AMNH To Host Third Annual HACK THE SACKS

This weekend, the Museum holds its third annual hackathon event, "Hack the Stacks." Surrounded by the volumes that make up one of the largest natural history libraries in the world, more than 150 programmers, developers, data scientists and others with a passion for computer science will have 24 hours (November 19-20) to develop solutions for 21st-century library challenges. Among the projects, the "hackers" will be developing modules to virtually re-create the Museum at various points in history and digitally reassemble fragments from Charles Darwin's scientific notebooks.

The self-formed teams will demo their projects-each one a new tool for mining, visualizing, and increasing access to the Library's extensive collections-on Sunday, November 20, beginning at 2 pm. Public talks on the history of the Museum's hackathon-including demonstrations of advanced projects that were first conceived at previous challenges-will also take place on Sunday afternoon in the Wallach Orientation Center, where the hackers will have worked overnight.

"Hack the Stacks" is part of BridgeUp: STEM, an initiative educating youth and the public about cutting-edge computing in scientific research and science communication. BridgeUp: STEM is generously supported by a grant from the Helen Gurley Brown Trust.