Where are we heading? Hackathons as a new, relational form of policymaking

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the last decades, a new way of policymaking has become increasingly prominent: civic hackathons. However, in education policy research, hackathons have not been broadly addressed so far. With this article, we contribute to closing this research gap by empirically investigating the educational #wirfürschule (#wfs) Hackathons that took place in Germany between June 2020 and 2021 as well as their organizing initiative #wfs. As a methodological framework, we hereby draw on social topology. This methodology offers a promising toolbox to get hold of the multiple dynamics and digital platforms of hackathons as well as to address the nuances of such new education policy practices. By applying a topological lens, the aim of this article is to analyze how the spacetimes enacted in, through and around the #wfs Hackathons contribute to new relational ways of policymaking and power shifts in education governance. As our analysis showed, the #wfs Hackathons operated through enabling relational proximity and presence as well as through creating relational distance, by enacting spacetimes that reconfigured traditional policy sites, actors and categories, while supporting new authorities in education policy.