UNESCO’s Amman office was home to the technical day organized by Hacks/Hackers Amman Chapter with the objective to provide technology solution to different issues Jordanian journalists face.
Participants included a wide range of ‘hackers’, organizations and figures in the Ammani vibrant and dynamic tech scene, including Hacks/Hackers members, the Jordan Open Source Association and different prominent local IT companies and programmers. On the other hand, journalists and professionals from media organizations like ARIJ, Alghad daily and the Amman-based private TV station Roya, fully participated at the day by expressing some of the IT-related challenges they face and by understanding how technology can be an important, even critical, part of any media strategy to be taken into account.
From iPads to Android, mobile is the future of media. But how can news organizations capitalize on mobile mania to better connect with their audiences? That’s a key question that journalists can’t answer alone.
To tackle this problem, The Media Consortium, a national network of leading independent media outlets, and Hacks/Hackers are hosting an Independent Media Mobile Hackathon in Chicago from Oct 9-10.
The mission is to create mobile applications that merge gaming mechanics and news delivery. Our panel of distinguished judges will award prizes to the top three prototype applications at the end of the Hackathon, and a $1,000 cash prize will be distributed to programmers behind the weekend’s top application.
This is a great opportunity to get your work noticed by local and national media outlets—and score some sweet prizes including cash, ebooks, t-shirts, XKCD comics, merch from Mozilla, and more. Judges include:
Brad Flora, of The Windy Citizen and Knight News Challenge winner
Brant Houston, executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.
Shinji Kuwayama, lead developer at Groupon.
Registration has been open for just a few weeks and we’ve already sold out of journalist slots. The Hacker slots are going quickly. If you’ve got experience developing mobile applications and are interested in journalism, please RSVP today. Please contact us with any questions.
Hackathon Goals
The hackathon’s call to action centers on the frame of “News + Fun + Community.” All prototype apps must focus on creatively delivering news and information via gaming mechanics, such as community engagement, video, rewards based systems, sharing, location-based opportunities, games, and more. All prototype apps created at the hackathon must be cross-platform (accessible via mobile web, tablet computer, smartphone, etc.). We are also committed to making all code generated at the hackathon open source and available immediately to all participants.
Stay tuned for more updates about the hackathon, sponsors and prizes. And, hackers,don’t forget to RSVP!
