Introduction to the Project

Hack for LA Website (HfLA website, HackforLA.org)

The HackforLA.org website’s purpose is to connect volunteers with projects, express Code for America and Hack for LA’s shared mission, and demonstrate that we are producing valuable projects with tangible impact.

The website is also the starting place for new developers to master docker, git, and github, and to practice working collaboratively on a multidisciplinary team.

History

The earliest version of this website had just one page. The site displayed a handful of projects and an email signup form, with a focus on encouraging people to attend our 3 weekly hack nights (with information posted on meetup).

The new website team formed around a desire to have a more flexible website that would be easier to update and expand.

Click here for the rationale for the updates

The primary function of the Hack for LA website is to recruit and match prospective volunteers to ongoing technology projects. The website must achieve two key goals:

1. Present a clear and compelling value proposition for participation;
2. Enable interested volunteers to identify and join projects that align with their areas of interest and skills.

Earlier HFLA discovery research found that ~25% of survey respondents felt the website’s UI/UX could be improved. Nearly 1 in 5 respondents could not find all the information they sought. In descending order, the top three categories of information sought are:

1. Volunteer opportunities
2. Current project information
3. Other - Includes information about GitHub and Python workshops, working examples of past successful projects, what goes on at Meetup meetings, and whether beginner-level technologists can join.

The current presentation of project cards on the home page forces users to scroll in a cumbersome way through one or more pages. This makes it difficult to find and locate projects of interest quickly. And the project cards do not provide a clear call to action to prospective volunteers.

Major progress during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 "Safer at Home" policies created urgency to move all teams and HfLA the omboarding process to being fully remote and online, driven by a variety of new recruiting sources. Milestones include:

New Content

• Events page - to communicate how we come together and contribute to projects in the absence of physical events
• Wins page - to encourage the capture and celebration of new jobs, promotions, skills learned, etc.
• About Us Page - information about our goals, roadmap and north star
• Join Us Page - to let people know how they can join and contribute to our cause.
• Communities of Practice Page - To connect members with their professional communities (UI, Data, Eng, PM, etc)
• Credits page - to thank photo and icon sources, along with other contributors.
• Toolkit Page - Guides on how to set up github 2fa, create issues etc. Useful for new users
• Creation and integration of an onboarding video
• Creation of an analytics dashboard to display and analyze survey data
• Updated Project Page - to help members see what teams are active and where they can help out
• Getting Started Page - New user onboarding. This is useful for new members and getting them up to speed.
• Project Team Meetings page - to help members quickly check and attend meetings for projects and groups of interest
• Site Map - to provide visitors with an overview of the site
• Communities of Practice

Site Upgrades

• Redesign of mobile version of site
• Launched project filtering by skill, language, topic area, etc.

Internal Capacity Building

• Creation of an online team meeting schedule and API integration with VRMS to make the information able to be updated by project managers in the future
• Github API integration to display project languages alongside static project information
• Integration of our Google Data Studio analytics dashboard into the website, for transparency for all members
• Refine collection and reporting of analytics

Documentation

• HfLA website wiki as a resource for new developers
• Creation of step-by-step guides for getting started, onboarding (e.g., 2 Factor Authentication, How to write a good github issue, Creating a Project Board in Github, etc.)

Planned additions to the HfLA website

• Civic Engagement Page - project details, how to help, important members and tools
• Impact Page - to showcase the impact of our projects to potential partners and new volunteers and demonstrate how their work can make a difference.
• Project Verticals Page - to help members and partners learn about projects based on their interests and desired impacts, including political, social, and civic impacts.
• Roles- All available roles users can volunteer for and help out

Pages about to launch

• Organizational Metrics Page - to help us analyze where and what our members are doing and how we can help them better
• New Homepage
• About Page
• Program Areas Pages

Future plans

We are in the process of developing a product roadmap that will chart out a future 6-12 months of development. We will continue taking into account past feedback, which includes the following: