Geeks are mobilizing to respond to the challenges of the crisis. This was the goal of the Equalithon COVID-19 which brought together – necessarily online – a hundred coders and other developers to imagine solutions to the multitude of problems created by the pandemic.
“Our mission, our corporate vision is to be a platform that improves inclusion and diversity in businesses” says Hugues Seureau, CEO and co-founder of Brooklyn-based Essteem, the event organizer in partnership with Woman Who Code, an international organization that promotes the role of women in technology.
The first awarded project is concerned with the mental health of caregivers, the second responds to requests for support from the elderly, and finally the third deals with medical disinformation. Due to the economic crisis, the event suffered from a lack of sponsors, but, says Hugues Seureau, "The developers and engineers continue to work together to make a real impact and develop something sustainable. It shows the involvement of the community looking to help each other ”.
Three projects to respond to COVID-19
The first project consists of supporting healthcare staff, who are highly exposed to the virus. For this, the application developed consists in sending “thoughts” to people in a very simple way: via Instagram or Facebook, in one click it is possible to send butterflies as kindness and support to doctors, nurses… A counter will accumulate all the butterflies sent to show the impact and the power of this shared support. "I find the idea simple and intelligent. This project was thought up by a mixed team, and I don’t think that a team composed entirely of men could have had this kind of initiative, said Hugues Seureau, smiling. This is where diversity comes in. ”.
Linking volunteers and elderly people in need is the idea proposed by the second application. Volunteers will be able to offer their help, for example, shopping, explaining how to use Skype, bringing protective equipment or simply being a presence, very soothing in this period of isolation.
A third team has been created more recently and is currently continuing to develop its project. With the collaboration of Première Urgence Internationale, the team offers an application on medical disinformation. “In the context of Ebola, Première Urgence Internationale has noticed, in Africa, a strong proliferation of“ fake news ”, which is at the origin of counterproductive messages for the management of the crisis” explains Hugues Seureau. The idea is therefore to create an application, intended for the volunteers present on the spot, which makes it possible to filter the information, to verify it and to relay it to the public. This project could therefore work for the Ebola virus, but the objective is that it spreads and adapts to COVID-19, in Africa and everywhere else. The purpose of this application is to limit the spread of the current epidemic but especially those to come. Hugues Seureau continues: "It is a real medical need soliciting technological complaints. We still have a few weeks before everything is ready ”.
Until May 4, “hacknights” are organized remotely to allow anyone who wishes to help in the finalization of projects. During these nights, participants will be able to code with experienced developers and thus have an impact on the realization of projects. For more information, go here.
