Welcome to the IISD-ELA 2023 Hackathon Datasets Repository! This repository serves as a central hub for all the datasets that can be used to solve the three IISD-ELA Hackathon 2023 challenges. Because each dataset was prepared with a specific challenge in mind, we have included dataset recommendations for each challenge in the Challenges and Recommended Datasets section of this file. However, although these recommendations can be useful, you are free to use any dataset from this repository that may align with your project goals. The metadata for each dataset can be found in the "ELAHackathon_Metadata_2023.csv" file in this repository, which contains relevant information such as site location and parameters, as well as where to find the datasets. The datasets themselves are located in this repository's "Hackathon Datasets" folder. Lastly, the 'Tools&References/Reading' folder contains potentially useful scientific reports relevant to your projects. Before you start, please carefully read the rest of this document for relevant information such as our judging criteria, terms of use, and dataset citation.
Not sure where to begin? Here are some suggested steps to get you started on your hacking journey:
- Create or join a team :
- You can find a team or create your own using the Hackworks platform. Teams of 2 to 5 are required. We recommend forming large teams with diverse skillsets to improve your chances of success.
- Choose your team's problem statement :
- Your team will need to choose one of the 3 problem statements offered on the Hackworks platform. Each problem statement presents different challenges and opportunities.
- When choosing your problem statement - and over the course of this hackathon - we encourage you to review the problem statements, challenge datasets, and judging rubric presented below.
- Identify your mentors :
- Your team will be paired with a mentor. This mentor should be your first point of contact for any general inquiries or advice. You are welcome to reach out to other mentors on the platform, but they may be slower to respond.
- Mentors have volunteered their time to provide you with guidance related to their subject-matter expertise in freshwater science and data management. They have all been instructed NOT to assist you directly with preparing your design concept, reviewing data or developing your solution.
- Please remember to be respectful of the mentors and of their time.
- Create a repository :
- Decide as a team where your project will be hosted. Code repositories (like GitHub or Bitbucket) offer a good option for code-heavy projects which will require version control. If using GitHub, consider adopting a cookiecutter template for your project structure.
- File sharing platforms (like Dropbox or Google Drive) offer a good option for projects that will rely more heavily on files and out-of-the-box freeware (e.g. Google Sheets & Looker Studio).
- Remember that your solution will be made public, so ensure that whatever option you are using will allow for this.
- Prepare and submit your pitch :
- While not required, we recommend you dedicate some time at the start of the Hackathon to prepare a pitch for your solution. This will help with explaining your solution to mentors and will allow you to build consensus within your team. Please review the submissions page for size requirements.
- This is also your opportunity to better understand your user and the solutions currently available to them. Your solution should be quick and easy to deploy, be compatible with related tools, and require as little computer and data management experience as possible.
- Your pitch, if you choose to submit one, is non-binding and will NOT be included in your final evaluation. You are free to revise your solution completely at any point.
- Develop, test, deploy :
- Prototypes are a crucial part of technical innovation. Do not expect the first iteration of your solution to work perfectly!
- Versioning is a recommended practice to ensure that new features can be developed and tested in isolation, without threatening the integrity of the existing solution. If you are following a versioning approach, remember to test new features before deploying them, but also to periodically test your entire solution for issues.
- It is common practice in software development to improve a solution by repeatedly developing, testing, and deploying new features.
- Prepare demo materials :
- Your team will be required to provide material demonstrating your solution for a potential user. This could be a recorded video, a user manual, and/or any other format of your choice. Please review the submissions page for size requirements.
- Submit your solution on the Hackworks platform!
| Challenge Statement | Problem Holder |
|---|---|
| Thanks to the hard work of many volunteers, to advances in environmental monitoring tools, and to the proliferation of open data, communities now have access to reliable water quality data on many lakes, streams, and watersheds. However, many do not have the contextual knowledge needed to make sense of it. Communities need an intuitive tool to help them to understand the health and immediate threats to their freshwater systems (be it a single lake, or an entire watershed) using either private or public data. | Grand Council Treaty 3 |
- GCT3 water quality samples 2023
- NWT CBM Data
- Lake Pulse
- Historical Climate Data
- Climate Data .ca
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Secchi_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site4_Lake_Fertilized_Secchi_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site4_Lake_Fertilized_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site1_StreamsA,B,C,D_Ref_HydDischarge_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site1_StreamsA,B,C,D_Ref_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- Open Canada - Surficial Geology - Geospatial Data & Metadata (needs GIS software to work with it)
- NRCAN Geoscan - Surficial Geology of Canada - Map Image/PDF & Metadata
| Challenge Statement | Problem Holder |
|---|---|
| Many year-round-flowing watersheds can be vast, making it impossible for a single organization to monitor all potential sites. Local Community-Based Monitoring groups (CBMs) aim to contribute to a larger pool of data from various organizations but often face equipment and staff limitations. They require a tool to identify nearby monitoring programs with similar objectives, enabling resource sharing, enhancing collective capacity, and pinpointing data gaps. This will help CBMs coordinate efforts, leading to more impactful watershed-scale monitoring. | Living Lakes Canada |
- Living Lakes Kootenay Watershed Science
- Elk River Alliance
- NWT CBM Data
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Secchi_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site1_StreamsA,B,C,D_Ref_HydDischarge_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site1_StreamsA,B,C,D_Ref_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Metsite_Precip_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Metsite_AirTemp_2015_2020.csv
| Challenge Statement | Problem Holder |
|---|---|
| There are large volumes of high-quality data (including some ELA data!) available to the public on repositories like DataStream, but they can be overwhelming to work with. In addition, models and data visualizations are an important part of environmental reporting and advocacy, but these flashy products can be technically challenging and time-consuming to generate. There is a need for an intuitive tool that enables citizen scientists to ask questions and model or visualize the answers, to be published and disseminated to others in the environmental community. | ACAP Saint John |
- ACAP_Saint_John_Community-Based_Water_Monitoring_Program.csv
- ACAP_Saint_John_Nutrients_in_the_lower_Wolastoq_watershed.csv
- ACAP Saint John: Sediment PAHs
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Secchi_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Profiles(TEMP,COND,DO)_2015_2017.csv
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site4_Lake_Fertilized_Secchi_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site4_Lake_Fertilized_Profiles(TEMP,COND,DO)_2015_2017.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site4_Lake_Fertilized_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site1_StreamsA,B,C,D_Ref_HydDischarge_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Site1_StreamsA,B,C,D_Ref_Chem_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Metsite_Precip_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Metsite_AirTemp_2015_2020.csv
- IISD_ELA_Sites1,2,3_Lakes_Ref_SurfaceTemp_2015_2020.csv
| Categories | Criteria | Questions | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concept & Communication | Innovation | Was the idea Innovative? | /5 |
| Concept & Communication | Presentation | Is the content and format of the final submission clear? Were the demo materials helpful? | /5 |
| Functionality | Effectiveness | Does the solution work as intended to address the problem statement? | /5 |
| Functionality | Technical Range | How impressive is the range and depth of the solution's technical features? | /5 |
| Science | Scientific Knowledge | Does the solution effectively leverage scientific concepts and/or literature? | /5 |
| Science | Scientific Reasoning | Does the solution clearly communicate its scientific reasoning to the user? | /5 |
| Usability | User Needs | Did the team identify the needs of their target user? How well does the solution accommodate those needs? | /5 |
| Usability | User interface | Does the solution provide a clear, unambiguous, and intuitive user experience? | /5 |
As you work on your projects, we would like to remind you to include an acknowledgement for the IISD-ELA datasets - and any other datasets - you've utilized in developing your submissions. Incorporating an acknowledgement for datasets can be as simple as a statement included in your project materials or project folder. Additionally, we encourage you to continue acknowledging the datasets used in any future presentations, publications, or discussions related to your hackathon project.
All participants must follow the terms of use for the datasets provided. Please carefully read the "ELA DATA - Terms of Use.pdf" file, found in this repository. Reading and following these terms ensures that data is used in a responsible, respectful, and transparent manner, promoting the integrity of the competition and the broader data science and research community.
If you have any questions or need assistance with the datasets, please contact Thomas Saleh, IISD-ELA Hackathon coordinator at tsaleh@iisd-ela.org. We wish you the best of luck with your hackathon projects and hope these datasets inspire innovative solutions to the challenges at hand!