The Challenge – by Krebskriegerin

One app to rule them all might sound appealing but with the complexity of cancer, it is a real challenge to support the patient in his daily struggle of managing his disease with its specific needs and problems. But our community at the Health Hackers e.V. likes to be challenged and we invite you to help us to envision and prototype an ecosystem app for digital cancer management.

Foto by Heidingsfelder

As challenge owner we like to introduce you to Susanna, a cancer patient and blogger called “Krebskriegerin” who will pitch the challenge and will be present on the hackathon. This hackathon got inspired by one of her blog posts in which she was criticizing the current state of digital solutions for cancer. She was sick of digitalization not reaching its full potential when it comes down to managing her disease and leaving her alone with pen and paper in many simple use cases. And yes, of course she screened the app stores with theiroverwhelming and confusing portfolio of health and cancer related apps. And yes, she tried a few of them, but doesn’t she have better things to do with her time than switching between several apps to get all her needs fulfilled, especially with the hustle of entering the same information over and over again as the apps don’t communicate with each other. Also if each cancer is individual, why don´t apps show more possibilities for adaptation and individualisation in their features according to her specific needs. And as digital native, she also asks herself the important question about each app of who is owning this sensitive data and how can she share the data in a meaningful way for her and even maybe for research, but with full transparency? As you see, you will not work on a fictive persona, you will receive real world experience and instant feedback on your solutions.

The challenge will be to first create an open-source environment for the app which later on allows community-driven development and implementation of single solutions. Nevertheless, at a hackathon it is all about prototyping, so this app framework should not only be concept slide, but provide basic functionality of an app like preferences, user management and – based on your technical courage – maybe even interfaces. Once the foundation for the app is set and the patient was guided through an on-boarding process, it should be possible to search for individual features and then activate them modularly. Such features could be of basic nature like medication plan, appointment scheduling or more cancer specific like a diary of related conditions or clinical trial support. Concerning the sensitive topic of data privacy this is not a feature, it is a damn must as users should only share their data with clear intent and full transparency for instance with their oncologist or relatives. Next to the app we want to create an interface where cancer patients can express their problems and needs in order for community developers to pick it up and solve it.

This hackathon is supposed to be just the starting point of something big and meaningful. Because after the hackathon we as Health Hackers e.V. could imagine starting an open-source cancer management app initiative or even a foundation like Mozilla with everyone who is interested. For the beginning we plan to meet in a monthly project group evening. Of course the follow up is voluntarily and everyone can just attend the hackathon.

Who should join? 

We trust in you and the community to tackle the challenge and help not only Susanna, but as many cancer patients out there as possible with our skill sets and curiosity. As of the requirement for the challenge we are looking  for the following skillset of participants:

• app development (native or cross-plattform frameworks)
• UX / UI
• design
• software architects
• open source enthusiasts

At the hackathon we have some rules:

• Be excellent to each other
• Doing is better than arguing
• Help each other out

Sponsoring & Support

Agenda:

At the end of the hackathon each team will present their solution and ideas in front of Susanna and other experienced jury members who will not only hand over a price for the best team (500 €), but give intensive feedback on each solution.