Hacks/Hackers Austin: Code With Me Workshop
Hacks/Hackers Austin was one of several organizations that helped bring the Code With Me Workshop to the Texas capital city on May 18-19. Along with the local Online News Association and the Austin American-Statesman, with generous funding from the Knight-Mozilla Open News project and Texas State University, Code With Me provided of HTML, CSS and JavaScript skills for journalists. The workshop is the brainchild of Sisi Wei of Propublica and Tom Giratikanon of The New York Times. The Austin event was the fourth they have done across the country, after D.C., Miami and Portland.
Using a combination of presentations and exercises, Code With Me is able to introduce a broad range of material in a short time. Their unique approach pairs groups of 2 students with a professional mentor to help them through each lesson. Mentors came from Texas State University, Austin American-Statesman, Texas Tribune and more. The workshop culminated with lots of focused work time and discussion of projects and future plans. Students worked on photo slideshows, data visualizations, FAQ sites and interactive games.
Check out the site for the Austin Workshop, which includes presentations and exercises. Additional photos, provided by Pete Karl can be found on Flickr and from Cindy Royal on Meetup.com. Thanks to Christian McDonald of the Statesman who provided the venue for this event. And a special thanks to Sisi and Tom for putting together such an engaging program.
