Stephen Tranovich says:12:05 PM
Let's get started! A big welcome to @Elecia White and @Alberto! Could you both take a second to introduce yourselves and tell us about your relationship to the prize? I'll do the same!

Kevin says:12:06 PM
The lighting by the workbench wouldn't be that good and it would have to be a camera for a Pi as that is the only computer there.

ðeshipu says:12:06 PM
it doesn't have to be good

Elecia White says:12:07 PM
Hello! I was a judge for the first two years and then advisor judge for one year. I'm not judging this year so I can give you any hints I have.

Aman Garg says:12:07 PM
@Kevin i think any good mobile camera works which can capture the working prototype

Kevin says:12:07 PM
@Stephen Tranovich I suppose it depends on how many rounds there are. I got through the first (or second?) round but I didn't have a video so that was as far as I got. Didn't expect to win as my projects are a bit too specialized.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:08 PM
Hey everyone! I'm Stephen, and I work at Hackaday! I run the Prize, and do other community related things (you'll be seeing me more and more around these parts) along with hacking on my own projects!

Stephen Tranovich says:12:08 PM
I will be one of the judges for the earlier rounds, and not for the finals.

Jeremy says:12:09 PM
Hi guys

wynhoff, james says:12:09 PM
@Elecia White , I posted my question on the discussion page, but I'm curious your tips for making an easily readable project log, I have a terrible habit of only documenting successful parts of the project, and do you like to see project logs of the failures and pitfalls as well?

Elecia White says:12:09 PM
I sympathize a lot with the video difficulty, make sure it is on Stephen's list! There are lots of ways to solve the problem.

Vishnu M Aiea says:12:09 PM
So the 5 rounds have separate judges.. Hmm. I thought otherwise!

Michael Barton-Sweeney says:12:09 PM
Hi all!

Elecia White says:12:10 PM
I think the first five rounds have Hackaday judges but the last round (final) have the celebrity judges (what a silly name).

Stephen Tranovich says:12:10 PM
Let's get rolling! First let's get started answering some of the existing confusion around judges and around videos.

Mike Szczys says:12:10 PM
I certainly consider @Elecia White a celebrity

Josh Starnes says:12:11 PM
Ok so what all is expected in the videos? and length

John Schuch says:12:11 PM
Yes, @Elecia White is a celeb.

Elecia White says:12:11 PM
First, the video doesn't have to be fancy. A web cam or a phone is good.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:12 PM
Correct @Elecia White, the first 5 rounds are judged by technical members of Hackaday staff and their associates. All of the winners of those first 5 rounds can then enter the finals, which are judged by the separate group of celebrity judges

Elecia White says:12:12 PM
You don't have to edit it if you want to take it all in one well-rehearsed blob

Elecia White says:12:12 PM
You don't have to talk, the Raman Pi project (flatcat?) got to finals without ever showing his face and he use a voice synthesizer

Elecia White says:12:13 PM
So if you don't want to show your face or you hate your voice, don't let that stop you.

Kevin says:12:13 PM
celebrity judges? Makes you think of some TV reality show. :)

Stephen Tranovich says:12:13 PM
Video is only required for entering the finals. So you can enter the first 5 rounds, even win some, and never have to make a video.

Elecia White says:12:13 PM
A powerpoint that you narrate would ok. A video of your hardware that you narrate would be better.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:13 PM
Agreed!

Josh Starnes says:12:14 PM
Does your project being published in a magazine hurt or disqualify your entry?

Frank Buss says:12:14 PM
then a video of a powerpoint would be perfect?

Elecia White says:12:14 PM
Finally, please no music. Please. I'm running the videos at 1.5x and trying to understand the material. The music always seemed to drown out the voice. If you really need music, do it in the last few seconds with the credits.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:14 PM
The video is not what your project is being judged on. The video is required so that people can show off their working prototypes.

Elecia White says:12:15 PM
Vid of powerpoint would be adequate, seeing your hardware work is better.

Alberto says:12:15 PM
@Josh Starnes I don't think that should affect on how your entry is judged...

Elecia White says:12:15 PM
You definitely are not (intentionally) being judged on video production quality.

James Wynhoff says:12:16 PM
What is the general consensus of using off-the-shelf parts in your project? I cant help but feel that anything with a home-spun PCB puts it on a higher caliber to start?

Frank Buss says:12:16 PM
personally I very much dislike powerpoint videos :-)

James Wynhoff says:12:16 PM
Custom PCB, not necessarily homespun :)

Elecia White says:12:16 PM
(Are we done-enough with vids? We can come back later if more comes up.)

Michael Barton-Sweeney says:12:17 PM
Concerning the first round: Is it better to focus on (1) documenting the overall scope and intent of the project, (2) documenting the work that has already been done, or (3) working on the project?

Stephen Tranovich says:12:17 PM
Better videos will help us make short content videos that we've started producing to showcase your project to the world, like the video below. Video quality does not affect your ability to win the prize though.

https://twitter.com/hackaday/status/963488404209045505

Stephen Tranovich says:12:17 PM
Yup, let's move on to the next question

Stephen Tranovich says:12:17 PM
Please put your questions here! https://hackaday.io/event/90455-hackaday-prize-hack-chat

Josh Starnes says:12:17 PM
ok

Michael Barton-Sweeney says:12:17 PM
Thanks!

Kevin says:12:17 PM
oh, no more spreadsheet for the chat questions

ðeshipu says:12:18 PM
@Kevin you haven't been around for a while, have you?

Stephen Tranovich says:12:18 PM
Next question is from @wynhoff, james :

What are the general guidelines and timeframes on project completeness for the judging?

Any best practices that the judges or Alberto have for project documentation?

James Wynhoff says:12:19 PM
Woo!

Elecia White says:12:19 PM
You also asked about showing failure. I like seeing that. Maybe 60-70% success, 40-30% failure.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:19 PM
To answer the timeliness questions - it's best to submit your project ASAP, as soon as you have the idea, and then fill out the documentation as the round goes.

Kevin says:12:19 PM
@ðeshipu I don't come in for every chat. I only look at the Q's if I have a question to add.

Bhavesh Kakwani says:12:19 PM
@Stephen Tranovich We're going through the questions backwards/LIFO?

Daren Schwenke says:12:19 PM
what if you fail more often... :)

Alberto says:12:19 PM
From my point of view, a good practice would be to try to make clear instructions on how to "easily" replicate the project. I guess that's one of the main goals...

Josh Starnes says:12:20 PM
I fail just as much as I succeed and I haaaate doing things over.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:20 PM
No project will be judged before the end of that round, so you have the whole round to keep updating your profile.

Alberto says:12:20 PM
And regularly create project logs

Stephen Tranovich says:12:20 PM
+1

Elecia White says:12:20 PM
From a judging perspective, remember that the intro is really, really important. 100 entries? Going through them all is non-trivial so it is important for the judges to get an idea of what you are trying to do and what you actually did. But then, of course, you want them to read more so you try to make it interesting and tease implementation details so we want to read it all.

Frank Buss says:12:21 PM
I guess if you fail more often, then just don't write about it, just the interesting fails

Stephen Tranovich says:12:21 PM
Documentation is key here, the more the better!

James Wynhoff says:12:21 PM
Ok, that's good to know, possibly a post with clear concise reproduction instructions, and also a running project log with all the trials and tribulations, awesome. Thanks!

Elecia White says:12:22 PM
Project logs are great, a history. I can see wanting to only write them for the project and for WINNING (hearts and stars) but entering the project is good for more than WINNING and those project logs may help you later... and the failures help other people realize that engineering isn't a straight-line path. There are lots of twists and turns. So... yeah, I like project logs.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:22 PM
The point is for these projects to make real contributions to open hardware, so document your project in a way that others can learn from, understand whay you tried and how that worked, and know how to put your design into their own future project!

Peter has joined this room.12:22 PM

ðeshipu says:12:22 PM
oh, that gives me an idea for an achevement for a ridiculous number of logs

Stephen Tranovich says:12:23 PM
+1 @ðeshipu !

Bhavesh Kakwani says:12:23 PM
^ So many logs you need a log scale

ðeshipu says:12:23 PM
or for a particularly engaging writing style

baldengineer says:12:23 PM
logs written in a poetic form

Ben Hencke says:12:23 PM
One (bad) habit I have is glossing over the results/intro/summary. Heaps deep technical info and progress, but forget that fresh eyes need some overview. What even is this thing and why?

Mike Szczys says:12:23 PM
The Shakespearean Achievement

darryln says:12:23 PM
iambic pentameter

Elecia White says:12:23 PM
Sadly, I don't think quantitiy is going to help you, @ðeshipu

Josh Starnes says:12:23 PM
every log should be a hiaku

Stephen Tranovich says:12:24 PM
lol!

ðeshipu says:12:24 PM
@Elecia White surely not, but achievements are not about winning

Daren Schwenke says:12:24 PM
I nominate @Yann Guidon / YGDES for the log thingy...

Elecia White says:12:24 PM
Oh, yes, haiku or sphinx-like riddles. I'm all for that. Oh wait, I'm not judging this year. Yes, that sounds awesome.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:24 PM
Okay, there is a lot to say about achievements, but I want to save those for closer to the end, because they could go on for a while.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:25 PM
Next question by @Ben Hencke :How much do you judge on concept/results vs execution? Sometimes people can have a good idea and the drive to make it happen, but are not seasoned industry professionals. Are hacks OK?

Elecia White says:12:25 PM
Well, it is *hack*aday. So of course!

Elecia White says:12:25 PM
And yet, completed projects are easier to judge.

darryln says:12:26 PM
hot glue, super glue, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, paper clips...all good

slisgrinder says:12:26 PM
Is it a good idea to have a "reasoning" or "justification" section for decisions made in the project and how long/detailed should such a section be?

Elecia White says:12:26 PM
Concept and execution are the important bits. You don't get many style points for perfect craftmanship. And yet, the goal is to make it reproducible. So you can't bodge it all together into a plate of spaghetti.

Elecia White says:12:27 PM
A hack is 100% good as long as I can repro it.

baldengineer says:12:28 PM
^^

Stephen Tranovich says:12:28 PM
I agree, it's more important the your concepts & goals were followed all the way through than it having a sleek packaging

slisgrinder says:12:28 PM
Ok, thanks

Elecia White says:12:28 PM
A reasoning or justification for hacks is nice... it is a good way to say "yeah, I used hot glue until the entire project held together but if I was building a product, I might investigate standoffs" is that what you meant?

Ben Hencke says:12:29 PM
yeah, I'm thinking about the internal fear of showing the ugly hack. so that helps!

Stephen Tranovich says:12:29 PM
Unless you are going for the Tindie Project to Product bonus prize, in which case as close to DFM as you can get the higher your chances of being chosen are.

slisgrinder says:12:29 PM
Kind of. More towards a project that had to be built from the ground up. Why some design choices were made and why the scope was limited to a certain degree is what I mean.

Stephen Tranovich says:12:29 PM
@Ben Hencke Maybe your hack will win the Macgyver Achievement!

Stephen Tranovich says:12:30 PM
Next question from @wynhoff, james : What is the general consensus of using off-the-shelf parts in your project? I cant help but feel that anything with a custom PCB puts it on a higher caliber to start?

Elecia White says:12:30 PM
That justification is nice but not required for this. If it is between writing that up in detail and or a one line mention + getting it working, get it working.

Ben Hencke says:12:31 PM
thank you!

Elecia White says:12:31 PM
One of the criteria for off the shelf parts: can I repro your system?

slisgrinder says:12:31 PM
Kewl, thanks

Josh Starnes says:12:31 PM
ok so using as many off the shelf parts is actually helpful

Elecia White says:12:32 PM
That's a little bit of a down side for custom PCBs (unless you have gerbers available).

John Schuch says:12:32 PM
and/or use free PCB design software

Elecia White says:12:32 PM
And off the shelf software ... of course you are going to use it. But open source is better because (repeat it with me) can I repro your system?

Alberto says:12:32 PM
Off the shelf parts have the advantage that everybody has them! So it's easier for everyone to reproduce, and that's sounds like an advantage to me...

Alberto says:12:33 PM
that*

Daren Schwenke says:12:33 PM
How about a 'Build it with Prime' achievement..

Stephen Tranovich says:12:33 PM
@Josh Starnes asks: does having your current project entry published in a magazine hurt or help or disqualify my entry?

deleted-account says:12:33 PM
So many achievables!

Elecia White says:12:33 PM
And yet, if some pay-for software lets you build something truly awesome, it is ok, not instant disqualification or anything, especially if you add a path about getting to something more available.

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