In December, we had held a Demo Day with 5-minute lightning talks (presentations) from ProPublica, OpenGovernment.org, Slate, TPM and others. We’re holding another one on April 5 at New Work City, and want you to present your demonstrations of journalism and technology-related projects, software and APIs. Fill out this form now (http://hckhc.kr/es4OQV) to pitch your idea, and we’ll be in touch by March 31 to let you know if you’ll be doing a demo.
Have an amazing product that is poised to transform journalism and the way we tell stories? Are you a tech start up hoping to share your million dollar idea with a group of forward thinking technologists and journalists? Developing an innovative plugin? Hacks/Hackers Seattle is organizing its first demo event at Tableau Software Tuesday, March 29 and we want to learn about your brilliant ideas. Tableau and Intersect have already joined the lineup.
Please join Hacks/Hackers, Online News Association, Poynter Institute, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Vision Cloud, Scribd, Tableau Software and more for a rockin’ party during SXSW. It’s the Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. Really. And you’re invited for music and fun with some of the most innovative journalists and developers in the country. Where: The Marq, 422 Congress Ave. When: Sunday, March 13, 4-7pm Please visit the Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever site for more details and to RSVP.
Google is sending developer relations engineer Kathryn Hurley from the Bay Area to demo how Google Fusion Tables can be used for journalistic purposes. RSVP now for two separate but related events at Pivotal Labs, near Union Square: Join Hacks/Hackers NYC on March 7 at 6:30 p.m. for an overview of Google Fusion Tables Get hands-on training with Kathryn Hurley and Hacks/Hackers NYC on March 8 at 6:30 p.m. So what exactly is Google Fusion Tables?
The future of news is snuggled in your pocket. The number of people reading news on mobile devices is surging, finally fulfilling the future that has been predicted for smartphones over the past few years. Last night, Hacks Hackers Boston held a discussion on the topic “Start the Presses: News sites of the future, told by the people building them.” The panel, which drew around 100 people, was held at The Boston Globe headquarters and discussed where news sites were headed, specifically looking at content management systems (CMSs), such as Drupal and WordPress.
Save the date! Hacks/Hackers NYC will be hosting a News+Gaming hackathon on April 22 and 23, at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, sponsored by Seattle-based BigDoor, which offers a gamification API. Plans are still coming together. But it looks like we will do a Friday night social event with talks about gaming with speakers from BigDoor and elsewhere. (Know anyone? Email nyc[at]hackshackers[dot]com with why that person is good) Then Saturday is the daylong hackathon at CUNY in midtown.
On Feb. 17, Andrew Dupont of Gowalla discussed his side project, Filibusted.us at the Austin American-Statesman. Andrew’s site collects data on filibusters to better inform people of some of the activities of those who represent them on the Senate floor. He also discussed some sources of government data and gave tips on how to work with it. Watch the video of his presentation below. More photos available at Meetup.
When WikiLeaks released the Afghanistan and Iraq war logs, news organizations and the public alike sprang into action to understand the documents. The New York Times was instrumental in analyzing and reporting the story in articles, photographs, maps and graphic information. Meanwhile, several local hackers worked on their own data visualizations and were featured soon after on Wired, NPR and the New York Times. RSVP now to join Hacks/Hackers NYC on March 9 at New Work City to learn how the analyses were done, the importance of independent validation checks on data, and see further examples of their work.
Take 15 million books and 4 billion words, use a simple interface to search for a few words or phrases, and presto – you have Google’s Ngram Viewer. Ngram creates charts that show how often words or phrases have occurred in books since 1800. It can be used to trace to rise and decline of certain words, giving clues to researchers. Or it can be used for simple fun – (Red Sox, Yankees).
Join Hacks/Hackers ATX on Feb. 17 at 6:30pm as Andrew Dupont (of Gowalla) talks about using government data and a side project he developed called Filibusted. We know that the Internet can be used to donate to political candidates. Or make fun of them. But, with a little help from citizens, it can also make government work better. First, Andrew will present a handful of sites that aggregate government data and present it in useful ways.