Newsletter

Announcing MisinfoCon

Welcome to another Friday, hacks and hackers! We’ve got a bigger announcement than usual this week: twttr.widgets.createTweet( '824347511439720449', document.getElementById('tweet-container-824347511439720449'), ); Several Hacks/Hackers organizers, including Jenny 8. Lee, Burt Herman and Phillip Smith, have launched an anti-fake news event called MisinfoCon in Boston. It’s coming up in one short month, so put it on your calendar and tell your colleagues. The week ahead: Warsaw is holding a Q&A with some of the biggest news outlets in Poland New York is holding a workshop on how to build web notifications Brisbane is planning more events in a pub and is therefore meeting for an event aptly titled Planning in a Pub Portland is holding an informal brainstorming session Singapore is collaborating on a ‘privilege calculator’ project Miami and IRE are holding their regular weekly open labs Chapter spotlight:

Jan 26, 2017

Seven first events of 2017: Nairobi, Joburg, Singapore and more

Happy Friday, hacks and hackers. After a winter hibernation (or summer nap, for those in the southern hemisphere), seven Hacks/Hackers chapters are holding their first events of 2017, including in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa. twttr.widgets.createTweet( '822329676311961600', document.getElementById('tweet-container-822329676311961600'), ); The week ahead: Nairobi is looking at tools that help indentify fake news Johannesburg is digitizing legal documents Singapore is learning to make “code art” with D3 London is hearing about projects at the BBC and Al Jazeera Los Angeles is hosting a get-together with ONA LA New York is holding a workshop on building web notifications IRE in Missouri is holding its weekly open lab Chapter spotlight:

Jan 20, 2017

Dozens of Hacks/Hackers jobs open up in the first weeks of 2017

It’s a new year, hacks and hackers, and newsrooms seem to be ushering in the new: more than two dozen job openings were posted since our last newsletter, ranging from Research Professor to Motion Graphics Editor. The Washington Post alone named eight new openings on its new rapid-response investigations team. twttr.widgets.createTweet( '818486192501039104', document.getElementById('tweet-container-818486192501039104'), ); Chapter spotlight: San Francisco – the original Hacks/Hackers chapter – has held nearly five dozen events since 2009, when it was first founded.

Jan 13, 2017

Hacks/Hackers enters 2017

Welcome to a new year, hacks and hackers! 2016 was a tumultuous one for many Hacks/Hackers groups around the world, and 2017 may or may not be more stable. Last week we featured NiemanLab’s predictions for the coming year; this week we look back at ProPublica’s year in visual storytelling. twttr.widgets.createTweet( '815274401436463104', document.getElementById('tweet-container-815274401436463104'), ); Chapter spotlight: Austin held a series of events last year, ranging from a D3 workshop to a massive Connect event.

Jan 6, 2017

A very newsy year comes to a close

It’s the end of 2016, hacks and hackers, a year of cultural and political trends, movements and upsets. These trends in different regions have led to a serious questioning of transparency (both for governments and journalists), the use of open data and prediction models. There are certainly enough opinions, think pieces and tweet storms to cover these topics already, so I will focus on what we do best: building the future of news, when we can, and hacking it together when we can’t.

Dec 30, 2016

Nairobi talks transparency; job postings pile up across the globe

Happy holidays, hacks and hackers, to those of you celebrating. To everyone else, I hope you are staying warm (or cool, depending on your hemisphere). Many chapters are either celebrating or hibernating right about now, but job postings are up in other parts of the world – check out the list below: Chapter spotlight: The Hacks/Hackers Africa chapter in Nairobi met last week to discuss how digital activism can aid government accountability, and vice versa.

Dec 23, 2016

Hacks/Hackers Montreal braves the cold of Canada for Pandas

We’re midway through the coldest months – unless, of course, you live on the southern hemisphere – and techs and reporters are burrowing into projects or warm coats, or both. Montreal, who we featured in October, met for a Pandas and D3 party last week. Check out the chapter spotlight for how organizers in Quebec have been experimenting with their events. Chapter spotlight: Roberto Rocha, one of the organizers of Hacks/Hackers Montreal, said the group has been experimenting with meetup formats in order to make it easiest on organizers.

Dec 16, 2016

Hacks and hackers keep at it during the holidays

Season’s greetings, hacks and hackers! The holidays are closing in on us – at least on those of us in the western world, and many groups and people are slowing down and starting to hibernate. But not Hacks/Hackers! There’s still time to help us pick a new logo, if you’re so inclined – and check out what local groups are up to next week and onward: twttr.widgets.createTweet( '804429947406286848', document.

Dec 9, 2016

Help us pick a new Hacks/Hackers logo

It’s a new month, hacks and hackers, and if you’ve been reading this a while, you know that means one thing: a Hacks/Hackers global call. Check out the agenda to see what we’ll be chatting about. If you can’t make it, please take this super short (i.e., four-question) survey to give us some feedback on a new logo: twttr.widgets.createTweet( '804429947406286848', document.getElementById('tweet-container-804429947406286848'), ); The week ahead: Hacks/Hackers is holding its December open call Taipei is talking about Github Johannesburg is drinking in some city budgets Montreal is demonstrating Pandas and D3 New Orleans holding a hackathon planning party New York is building better news notifications San Francisco is discussing infosec for journalists Madrid is holding a data journalism workshop Munich is discussing Facebook bots and prediction models after Trump Miami and IRE are holding their regular weekly open labs Chapter spotlight:

Dec 2, 2016

Hacking public transit with HackDash

Greetings, hacks and hackers. A lot of the suggested reads this week follow the same trends as last week: cybersecurity and privacy, fake news and press freedom. On the plus side, there’s a veritable deluge of journalism job postings this week, from San Francisco to Hong Kong to Johannesburg. The week ahead: Miami is holding its regular OpenHack Miami IRE in Missouri is holding its weekly meeting Chapter spotlight:

Nov 25, 2016