We were a bit bowled over by the response to Google’s Interactivism: Young People Hack Weekend challenge. An astounding 81 ideas were submitted by the deadline. Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to enter!

"Prop for the TV Mate prototype built at the Interactivism: Accessibility Hack Weekend"

Of course, while we would have loved to have chosen all of the ideas, we had to whittle them down to just 10 to take forward to the Hack Weekend on 17th and 18th February, where teams will work to develop them into prototypes and a final winner will be chosen. Three young people from Livity joined members of Google, the RSA, and FutureGov to form the shortlisting panel at Google’s London HQ in Victoria on Friday and the following ideas were selected (drum roll please)…

1. Cloud Gaming as Personal Tutor (C.G.P.T) – Mahmoud Fereydouni‘s idea is to create a virtual online tutor, where the computer gives intelligent advice based on a person’s situation in life. This is presented as a game with challenges that need to be completed, with young people as the players.

2. FutureBuilder -Tracey Bleakey’s idea is for a site that allows young people to build skills profiles. In response, it highlights the gaps in their experience or skills required for their desired career path and suggests actual work, education or training opportunities that will fill those gaps. The site has a number of functions, such as skills matching, being able to request a mentor, print a CV, feature testimonials from teachers and employer opportunity profiles.

3. GamePlan - Lee Hazzard is proposing to build a Facebook app that helps young people break down their life goals into everyday, manageable steps, before assigning them to a “GamePlanner” mentor who will provide support through Facebook and offline to help them meet their goals. The app will also feature functions such as CV writing and job notification (which could be controlled by Work Programme providers) and inspiration from role models.

4. Gamification - Chantal Barcelona is from the Bigger Idea Community and her idea is to use the usual “procrastination zones” of Facebook, YouTube and the like to create personality assessment tools to see what jobs a young person would be suited to – depending on how they reacted to various videos, for example.

5. InspireTree - Thomas Marsden wants to make a decision-making mobile and web app that helps young people who don’t know what to do next uncover the opportunities that lies before them. It matches interests, suggests next steps, finds local opportunities and demonstrates where their decisions could take them in the long term, like what jobs they could ultimately end up with if they took a certain decision path now.

6. Interactive “CV” Timeline – Annie Jackson, from the Bigger Idea Community, wants to create a website where CVs can be presented in an online and multimedia format, similar to the Facebook Timeline. The site would enable people to link to blogs they have written and to post other sections of their CV in a variety of formats, for example video. There would be an option to view the interactive CV as a chronological timeline or grouped into “education”, “work experience”, “skills”, “interests” and “blogs/articles”.

7. Job Story – Thomas Maxwell’s idea helps young people find out about possible career paths, including some that they may not have even heard of, broadening their job options as a result. Information about jobs would be presented using profiles similar to Facebook, and videos, like on YouTube, that would tell the whole “story” of the job, helping the young person to see what it really entails. The site would then suggest a range of related professions in the same way that YouTube suggest similar videos.

8. Meet Market - Tom Tobia‘s idea is for an online and offline platform to create a support network for young people not in education, employment, or training to learn and develop entrepreneurial skills through launching micro-enterprises within the familiar context of street markets.

9. Mesh – Networks That Empower - Megan Clatworthy‘s idea is for an online space where young people, employers, educational providers and community organisations can network with one another. People can use the space to create 3D CVs, use careers advice webinars, post videos about job opportunities and much more. Young people can generate points for using the space, which can result in real-life opportunities including work experience, internships, courses and vouchers.

10. Re:Skilled - Terri Herb‘s idea is for a web application that helps young people identify the skills needed to reach their goals, and helps them to develop and demonstrate those skills by being able to take part in a variety of projects (including projects offered by employers). They can then use videos or other records of their participation in these projects to add to a mini-portfolio. Gaining feedback from people running projects will be an important part of the personal development process.

Congratulations to everyone who submitted one of these ideas!

Don’t forget that you are still welcome to attend the event regardless of whether your idea was selected or not. We are particularly looking for young people to come along and join the teams. You can reserve your free ticket on our Interactivism Eventbrite page here.

If you have any questions about Interactivism, please e-mail: lucy [at] wearefuturegov [dot] com and don’t forget to follow our Simpl Twitter account (@simplco) for all of the latest updates.