Appalachia@250: A Social Innovation Hackathon

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Appalachia@250: A Social Innovation Hackathon

“Appalachia@250: A Social Innovation Hackathon” is a full‑day immersive convening bringing together a mix of young people and college students from the region alongside faculty, filmmakers, journalists, artists, technologists, entrepreneurs, civil society members, and diverse community members of all ages to collaboratively imagine a future that benefits Appalachia.

October 24 (all day)
Media Innovation Center

Space is limited to ensure a hands‑on, collaborative experience with small teams. Registration is required to reserve your spot.

About the Event

Building on more than a decade of social hackathon experience, this event fosters interdisciplinary imagination, creativity, intergenerational collaboration, and rural futurism addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our era.

Participants will work in facilitated teams to explore challenges at the intersection of AI, labor and the future of work, cultural preservation and community resilience, regional opportunity, privacy, safety, and digital wellbeing.

Collaborating parnters will also have open-to-the public cultural immersion events on Friday and Sunday for all participants. These include a fashion show, a local artist handmade market, dinner theater with a screening of @250 documentary shorts, and a zine archive exhibit opening and panel.

Join us for a weekend of innovation, storytelling, music, documentary film, fashion, and community‑centered futurism.

The event is hosted at the Media Innovation Center and is designed to serve the full WVU College of Creative Arts and Media community of faculty and students, the larger WVU community and local/regional practitioners in journalism, media and creative arts.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23
Immersion and Community Building
- NOISE: An Appalachian Fashion Show
  6 p.m. at 228 High Street (Former Dollar General) in Downtown Morgantown
  A FREE Appalachian Fashion Show featuring designs from young adult Appalachians and evening of handmade creativity with a runway show and fashion market presented in partnership with 100 Days in Appalachia and YNST (You’re Not Seeing Things) Magazine. The show pairs alongside the release of “NOISE” – a limited-edition collaborative zine and archive of Appalachia@250. RSVP Online
- Local Artist Handmade Market
  This fashion market featuring art from local Appalachian artists will start at 6 p.m. at 228 High Street. Also visit The Retail Lab across the street. The Retail Lab is a WVU School of Art and Design student-run storefront that curates and sells vintage, secondhand and repurposed fashion items and original work from artists and designers
- Pop‑up regional music concert
  123 Pleasant Street in Downtown Morgantown
Saturday, October 24
Social Innovation Hackathon

WVU Media Innovation Center, 4th Floor Evansdale Crossing
- 8 am: Breakfast & morning gathering
- 9 am: Opening and Welcome
- 10 am: Team assignments and challenge briefings
- 11 am: Lightening presentations on AI, labor, culture, and Appalachian/rural futurism
- Noon: Lunch
- 1 pm: Facilitated team work sessions
- 2-6 pm: Interspersed panels and hands-on workshops throughout the day
- 6:15 pm: Featured screening of the Appalachia@250 documentary
- 6:15 pm: Regional Food and Storytelling
- 8 pm: Concluding remarks and next steps
(This is a tentative schedule that may be updated.)
Sunday, October 25

Gallery Exhibition

Appalachia@250 zines exploring identity, place, and relationship to technology/AI. More information is forthcoming.

Special Guests

Alexandra Mateescu

Researcher on the Labor Futures initiative Data & Society Research Institute

Shivani Kapania

Ph.D. Student at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University

Alexis de Coning

Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication West Virginia Wesleyan College

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