Tall Giraffe

Who: Social Catalysts (Tall Giraffe)

When: June 2015

Where: Melbourne

Website: http://thetallgiraffe.org/

Social Catalysts is community of young people under the age of 25 who educates and mobilises others to inspire positive social change. The problem they are trying to solve is youth disengagement. Most media outlets (i.e newspapers) tend to portray issues in a formal manner using language that is complex and alienates young people. Additionally, there is a lack of an online space for youth to connect, express their opinions and discuss ideas, etc. in regards to international relations and social issues. This leaves individuals that are otherwise keen, interested, and passionate, feeling overwhelmed and pessimistic. 

At the Melbourne 2015 Winter Hackathon, a team of volunteer developers and tech experts helped them develop a new online platform for their project. By the end of the weekend, they had a new platform which displayed their articles and videos in a visually-appealing manner. They also created online profiles for their executive and writers’ team as well as linking their website to various social media sites. Following some amazing engagement by the team after the hack, in August 2015 they launched the new site, called Tall Giraffe. Future plans include adding other features such as a comment system, improving the design and layout of their articles and further developing their brand.