On the 29th of June, 2012, Outbox Hub hosted the African News Innovation Challengehttp://africannewschallenge.org/ and Hacks/Hackers Launch Kampala chapter.The event brought together 32 attendees that comprised of journalists and software developers.Phares Kaboro Kariuki, the Digital Projects and Community coordinator from the African Media Initiative gave a presentation about ANIC. Phares simplified the pieces using examples about the competition that revolve around news gathering, story telling, audience engagement and the business of news. For example the video here http://vimeo.com/3261363 simplifies the story of the Crisis of Credit in a very easy to understand format. More to that, this videohttp://blog.ted.com/2009/03/31/can_design_save/ illustrates how great design and great content increased circulation for a paper in Eastern Europe.The African News Innovation Challenge focuses onjournalism and the news media. It is looking for disruptive digital ideas for improving the way that news is collected and disseminated. Just a well articulate idea, even without a prototype can qualify you the opportunity to win a cash grant of between $12000 to $100000 plus additional business development support, technical mentorship and marketing support.The Hacks/Hackers Chapter of Kampala was also launched. Hacks/Hackers http://hackshackers.com/about/ is a rapidly expanding international grassroots journalism organization with dozens of chapters (and counting) and thousands of members across four continents (and counting). The mission is to create a network of journalists (“hacks”) and technologists (“hackers”) who rethink the future of news and information.This group is to bring all these people together — those who are working to help people make sense of their world. It’s for hackers exploring technologies to filter and visualize information, and for journalists who use technology to find and tell stories. In the age of information overload, all their work has become even more crucial.The next Hacks/hackers event in July will focus on “Monetizing models for Media”We hope to see you there. To join the hacks/hackers chapter, just sign up at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/hackshackers-kampala
Hey, I liked this. Can’t wait for the next one!