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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.

Group spotlight:

Bogota, Colombia, held a hackathon in August called “Hackeando la Educación“, or “Hacking Education.” Two civic organizations presented projects they were working on – Datos Al Tablero and Ciudatos – which aim to improve open data in this area. Organizer Daniel Suárez Pérez said he would like to continue doing hackathons in the same space.

“Fue muy interesante ver que reunimos a 60 personas, y que entre los asistentes, había desarrolladores, maestros, periodistas, investigadores que ya tenían sus iniciativas y que querían buscar alianzas para sacar adelante sus proyectos. Para ellos, espacios como el de Hackeando la Educación, se convierten en una oportunidad para compartir experiencias, crear una red y combinar esfuerzos para potenciar los resultados.”
“It was really interesting to see we gathered 60 people, and between the attendees, there were designers, teachers, journalists, researchers who already had their initiatives and who wanted to look for teams to bring their projects forward. For them, spaces like Hackeando la Educación become an opportunity to share experiences, create a network and join forces to strengthen their results.”

Check out our Hackathon Tips to stage your own hackathon.

Worth a read:

  • Google seems to be taking steps to counteract fake news, as holocaust denial sites have disappeared from the first page of search results (Search Engine Land)
  • In other news on fake news, Snopes, a site once dedicated to busting urban legends, has found new relevance and audience during and after the U.S. election (NYT)
  • Trump’s deregulation and trade plans may actually be promising for the tech world (Recode)
  • NiemanLab released its collection of Predictions for Journalism 2017 (NiemanLab)

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