Collaborating in a Crisis: Perspectives on Trust and Technological Framework in Organising a COVID-19 Online Hackathon

Abstract

This paper explores trust in online-only-collaboration, where a team was gathered to organise a COVID-19 online hackathon with only three days notice. The study is based on the thematic analysis of ten in-depth interviews with the hackathon organisers. The findings report how trust among the organisers was encapsulated in 1) the shared big goal, 2) the significance of real-life networks, 3) a strong lead organiser on the collaboration forming on the fly, and 4) the lack of face-to-face contact in relation to becoming familiar or staying unknown. Technology related findings showed that the collaboration platforms were selected based on familiarity and ease of use. The chosen communication channels created a split between age groups, and transparency of the communication suffered somewhat from one-to-one communications in the background and divided application use. However, trust between the organisers helped them to overcame the transparency challenges. The findings are applicable to societal crisis situations in which technologies are used to build collaboration in aim to address shared challenges.