The Conversation: A Seven-Day Hackathon Leads to New Popular App

Feb. 21, 2011— -- The idea of typing out a bibliography is something that still sends shivers up college students' spines. That long list of sources, authors, and book titles is something that everyone remembers dreading, long after they have left the world of term papers behind.

A new application for iPhones and Andorids however is making that horror a thing of the past. This 99-cent app automates the bibliography process by using the camera on a smartphone to scan the barcode on the back of a book. The user then gets an e-mail which includes a citation formatted to fit one of the four common styles used for bibliographies. A little cutting, pasting and proof-reading later and the work is done -- a lot faster than the old-fashion way.

This application was the brainchild of seven students from the University of Waterloo in Canada, who came up with the idea in their group "7 Cubed." The whole project began during a late-night conversation where the group of friends decided to tackle their boredom with school by holding a seven-day "hackathon."

"It came about really organically. There were three of us who were just having a conversation late one night and how we all had this, like, creative impulse that wasn't being satisfied at school. We came up with this idea to go take a week and just build a lot of cool things. And we ended up with this seven days, seven apps, seven people idea that became '7 Cubed'," said Gareth MacLeod, one of the members of the group.

"Quick Cite" was one of the final applications created that week that involved a whole lot of coffee and very little sleep. While all the members of the group were excited with their final products, they had no expectations that the applications would become hits.

"We're surprised right now since we made it back in November and now that it's coming to the end of February, it's taken a bit of time for it to take off," said Barbara MacDonald, another group member.

"It became popular because a single blog picked it up, and then other people picked up that blog post until it made its way to PC Magazine and Business Insider," said MacLeod adding that the group feels very lucky about its new-found popularity.

Click here to see more "Conversation" videos from ABC World News.