Hack week is an annual fixture right here at Dotdigital. Because the 12 months winds down, the Product and Expertise groups take day out to create, innovate, and experiment. We goal to push our platform in new instructions and to plant the seeds of options that may in the future be a part of the Dotdigital product.
Collaborate to innovate
Within the lead-up to hack week, any employees member can pitch an thought. These concepts would possibly take inspiration from our roadmap, contain attempting out an rising expertise, or just goal to resolve a ache level. Some years have a theme; this 12 months, groups had been inspired to construct each for and with AI.
Hackers – together with engineers, knowledge scientists, and QAs – type small teams and undertake these concepts, or give you their very own schemes. Every group has 4 days to work on their undertaking and put together a brief video presentation. Judges are appointed from throughout the corporate to select their winners in three classes (most needed, most modern, and greatest video). There’s a reside viewers vote in two additional classes (greatest staff title and greatest hack).
2023 noticed an distinctive crop of hacks with some very spectacular movies. Let’s get to it.
Most needed (and greatest hack)
Hack title: That feeling whenever you look down expectantly for the second half of your sandwich solely to realize that you just’ve already eaten it
Crew title: HappierKat!
The successful hack in probably the most needed class takes knowledge submitted in surveys, pages and types and shops this as perception knowledge. This unlocks numerous capabilities, akin to having the ability to customise the e-mail despatched to type respondents. By pushing submitted knowledge into an perception knowledge assortment, we are able to additionally use this knowledge in program resolution nodes to set advertising preferences, primarily based on checked values within the submission.
In addition to being picked by the judges, Crew HappierKat additionally noticed off sturdy competitors to be voted greatest hack by the viewers.
Finest video
Hack title: GPTranslatortron: Automate translations for in–app assist, app translations, marketing campaign translations, and maybe even chat
Crew title: Misplaced in Translation
Our platform is already obtainable in 15 languages, however can we use WinstonAI to automate translation as we add extra options? Even higher, can we provide translation for the textual content that retailers enter into Straightforward Editor? Can we allow translation in chat threads? GPTranslatortron delivers a powerful Sure to all of those questions.
Most modern
Hack title: Dotdigital Automation Alchemists: Utilizing pure language to automate Program technology utilizing GPT4, RAG, and customized fashions
Crew title: Crew Automation Innovate (Crew AI)
Impressed by the concept program constructing might be automated to save lots of time and price, this hack explored using retrieval-augmented technology to show ChatGPT about our applications. The staff used Microsoft’s Azure AI Search platform to retailer and index vector embeddings, which then allowed WinstonAI to interpret a immediate containing a program description like:
At 1 pm on the day the contact is created, ship the message “Hey there Basic Kenobi you’re a daring one.”
Finest staff title
That feeling whenever you look down expectantly for the second half of your sandwich solely to realize that you just’ve already eaten it
Arguably the longest and silliest staff title within the historical past of hack week, That feeling … sandwich swept the board with over 40% of the favored vote.
Notable point out
Hack title: Watercooler Roulette
Crew title: Tradition Catalyst
A worthy runner-up in one of the best video class, this hack was all about staff bonding and morale for distant groups. A sequence of Slack messages immediate interactions and conversations between staff who may not have the chance to satisfy in particular person round a bodily water cooler.