Over the Air was an annual mobile technology-focused overnight hack day event held in London from 2008 to 2016.[1] The two-day event would include practical and educational talks and a hacking competition.[2] Sponsors of the event have included the BBC,[3] Bluevia,[4] Nokia,[5] PayPal,[6] and Vodafone.[7] Some of the ideas developed at Over the Air have been turned into commercial services.[8]

Over the Air
People watching the keynote in the Great Hall at Imperial College in 2009
Statusactive
GenreHackathon
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)Imperial College London, Kensington, London, United Kingdom, Bletchley Park, St John the Baptist, Hoxton
Years active2008–2016
Inaugurated4–5 April 2008 (2008-04-05)
Most recent25–26 November 2016 (2016-11-26)
Websiteovertheair.org

History

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Beanbags ready for attendees at the 2009 Over The Air Conference

Over the Air developed from previous hack day events in 2007 and 2008.

From 2008 to 2010, the event was held at Imperial College in South Kensington.[9][3][10][11] The 2011 version of Over the Air was part of the 2011 London Mobile Week.[12][13] From 2011 to 2013, it was held at Bletchley Park.[8] There was no Over the Air event in 2014.

In 2015, the event was held at St John the Baptist, Hoxton; on 25 and 26 September. It featured one of the first workshop sessions [14] for the Micro Bit; along with the usual hackathon and lightning talks. The 8th (and final) event was also St. John's, on 25 and 26 November 2016.

References

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  1. ^ Kiss, Jemima (3 April 2008). "Mobile developers gather for London festival". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "What is Over The Air". YouTube. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  3. ^ a b Matthew Postgate (10 April 2008). "Over The Air: Mobile Going Mainstream". BBC. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  4. ^ "Over the Air". Blog.bluevia.com. 22 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  5. ^ "nokia « Over the Air". Overtheair.org. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  6. ^ "Over the Air : All New Musings". Ewanspence.com. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  7. ^ "Vodafone are a Sponsor of OTA11 « Over the Air". Overtheair.org. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  8. ^ a b "Hackers Get Hired At Bletchley Park". Huffingtonpost.co.uk. 16 September 2011. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  9. ^ Smith, Colin (10 April 2008). "Over the Air: Imperial College hosts a leading technology festival". Imperial College London.
  10. ^ Spence, Ewan (30 October 2009). "How to hack a handset". BBC. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Over The Air 2010 – one man's summary for the wider mobile industry". thefonecast.com. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  12. ^ LondonMobileWeek. "Mobile Content for Everybody". LondonMobileWeek. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  13. ^ BlueVia (22 September 2011). "London to become the mobile centre of the world – for a week". the Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Young Hackers explore the BBC Micro:bit". Forbes. 28 September 2015.
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