Social Tech Hackathon

Social Tech Hackathon May 9–10 · Komoro, Nagano + Online We can build what we need, together. There's a growing recognition that the crises we face — isolation, eroded trust, hollowed-out communities — aren't just structural. They're relational. And the digital tools we have to connect people have largely been optimized for the wrong things: attention over presence, scale over depth, engagement over care. This hackathon starts from a different premise. Most digital tools flatten places into content and communities into audiences. We're interested in the opposite. What happens when social tech serves as a relational bridge, helping people move from outside a community to inside it in ways that bring real value and stewardship to everyone involved? Hosted by Dan Schmidt, a Watson Fellow who has spent the last 11 months studying emerging social technologies around the world, and Akiya Collective in Komoro, a rural mountain town in Nagano where abandoned houses are being transformed into creative community spaces. This is a gathering for people ready to build digital social technology that serves small communities. Tools crafted by, with, and for the people who use them. Tools designed to move at the pace of real human connection. What is social technology? For our purposes, a social technology is any tool that shapes how people relate to each other. A town bulletin board is social technology. A group chat is social technology. A platform with an algorithmic feed is social technology. The problems most of us associate with social tech aren't inevitable. They're the problems of building at massive scale. When you build for a small community, you don't need to optimize for engagement or growth. You can design for the people you actually know. The hard part isn't the code. It's the design decisions: who's included, what's visible, when does it go quiet, who maintains it? That's what we're here to work through together. What we're building The hackathon's focus is digital social technology: apps, websites, bots, dashboards, notification systems. Things you can prototype in a weekend and put in front of real people. A central project we're considering: what would it take for a community building to hold itself? Not just financially self-sustaining (rent covers maintenance), but structurally self-governing. A place whose continuation isn't dependent on a single owner's attention or a funder's continued interest. We'll explore pieces of this question across the weekend, and welcome adjacent projects too. Projects we're excited about A community ledger that surfaces how a space has contributed to its surrounding community over time, making labor, money, and care visible across years.A residency's own log, written from the building's perspective, that helps it remember itself across generations of stewards.An AI agent that holds a community building's bylaws and decision history, surfacing relevant precedents when new decisions come up.A "what would this building need to benefit this community?" planning canvas that walks a group through the question without pretending to answer it.Coordination tools for small communities navigating change. Like a seasonal task board for a community garden tracking planting, harvesting, and shared labor across households.Trust and reciprocity infrastructure. Like a skill-sharing directory where community members can offer what they're good at and ask for what they need.Experiments in social technology that serve community life instead of extracting from it. Like a community memory archive where residents can record local stories, seasonal knowledge, and oral history. Who this is for Technologists, artists, community members, organizers, and anyone with an idea (or even just a question) about how a digital tool could help their community. You don't need to know how to code. Low-code tools like Lovable, Claude Code, and RTP Studio let you build by describing what you want in plain language. The place Komoro is our testing ground. The Akiya Collective makerspace is our workshop. We'll start Saturday morning with a small dry stone walling exercise before the laptops come out. Dry stone walls hold together without mortar. Stones aren't shaped to fit. They fit by being themselves alongside others. That's the kind of structure we're hoping to build this weekend, in software and in each other. We especially want to hear from Komoro locals about what tools could support belonging and coordination here, in a small community navigating depopulation and change. Projects that serve the collective's mission can be adopted and put to real use, with potential residencies and ongoing collaboration through Akiya Collective's social R&D lab. The format Two days. Small teams. Build something, test it, share what you learned. No pitch decks, no venture framing. Just prototypes accountable to real people and real communities. Final share-back is Sunday evening. Join us online We're keeping the remote track intentionally small. Twelve spots for people anywhere in the world who want to participate, form teams, and present alongside in-person attendees. Friday night BBQ Join us Friday evening for a sunset BBQ mixer on the grounds. Pull up a chair, meet the other builders, and let ideas form around a fire — one of the OG social technologies. BBQ Mixer event here: https://luma.com/hn5bor6d ~~~ Akiya Collective is a non-profit organization and social R&D lab that renovates abandoned houses in Japan into creative residencies, installations, and experiments to advance well-being. donation information: Pay what you want: We never want cost to be a barrier. However, since we do operate a material space, we have expenses. Donate what you can here to keep things going. 100% of proceeds go toward the makerspace, rural revitalization, and supporting community events.company info how to join discordAkiya Collective is a non-profit organization and social R&D lab that renovates abandoned houses in Japan into creative residencies, installations and experiments to advance well-being.Join our community: https://discord.com/invite/GtH7WWZZBh More info here: https://www.akiyacollective.org