This Spring, VR Club at UCSD is partnering with the Center for Cyber-Archaeology & Sustainability at UCSD to host a VR Cyber-Archaeology hackathon. Participants will have 36 hours to create a Virtual Reality experience with applications for at-risk archaeological sites from the eastern Mediterranean region. All attendees will be provided with a wealth of archaeological data including point cloud scans, photos, and 3D models of cultural heritage sites and artifacts, as well as VR equipment for their hacks.

The team with the best overall project will receive a cash prize of $1000​. 2nd place will win $500​, and 3rd place will win $250​. In addition, winning projects will be featured on the Geisel Library CAVEkiosk.

 

We would like to thank the following for generously supporting our Cyber-Archaeology Hackathon: Norma Kershaw, Liz Anne and Anthony Potamianos, Alina Levy, the San Diego Explorers Club; and Ramesh Rao, Director, Qualcomm Institute, UC San Diego. 

 

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/vrarchaeology

Eligibility

All UCSD students can apply for this Hackathon! We especially encourage students interested in archaeology or VR technology to attend. Teams will consist of 1-2 anthropology students​, and 3-4 engineers​, ​with a maximum team size of 5 students​. Roughly 10 anthropology/archaeology students and 40 engineers will be selected from the applicant pool, for a total of 10 teams and 50 participants. Students should apply as individuals, and can form teams at the start of the event.

Requirements

Hackers will create a Virtual Reality application using archaeological data and scientific storytelling. The final submission should be a VR project for the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, and will be judged at the event.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$2,200 in prizes

First Place

$1000 cash prize for the entire team

Second Place

$500 cash prize for the entire team

Third Place

$250 cash prize for the entire team

Participation Prize (3)

$150 cash prize for all teams

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Thomas E. Levy

Thomas E. Levy
Director, Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability

Connor Smith

Connor Smith
President, VR Club at UCSD

Isabel Rivera

Isabel Rivera
Assistant Professor, Anthropology UC San Diego

Anish Kannan

Anish Kannan
Project Manager, VR Club at UCSD

Tony Tamberino

Tony Tamberino
Graduate Student, Anthropology UC San Diego

Janice Zhao

Janice Zhao
Social Media, VR Club at UCSD

Ian Jones

Ian Jones
Graduate Student, Anthropology UC San Diego

Rose Elliot Smith

Rose Elliot Smith
Undergraduate, Mathematics and Computer Science UC San Diego

Judging Criteria

  • Technical Difficulty
    How technically impressive is the project? How much work went into it?
  • Creativity
    How creative, unique, or original is the project?
  • Use of VR
    How well did participants use the Virtual Reality medium for this project? Does VR benefit this application?
  • Use of Data
    How well did participants use the archaeological data provided to them?
  • Storytelling
    How effective is the story each project tries to tell? How do they tell that story?

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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