#WirVsVirus - under this motto, around 28,000 volunteers got involved online from 20 to 22 March to combat the coronavirus and its consequences. A team of students from Oldenburg also took part in the hackathon.
"It's important to us that Oldenburg remains just as lively and diverse after the crisis as it was before," says Katrin Strassen. Together with eleven fellow campaigners, the Master's student took part in the federal government's #WirVsVirus hackathon on the weekend before last in March. The ideas competition lasted 48 hours and mobilised a good 28,000 volunteers in total. The aim of the undertaking was to find innovative solutions to the numerous new challenges posed by the current crisis - such as organising digital lessons, finding harvest workers and reconstructing coronavirus infection chains. Or supporting local businesses.
The Oldenburg student team's plan: anyone who wants to help one of Oldenburg's currently closed pubs, bars or even a restaurant, theatre, cinema, museum or small business can click on a button on a website and buy a virtual drink, meal or ticket - either as a donation or as a voucher that can be redeemed once the crisis is over. Depending on the location, the selection ranges from cappuccino or beer to cinema or massage vouchers. You are then redirected to the online payment service PayPal and the amount goes directly to the selected company.
Flexible organisation
The two Oldenburg physics students Robert Kummer and Linus Kemme came up with the idea of taking part in the hackathon. They mobilised a total of twelve students in their circle of friends, who came together via Skype on the evening of 20 March. Ten of them are studying at the University of Oldenburg, including Physics, Engineering Physics, Sustainability Economics and Computing Science, most of them in the Master's programme. "Even though we didn't all know each other personally beforehand, we grew together well as a group over the weekend," reports Strassen, who is studying neuropsychology.
The team initially agreed on a task. The students modelled themselves on the "Kiezretter" project, which supports cultural institutions and catering businesses throughout Germany via a website. "There was nothing like this specifically for Oldenburg yet, so we wanted to implement the idea at a local level," says Strassen. The tasks were quickly assigned: One part of the group took care of setting up the website, others made a two-minute video that had to be uploaded by Sunday evening as part of the hackathon results. Other small groups drafted texts and sample emails, took photos, developed a logo - and the project title "Tailwind for Oldenburg".
Contact with the organisers and other groups was made via a platform called Slack. There, the Rückenwind team was able to exchange ideas with mentors from the hackathon organisation team, for example. "We had questions about data protection and were quickly able to find someone there who helped us," reports Strassen. The participants received information about the hackathon process or where to upload which results via video streams and live chats.
Donors wanted
The Oldenburg team made the most of the time and by the end of the deadline on Sunday, 6 p.m., had produced a finished website and a video that briefly introduces the project. The website now supports a good handful of locations. Donations have also already been received. "Now it's about making even more operators and people willing to donate aware of our website," says Strassen.
She is still enthusiastic about the experience of being part of the mass digital event: "It was a lot of fun. And it's a great feeling to be able to contribute something useful in the current situation," says the student. She is impressed by how motivated and creative the participants were and how many ideas were discussed and implemented over the weekend: In the end, there were almost 1,500 projects, including digital marketplaces, platforms where medical students can find a place to volunteer or construction instructions for protective masks using a 3D printer. A jury honoured 20 projects in particular, some of which will now receive financial support from the Federal Chancellery for their implementation.
Positive re-registering students
The Rückenwind team is also continuing, even without financial support. The project is not dependent on this, as operating the platform does not incur any additional costs, says Strassen. The team is motivated by positive re-registering students, among other things. "The first club to register has already received several donations. The staff were very pleased and thanked us very much," says the student.
Anyone who would like to help their favourite pub, the café around the corner or another Oldenburg institution can find information at https://rueckenwind-ol.de/. Interested localities can register there using a form and will then be added to the website.
