Join us for a hands-on hackathon to prototype AI solutions that strengthen local journalism and civic engagement.
Minnesota communities face a common challenge: Making sense of crucial civic information buried in lengthy council meetings, complex public documents and scattered government websites.
At the same time, local news outlets have capacity constraints in the ways they currently operate.
This hackathon invites journalists, technologists, civic leaders and community members to come together to build AI-powered solutions that transform how residents access and engage with local information while centering important questions of ethics and equity in how these tools are used and deployed.
Join us to prototype the future of civic engagement — with cash prizes for the most promising solutions!
- When: Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1
- Where: University of Minnesota -- Twin Cities campus
- Who should attend: Anyone who cares about how communities share, access and assess information
- Journalists and news technologists
- Civic tech developers and designers
- Local government staff
- Community organizers
- Students and researchers
- Cost: The two-day hackathon, which includes a mixer on Friday and breakfast and lunch on Saturday, is free -- but you must RSVP to join us
- RSVP: Register for the two-day hackathon here
In this part of our journalist and developer collaboration, we'll ask participants to join us for both days. We'll form teams of professionals and students -- journalists, community members and programmers -- to develop and prototype solutions to Minnesota newsrooms' most gnawing challenges.
Join us in reimagining how AI can serve Minnesota's communities and strengthen local civic engagement. Together, we can build tools that make local democracy more accessible and participatory for all.
What to expect at the hackathon
This two-day event will build on some of the insights and opportunities identified during a workshop we're hosting during the Minnesota Newspaper Association's annual Convention. (Join us Thursday, Jan. 30, for the workshop!)
We'll kick it all off by setting the stage on Friday evening. On Saturday, we'll come together in teams of journalists, technologists and community members to prototype AI solutions that strengthen local journalism and civic engagement.
- Friday, Jan. 31 (5:30 to 8 p.m.): Lightning talks and networking mixer
- Saturday, Feb. 1 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.): Hackathon
The Minnesota Journalism Center will host the two-day event On the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus, home of the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
How to prepare for the Hackathon
We encourage journalists to think about the issues that keep them up at night; the workflow challenges that make basic newsroom functions onerous; the data and access that seem just out of reach enough to be too big to tackle -- and the Big Dream projects that they just don't feel as though they have the time or capacity to launch.
Think: Coverage, workflow, accountability, process, story presentation, metrics, community building and beyond.
More about the MJC's AI + Local News Hackathon weekend
Every journalist has that project they'd love to tackle if they had the time and resources: A tool for planning and slotting stories that connects to existing systems ... a statewide reporting tool that gathers and summarizes data from multiple sources ... an internal way to automatically measure stories' impacts across their lifespan ... a way to gather meeting notes from disparate government organizations ... the lists are endless.
That's where the Minnesota Journalism Center comes in: We're inviting journalists from across the state to join us in January to help make some of those dream projects a reality, with the help of community members, technologists and students from across the University of Minnesota.
Find out more about all of the AI + Local News hackathon weekend events here.
Partners and sponsors
The AI + Local News Hackathon weekend is presented by Hacks/Hackers, the Minnesota Journalism Center, The Poynter Institute, Trusting News and the MacArthur foundation.
Hacks/Hackers unites diverse communities to advance media innovation and foster public trust in the information ecosystem.
The Minnesota Journalism Center supports a more vibrant, equitable, and sustainable ecosystem for journalism in Minnesota through educational initiatives, applied research and engagement with newsrooms and journalists across the state.
Questions?
Contact Meg Martin ([email protected]) or Ben Toff ([email protected]) for more about the MJC's AI + Local News events and how to get involved. We hope to see you there!