space program. Our goal was to enable your direct participation in exploring and contributing to NASA’s mission.

Many of us have since begun new adventures. This site will remain as an archive of the accomplishments of the openNASA experiment.

Ali Llewellyn

Volunteers and Experts around the World Collaborate To Solve Global Challenges Through Random Hacks of Kindness

December, 2011 - - On December 3rd and 4th, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, NASA, HP and the World Bank, through their initiative Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), will bring together thousands of people in over 25 locations around the globe to “hack for humanity.” Random Hacks of Kindness is a community of innovation that brings together subject matter experts with volunteer technologists to develop open technology solutions to the global challenges.

During past RHoK events around the world, volunteers have worked on applications that are already making an impact. Bushfire Connect, a crowd-sourced mapping tool to report bushfires, is being used by local communities across Australia. The Philadelphia Food Trust is promoting PhillySNAP, a mobile application connecting recipients of food stamps to sources of fresh produce. The World Bank is piloting CHASM, software for visualizing landslide risk, in the Caribbean. The Government of Colombia has adopted ATAOLI, a shelter management system built at RHoK Bogota, to manage millions of people displaced annually by winter storms. Other apps have received support and interest from governments, NGOs and international organizations around the world.

For more details, see the Random Hacks of Kindness website at www.rhok.org.

Go here to read more about government involvement in hackathons and NASA’s previous experiences with RHoK.