SAPO Codebits: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:47, 6 November 2020

Revision as of 20:23, 29 November 2020

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[[Image:SAPO Codebits logo.jpg|thumb|Codebits logo in 2009, featuring SAPO's own official logo at the time.|250x250px]]

'''SAPO Codebits''', also known simply as '''Codebits''', was a (computing) conference held in [[Lisbon]] from 2007 to 2014. It was organized by [[SAPO (company)|SAPO]] which, besides a news media brand, was also an internet-focused [[Research and development|R&D]] division of [[Portugal Telecom]] at the time.[[File:Codebits Logo 2014.png|alt=SAPO Codebits logo in 2014|thumb|In 2014, the "bot", which had been the event's mascot since 2010, became its official logo.|180x180px]]Initially inspired by [[Yahoo! Hack Day]]<ref name="Codebits 2007 announcement by Celso Martinho">{{cite web|url=https://celso.io/portuguese/tech-stuff/2007/09/21/sapo-codebits.html|title=SAPO Codebits}} Celso Martinho, 2007</ref>, the event lasted for three non-stop days, with many participants choosing to eat and sleep on site. Its core was a 48-hour [[hackathon]] but it also included dozens of talks during the day, as well as several entertainment activities in the evenings. Over the years, the number of talks and entertainment activities increased steadily, making it a reference in portuguesePortuguese [[Hacker culture|hacker]] culture{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} and attracting an increasing number of international attendees and speakers.

Codebits was free for all participants, including food and drinks, and had little commercial undertones apart from product announcements in the opening keynote. Active recruiting inside the premises was also disallowed. The number of seats was limited, so potential attendees had to apply for a ticket and undergo a screening process.[[File:Pixels Camp logo.jpeg|alt=Pixels Camp logo|thumb|180x180px|In 2016, Codebits was rebooted with a new name.]]

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[[Image:SAPO Codebits project presentations.jpg|right|thumb|Participants preparing to present their projects at the first SAPO Codebits in 2007.]]

The event took place over three consecutive days (and nights), starting on a Thursday. The first morning was composed of general keynotes from the organizing company and its partners/sponsors, plus general information about the hackathon and sattelitesatellite activities. The hackathon started in the afternoon, along with multiple tracks of talks in parallel, and lasted until Saturday morning, with Saturday afternoon reserved for project presentations, voting, and closing ceremony.

=== 48-hour Hackathon ===

[[File:SAPO Codebits 2014 hackathon hall.jpg|alt=SAPO Codebits 2014 hackathon hall|thumb|The hackathon hall at Codebits VII (2014), with the teams' tables and the secondary stages (the cilindrical structures).]]

In the hackthonhackathon, teams were free to propose whatever project they wanted, software or hardware, with no themes or subject restrictions. On Saturday, teams were required to present their projects on stage. They had 90 seconds to do it and the audience voted (thumbs up/down) between each presentation. The selection of winning teams was a combination of the audience votes and the votes of a jury panel. The weighting between the audience and jury votes varied from edition to edition.

[[File:SAPO Codebits 2014 hackathon voting.jpg|alt=SAPO Codebits 2014 hackathon voting|thumb|The audience voting for hackathon projects at Codebits VII (2014). The voting system used computer vision to detect red/green cards on this year.]]