The cross-discipline nature of interactive documentary production has led to the adoption and development of different production styles – one of which is the hackathon.
For those who don’t know, the hackathon model has its’ roots firmly in the software world, but has been modified and adapted to work with interactive projects, bringing new benefits for participants. They draw together people from different backgrounds, with a range of skills to inform the creation of a project, with the potential to take an idea and open up the possibilities for its development.
Sound good? Well there’s a few coming up and they’re looking for participants:
Hackastory
15 – 16 September, Istanbul
Unfortunately for storytellers, Hackastory already have a group of participants from around the world, from almost all continents. BUT! They do still have a few places for designers and coders. Also, if you have other or mixed skills and you think you can contribute in some way, feel free to apply.
Interested? Check out projects made with all the results from their first two hackathons. A couple of great projects have been prototyped in just two days which several media picked up on: The Guardian and Journalism.co.uk. You can also watch the aftermovie of their first hackathon in Amsterdam.
The goal:
To experiment and to build a prototype for new way of interactive digital storytelling in 48 hours.
The offer:
– a cool group of hackers from around the world
– entrance is free of charge (but you need to apply)
– plenty of food and drinks during the hackathon
Hack the Gender Gap: Women’s Hackathon at USC Annenberg
9 – 11 October, Los Angeles
Hackathon to empower female students with focus on immersive journalism
There’s a serious gender gap in both the journalism and technology industries — especially in business and leadership roles. That’s why MediaShift and the USC Annenberg School for Journalism and Communication are hosting a Women’s Hackathon — a weekend designed to develop technological and entrepreneurial skills critical to the journalism jobs of the future, and gain hands-on experience with immersive journalism and virtual reality.
Taking place on October 9 to 11, 2015, the weekend will kick off Friday evening with a discussion among top women in media and tech. Then the students will break into teams to create their own startup ideas around immersive journalism and VR, presenting them to judges on Sunday. Female faculty and professionals from around the country will serve as team facilitators and mentors.
The weekend event is MediaShift’s second Women’s Hackathon after last year’s bi-coastal blow-out, with a hackathon at West Virginia University and panel at Google in Silicon Valley.
Thanks to the Ford Foundation, there are also 10 travel scholarships of $500 each to offer to female students who cannot afford travel to Los Angeles. Please apply here for a travel scholarship by September 4, 2015.
TV Hackday
26 – 27 September, Berlin
TV Hackday is looking to hack the future of TV. They’re looking for developers, creatives, storytellers, designers, techies, strategists and producers to work together to do remixes, apps, hacks or the next TV set. Anything goes as long as it is a TV related project that can be done in 24 hours.
There will also be some brand new APIs made public for the first time at the event, that can be used to create something new & exciting.
At the end of the hack, there will be demos of the projects on Sunday afternoon to participants, a jury and anyone else interested – along with prizes for the participants.
POV Hackathon 10
3-4 October, Los Angeles
Hot on the heels of the POV Hackathon 9 – applications are already open for the 10th edition, taking place in Los Angeles in October. If you’re not sure what to expect, you can check out some of the projects made at the last hack – with other previous alumni including The Whiteness Project and Living Los Sures.
If you’re interested, apply by Thursday, September 10, 2015, at 5pm Pacific Time. There is one form for applicants proposing POV Hackathon project ideas and a second form for applicants not proposing ideas but who want to join a team. Note that anyone can propose an idea, whether you consider yourself a “media maker” or a “technologist” or both or something else!
Not a hack… But of interest all the same – Kel O’Neill is bidding farewell to Storycode LA with a final meetup where he will present The Ark, a project he is currently working on with Eline Jongsma. You can hear more about this work and wish Kel good luck on 10 September, in LA – more info + signup.
“When you work with technology as closely as we do, it’s constantly sending you back to square one and making you question your basic assumptions about how to tell a story. There are inherent limitations within technology but we believe these can lead to results. There is no way for us to predict what storytelling will be in ten years and that’s terrifying, but also exciting.”
-Kel O’Neill, in the British Journal of Photography
Am I missing an awesome hack happening elsewhere? Let me know on Twitter.