How to Data in Datathons

The rise of datathons, also known as data or data science hackathons, has provided a platform to collaborate, learn, and innovate in a short timeframe. Despite their significant potential benefits, organizations often struggle to effectively work with data due to a lack of clear guidelines and best practices for potential issues that might arise. Drawing on our own experiences and insights from organizing ≥ 80 datathon challenges with ≥ 60 partnership organizations since 2016, we provide guidelines and recommendations that serve as a resource for organizers to navigate the data-related complexities of datathons. We apply our proposed framework to 10 case studies.