1. Hacktivism: making use of earth
observations for a social purpose
Stefania Oikonomou, MA, Katerina Zourou, Ph.D.
Web2Learn, Greece
HEIDI webinar 2 June 2022
Digital action at Higher Education Institutions as a catalyst
for social change during the COVID-19 crisis (HEIDI project)

2. A hackathon?
A prominent form of digital action
“Hack + marathon”: a disruptive
participatory action that is intensive
and lasts ~ 2-3 days
A popular form of activism, especially
during crisis situations (covid; natural
disasters)
⮚ Quick problem solving in agile
communities
⮚ Collaboration, open culture,
transparency; “maker” approach

3. Why do we do
this?
Our motivations
• Commit, engage and act during a crisis
• Connect to our identities as citizens
• Make the wisdom of the crowds work for a social purpose
• Merge high tech with our origins (culture)
• Work with similar-minded individuals and communities beyond
borders

4. 2 hackathon Challenges
that we organise
● Cultural Heritage under
threat
● Environment under threat

5. Context?
Organised by
the European Union
Agency for the Space
Programme (EUSPA)
Using earth observation
data for humanitarian aid
#EUSpace4Ukraine

6. Hackathon challenge #1: Cultural
heritage under threat
=> earth observations to monitor threats/damage and
engage citizens in participatory digital action

7. Purpose?
Cultural heritage protection
(including monitoring of
deterioration, demolishment,
explosions, etc).
Data sources?
Freely accessible earth
observations and space
data by European
systems Galileo and
Copernicus
⇒ Citizens together with experts to work on data identification,
mapping, analysis and release of open access results

8. The approach
Earth observations to monitor threats/damage and engage citizens in
participatory digital action
Technology and diaspora to empower on-site and remote action
Synergies (in progress)
Citizens: as individuals and as communities. We need you!
Experts in Earth observations:
• National Technical University of Athens
• Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) scholar community
Experts in Cultural heritage:
• In Ukraine and abroad, stakeholders’ groups, museums, European cultural heritage
networks

9. Why is this hackathon challenge different?
2-day
hackathon
29/6-1/7
An expert-
citizen
webinar, 10
June
Open
access
learning
resources
Online Module
“Crowd
initiatives and
open
innovation as
a crisis
response”
Open
access
learning
resources

10. Part of the open access learning resources
https://padlet.com/web2learn/innovations

11. Hackathon challenge 2:
environment under threat

12. Earth observations for environmental
monitoring
Data on pollution and environmental protection
air quality data from almost all available online systems in the country.
=> merge earth observation data with the ones collected on the
ground through data sensors on the ground.
Support organisations (in progress)
Citizen science initiatives on real-time data from air sensors on the
ground

13. Want to act? register for our Challenges
https://ultrahack.org/euspace4ukraine-hackathon-challenge#signin

14. Webinar on
challenge #1,
10 June

15. https://heidiproject.eu/
https://web2learn.eu/
@web2learn_eu
info@web2learn.eu
The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are the sole responsibility of the
author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
Let’s stay in touch!
With the support of the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union under Grant
Agreement no. 2020-1-UK01-KA226-HE-094667.