Welcome to the new Hacks/Hackers weekly newsletter. This newsletter aims to be a service to you – a way for you to learn from and about what’s going on in the 75(!) Hacks/Hackers groups around the world. The newsletter has four parts (for now – ’til you suggest others):

• “Group spotlight” gives you a quick window into the life of one group. If you’d like to nominate a group (or an exceptional organizer), let me (Julia Haslanger, the author of this newsletter) know.
• “The week ahead for Hacks/Hackers” is simply a list of Meetup events by the groups and occasionally events that may be of interest to the larger network.
• “Worth a read” curates whatever is popular and/or of interest to the larger Hacks/Hackers network. To determine popularity, I’m using Vellum (from NYTLabs) and two Twitter lists – the Hacks/Hackers groups and “the hacks and hackers“. If you notice yourself or your group missing from the lists, holler at @HacksHackers on Twitter.
• “Call to action” is your chance to get involved and help out. Each week, the call could be something as small as inviting one new person to a Hacks/Hackers event, or as big as joining a committee.

So, without further ado, here’s this week’s Hacks/Hackers newsletter:

**Group spotlight: **Hacks/Hackers Sydney (Australia)

The Sydney group just relaunched after being dormant since mid-2013. The group held an event on “Data Journalism and Investigations in Political Reporting,” which brought out a crowd. Check out the great tweets from the event.

Know a group or organizer up to something special that we should spotlight? Let me know.

The week ahead for Hacks/Hackers:

• The Seattle group meets for a networking happy hour … at Starbucks, of course.
• In Los Angeles, the Online News Association conference gets underway, with a good showing of organizers and members from Hacks/Hackers groups – including Burt and me, so say hi if you’re there, too.
• In São Paulo, they’re learning about developer culture in the GloboEsporte newsroom.
• The Uruguay Hacks/Hackers group is joining forces with a few other groups to work onbuilding an interactive timeline of government officials, like Cargografias in Argentina.
• In London, the monthly meetup will happen at Twitter UK’s offices and they’ll hear from India Rakusen, a reporter covering the refugee crisis for timesXtwo, a new BBC/ABC collaboration.
• In Birmingham (UK), the crew will hear from three speakers on interactivity and investigations.

Worth a read:

• Facebook Ramps Up Its Instant Articles, and the Washington Post Is All In (Re/Code)
• Protecting Yourself From Digital Snoops Isn’t that Difficult (Hacks/Hackers Africa)
• Connecting the Dots of a Global Movement: The “Why” and the “What” of Hacks/Hackers Connect (Phillip Smith)
• ‘Foreign media welcome,’ China says. But the harassment continues. (The Washington Post)
• A New Universal ‘New Yorker’ Cartoon Caption: ‘I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.’ (The Atlantic)

Call to action:

Invite someone else to receive this Hacks/Hackers newsletter! They can sign up on the Hacks/Hackers site or at: http://bit.ly/HHnewsletter

That’s all for now. See you next week!

Julia Haslanger

Social media and community manager, Hacks/Hackers

@JuliaJRH