Major newsrooms compete to hack data-driven journalism in Australia’s first Editors Lab

THE Walkley Foundation and the Global Editors Network (GEN), with major support from Google, are presenting a two-day hackathon on Thursday, March 3, and Friday, March 4.

Teams from across Australia will compete to develop prototypes that dig up or tell data-driven stories.

There are 14 three-person teams — each with a journalist, a developer and a designer — converging on Macleay College in Surry Hills for the event, part of GEN’s global Editors Lab hackathon series. 

“Everyone wants to talk about innovation. We’re really encouraging it,” said Kate McClymont, Sydney Morning Herald investigative reporter and Walkley Advisory Board chair. 

“Our hackathon is designed to get journalists to work with technologists, and to get them out of the news cycle so they can think bigger and more creatively for a couple of days. We hope their efforts will inspire other journalists to play with code and innovate.

"And who knows, some of these prototypes may go on to have a life of their own and become full-fledged apps that solve journalistic problems.”

The winners will be flown to GEN’s international final competition in Vienna, Austria, at the GEN Summit in June 2016.

The hackathon is part of the Walkleys’ program on innovation in journalism, also sponsored by Google. Innovation Grants for unique projects that further Australian journalism are open now. Applications are due March 18. 

The teams will present their prototypes at 5pm on Friday, March 4, to a jury consisting of Jonathan Richards, Google Creative Lab team lead; Evangeline de Bourgoing, Global Editors Network program director; Kate Golden, The Walkley Foundation multimedia director; and Henare Degan, of the OpenAustralia Foundation.

The not-for-profit Walkley Foundation, based in Sydney, celebrates and encourages great Australian journalism, telling the stories of our nation and strengthening our democracy.

The Global Editors Network, based in Paris, is a cross-platform community empowering newsrooms through programmes designed to inspire, connect and share.

A full list of teams and more information is available at walkleys.com/editorslab.

Learn more at walkleys.com/innovation.

 

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