Hacks/Hackers Dublin is rebooted

Hacks and Hackers crammed into the intimate surroundings of the Library Bar at the Central Hotel in Dublin city centre for the rebooted of Hacks/Hackers Dublin on September 16th. The enthusiastic crowd were joined by some international guests – Andy Carvin of NPR who is famous for his unique methods of covering the news on Twitter and Amanda Michel of The Guardian (US) – fresh from a media conference at Dublin City University, as well as representatives from local media companies The Irish Times, thejournal.ie and Storyful.

The evening was kicked-off with a welcome talk from the group organiser, Dr. Bahareh Heravi, who heads up the Digital Humanities and Journalism group at Insight, NUI Galway. She then introduced Paul Watson, CTO of Storyful, the leading social news agency based in Dublin, who gave a brief presentation of the Storyful’s new ‘social search’ which is a Chrome plugin that allows users search for news across multiple social media platforms.

Later attendees played an M&M game where players answered different questions such as ‘Where will the newsroom be in 5 years time’ or ‘As a Hack, a Hacker can teach me X’ depending on which colour chocolate they picked from a bowl. Attendees were enthusiastic and came up with some great ideas, the creative juices seemingly lubricated by the alcohol from the bar. The idea of hosting a hackathon proved popular and Hacks/Hackers Dublin hopes to organise an event sometime in 2014.

Overall the evening was a great success with organisers and attendees determined to revive the Dublin group of Hacks/Hackers. HuJo promises to hold another event before Christmas and by the end of the night had already received offers from a few parties to host a more extensive meeting possibly including some workshops. Thanks to everyone who attended and we hope to see you at the second event on December 9th. Sign up to attend.