thumbnailOn Saturday, March 29th the Berkeley Center for New Media collaborated with Impossible.com to bring to the Bay Area the Impossible Hackathon.

The Impossible Hackathon invited participants to create an economy of kindness, calling for artists, activists, coders, and hackers to build software, hardware, or new models for a gifting culture.

Impossible was founded by actress Lily Cole to leverage the idea of a gift economy through social media with the aim of giving and receiving skills, objectives, advice, and physical items. Lily joined forces with Kwame Ferreira, social entrepreneur and CEO of Kwamecorp to build the current version of Impossible in which users interact by stating their hopes – such as a desire to #learn Spanish or find a #jogging partner – and are matched to other impossible users who can grant those wishes based on their skills and proximity. Everything is free and the only currency is abundant: thanks.

Participants formed teams on the day to design and build concepts that disseminate wishes to individuals through communities. Some amazing work ideas surfaced from the event. One team created an algorithm to successfully rank feasibility of wishes and improve the matching program of Impossible. Another group designed Impossopoly – a version of Monopoly based on wish granting. Still others launched into the Utopian dream of Impossible, taking advantage of the app to reduce food waste through gifting excess food, and create community engagement through digitizing vision boards at local events. One group even used the Oculus technology to offer virtual wish fulfillment games!

Impossible continues it world tour with Australia next. Get involved at impossible.com

A special thanks goes out to Lisa Winter, roboticist and wearable maker, who brought the Impossible Hackathon to life!

Check out the photos from the day below!

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