BarCamp NewsInnovation 2011 recap

The third annual BarCamp NewsInnovation was live as ever with three prominent advancements.

1. Group Session: We had the dazzling Wall Street Journal social media editor Zach Seward talk deep analytics over lunch.
2. Open Gov Hackathon: With the support of the Tropo team, we had a hackathon focused on tools that journalists could use, and the OPA Data Liberator was among the results.
3. More free food and beer: We’ve always tried to give people value for their time, keeping people fed and quenched while they were talking the future of the news conversation. Well, if you don’t mind our saying, we’d suggest we outdid ourselves, with the generous support of the Center for Public Interest Journalism, we had an after-party at the nearby Draught Horse bar full of free beer and good eats.

The 150 journalists, practitioners and friends were fed well, talked much and learned plenty. Thanks to our sponsors.

Some roundups here:

• Bloggers, others gather � Inquirer preview on BarCamp NewsInnovation in print local section, in addition to a follow up piece after the event here
• BCNI Philly: GitHub for news by Daniel Bachhuber
• Do news orgs have a responsibility for action?: Notes from BarCamp NewsInnovation 2011 by this reporter
• More photos on Facebook

BCNI 2011 sessions

Thanks!

BCNI 2011 Open Gov Hackathon results and prizes

News production and technology are sure to continue to converge. It was why running concurrently with BCNI this year, we also organized the Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo.

“Journalism and coding collide in an explosion of awesome,” as Tropo developer and open gov enthusiast Mark Headd put it.

In the Temple TV studio, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., three projects, with practical roles in informing communities were conceived, developed and unveiled, and all the hard work was celebrated with prizes, thanks to great sponsors.

1. As shared on Technically Philly, the day’s big win was the OPA Data Liberator, an online database of Philadelphia property owners searchable by name.
2. Code for America fellows polished off the Philadelphia Mural Guide, first shared at the Philly Tech Week Signature Event.
3. Headd continued work on his as-yet-unreleased side project: Philly Phinder, a text messaging service to find nearby locations of schools, libraries and other institutions.

For a day’s worth of work, ample prizes were bestowed, something we hope to do more of in the future:

OPA Data Liberator team members

• Team Captain Tim Wisniewski has earned a trip to the�Glue Conference in Colorado later this month. This prize, secured in partnership with the organizers of the Glue Conference, will provide a trip to the conference to represent Philly and the project itself.
• Team Members Adam Hinz, Joanne Cheng, Mjumbe Poe and Gil Raphaelli received Tropo prize packs, including t-shirts and swag, in addition to tickets to see the Phillies play the Rockies on May 18th, thanks to Drupal development shop Zivtech.

Philadelphia Mural Guide members:

• Code for America fellows Aaron Ogle and John Mertens will each receive an Amazon Kindle, thanks to Tropo.

Mark Headd, well, he receives the joy of the open government movement.

Thanks to all who participated. Look for other hack projects, organized by Technically Philly and others.

Thanks for the support: 2011 BCNI sponsors

The third annual national BarCamp NewsInnovation rocked thanks to the generous support of our fine sponsors!

Thanks to our sponsors!

Title and Happy Hour: Center for Public Interest Journalism

Event Space: Temple University Journalism department

Hackathon Sponsor: Tropo

General Sponsors: WarNewsRadio, Mozilla and Newsworks from WHYY

Hackathon support: Azavea

Who is coming to BCNI 2011 in logos

Tomorrow is the big day and, with nearly 350 registrants and buzz to spare, the third BarCamp NewsInnovation is shaping up to be the best yet.

Like we did last year, we figured we’d get a little more excitement flowing by sharing just some of the logos from brands attendees will be representing tomorrow:

Read more >>

BCNI 2011 Schedule

Here is a more detailed rough schedule for the 2011 BarCamp NewsInnovation:

Throughout, we’ll be encouraging BCNI attendees to check out the hackathon in the TV Studio room.

• 9 a.m.: Doors open at Annenberg Hall, Temple University, North Philadelphia
• 9:30 a.m.: Welcome, coffee and bagels [Board opens]
• 9:45 a.m.: Hackathon introduction with rules and timeline overview
• 10 a.m.-11 a.m.: Hackathon ideas and timing
• 10 a.m.-10:50 a.m.: First BCNI sessions
• 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m.: Hackathon building
• 11 a.m.-11:50 a.m.: Second round of BCNI sessions
• 12 p.m.-12:30 p.m.: Lunch, provided by the Temple University Journalism Department
• 12:30 p.m. -1 p.m.: Zach Seward group session and remainder of lunch
• 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.: Third sessions
• 2:10 p.m. -3 p.m.: Fourth sessions
• 3 p.m.: Hackathon judges begin circulating
• 3:10 p.m.-4 p.m.: Fifth sessions
• 4:10 p.m. -5 p.m.: Sixth sessions
• 4:30 p.m. -5 p.m.: Hackathon internal presentations for judges
• 5:05 p.m.-5:10 p.m. Introduction of Center for Public Interest Journalism, title sponsor
• 5:10 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.: Hackathon winner presentations to group
• 5:25 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Thanks and BCNI overview
• 6 p.m. After party presented by the Center for Public Interest Journalism

Introducing the BCNI afterparty, presented by CPIJ

After a hard day of talkin’ shop, it’s only proper to relax with your fellow journos.

Thanks to our friends at the newly created Center for Public Interest Journalism, BCNI afterparty attendees will dine on the finest sliders in North Philadelphia and be able to redeem a drink ticket for one free draft beer.

Beginning�a half hour after BCNI, the afterparty will take place at the Draught Horse, a short walk away from Annenberg Hall (see right).

BCNI 2011 Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo details: judges, criteria, data and more

Data Camp Philly. Photo by John Mertens

You already know that we’re organizing an Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo during BCNI 2011. As you can see in our FAQs here, the event is part and parcel in our day-long news innovation conversation.

Now we’re ready for some details.

WHAT: A one-day hacking event bringing together coders, designers, hackers and journalists to build useful apps and data visualizations with open government data from the City of Philadelphia. [Register here]

WHO: Coders and designers. We will encourage journalists and other BCNI attendees to cross-pollinate and offer perspective

WHY: Build tools that show the power of data and connect journalists with the power of coding and coders with perspective from journalists

WHERE: Saturday April 30, 2011, Temple University, Annenberg Hall

Schedule:
9:00 a.m. � 10:00 a.m. — Registration / Networking
10:00 a.m. � 10:30 a.m. — Introductions, overview, proposal and teams form
10:30 a.m. � 4:30 p.m. — Coding, Hacking, Building [Judges will circulate in the afternoon]
4:30 p.m. � 5:00 p.m. — Presentations / Judging
5:00 p.m. — Winners presentations and BCNI closing

Find the judges, criteria and more below.

Read more >>

Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo to take place in conjunction with BCNI 2011

A big part of journalism innovation in the future lies in data and development. Journalists and developers need to come together. You know that. So do we.

That’s why we’re thrilled to announce that, running concurrently with BCNI, we’re hosting our first Open Gov Hackathon presented by Tropo. This further cements BCNI as an anchor event of the first ever Philly Tech Week. It is also a great fit to the municipal government data and transparency coverage we’re doing with Technically Philly.

“There are some exciting open government developments occurring in Philadelphia as part of the Digital Philadelphia Initiative, the Code For America program and Technically Philly’s “Transparencity” project,” said Mark Headd, a ‘developer evangelist’ for Voxeo Labs, which develops the cloud communications API Tropo and will be helping to organize the hackathon. “The results of these efforts will come together during Philly Tech Week and form the basis for some exciting announcements and activities. One of these exciting activities will be the BCNI Open Gov Hackathon.”

Read more >>

BCNI is officially part of Philly Tech Week

Yes, that’s right, Philly Tech Week, six days of events celebrating technology and innovation in Philadelphia, is running April 25-30.

And BarCamp NewsInnovation is an anchor event on April 30, the week’s final day. So, plan for BCNI, but celebrate some of the other events. Check out the calendar on the PTW website.