To achieve the "Data Enrichment Layer" in your pipeline, you should focus on augmenting the raw Devpost project and user data with additional, high-signal information pulled from external sources and AI-driven analysis. Here’s how you can approach this, tailored to your use case and leveraging insights from your files and previous discussions:
## Concise Summary
- Enrich Devpost data by integrating external signals (GitHub, LinkedIn, YouTube).
- Use semantic search and entity extraction APIs (like Perplexity) to automate eligibility checks, detect cheating, and extract project insights.
- Generate structured, confidence-scored flags and summaries for downstream AI analysis and judge brief generation.
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## Detailed Steps for the Data Enrichment Layer
**1. External Data Fetching & Linking**
- Automatically pull public data from GitHub (repo activity, commit history, README content), LinkedIn (employment, affiliations), and YouTube (demo video transcripts).
- Match Devpost users to external profiles using heuristics (name, email, project links) to create a unified project/user profile.
**2. Semantic Analysis & Feature Extraction**
- Use Perplexity’s API or similar LLM-powered tools to:
- Parse and summarize README files and video transcripts.
- Extract entities (team members, tech stacks, affiliations, prior hackathon wins).
- Detect reused templates or off-the-shelf solutions by comparing code and descriptions across submissions.
**3. Automated Eligibility & Integrity Checks**
- Cross-reference LinkedIn/Twitter for disallowed affiliations (e.g., employees of sponsor companies, prior winners).
- Flag suspicious activity (e.g., GitHub repos created just before the hackathon, copy-pasted code).
- Assign confidence scores to each flag, allowing for human review and override.
**4. Feature Engineering for Downstream AI**
- Produce structured, enriched data objects:
- Project summary
- Team composition and affiliations
- Code originality metrics
- Video/demo highlights
- Eligibility/integrity flags with explanations
**5. Output Aggregated Dataset**
- The result is a rich, machine-readable dataset ready for AI analysis, shortlisting, and judge brief generation.
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## What’s Valid for Your Use Case
- **Automated Integrity Screening**: This is the highest-impact feature, as manual eligibility and cheat detection are the biggest pain points for organizers.
- **Semantic Enrichment**: LLM-powered extraction and summarization of project artifacts (README, code, video) directly supports both flagging and judge briefing.
- **Cross-platform Data Linking**: Validates participant eligibility and project originality, which is critical for hackathon integrity.
- **Confidence Scoring & Human-in-the-loop**: Ensures that automated flags are actionable and can be reviewed, reducing false positives.
- **Scalability**: The enrichment pipeline should be modular, supporting additional data sources or checks as needed.
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## Example Enrichment Pipeline
| Step | Input | Output |
|-----------------------------|----------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| Fetch GitHub data | Devpost project URL | Repo activity, README, commit history |
| Fetch LinkedIn data | User names/emails | Employment, affiliations, prior wins |
| Fetch YouTube transcripts | Demo video links | Text transcript, key highlights |
| Semantic parsing | README, transcript | Summary, tech stack, originality score |
| Eligibility flagging | Aggregated profile | Flags (ineligible, suspicious, clean) |
| Output enriched dataset | All above | Structured JSON for AI/shortlisting |
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## 🧠 BRAIN MODE: Expert Insights
- The most robust enrichment layers in hackathon judging tools combine rule-based (regex, heuristics) and AI-driven (LLM, embedding search) approaches.
- For your MVP, focus on automating the highest-friction checks: employment eligibility (LinkedIn), code originality (GitHub diffing/semantic similarity), and prior participation (cross-referencing Devpost/LinkedIn).
- Use LLMs to generate concise, human-readable summaries and flag explanations—judges and organizers value clarity and auditability.
- As you scale, consider integrating more advanced features like plagiarism detection, sentiment analysis on demo videos, and real-time alerts for suspicious patterns.
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## Multiple Perspectives
- **Technical**: Prioritize data normalization and entity resolution for reliable cross-platform linking.
- **Operational**: Build the enrichment layer as a stateless microservice, so it can be reused across different hackathons and integrated with various platforms.
- **Business**: Position the enrichment layer as a core differentiator—few competitors offer deep, automated integrity screening and judge-ready summaries.
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### In summary, your Data Enrichment Layer should combine external data fetching, semantic analysis, and automated eligibility checks to transform raw Devpost data into a rich, actionable dataset for downstream AI analysis and judge briefing. This approach directly addresses the biggest pain points in hackathon judging and positions your tool as a must-have for organizers.