Roughly one month ago, the Technology Association of Georgia (in partnership with Mobility Live!) kicked off its first annual Hack-Back Invitational. Twenty teams representing over a dozen different Atlanta-based agencies — including us! — took up the challenge of creating everything from responsive websites to augmented reality installations for three amazing local nonprofit organizations.
Having volunteered at many Points of Light-organized events in the past, we decided to take on their latest challenge of creating a mobile-friendly version of their All for Good website, which helps people find and share ways to do good around the nation. And what a challenge it was… The AFG website was originally developed several years ago by Google and had since been moved to Drupal. There was also an API to consider, so any solution we came up with had to fit within the current framework.
To keep the challenge interesting, we brought in our friends at The Benson Company to help create a teaser video showcasing some of these development challenges faced throughout the process.
(Note: Our inspiration for this may or may not have come from a certain scene in The Social Network movie…)
With only a few weeks to knock out a noteworthy new website, we were able to deliver an entry that caught the attention of the POL panel and landed us 3rd place in the competition! We are proud to say that our work is now on track to being implemented and used by hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the nation.
It’s been a rewarding experience for all involved, and we’re already looking forward to round two at next year’s event.
