Minnesota Journalism Center to host AI + Local News Hackathon weekend

Minnesota journalists, programmers and community members will work together to build new civic tools. Join us!
Hands on computer

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, technologists and community members from across the state to join us over three days in January to help make some of those dream projects reality. 

Our AI + Local News Hackathon weekend is presented by Hacks/Hackers, the Minnesota Journalism CenterThe Poynter InstituteTrusting News and the MacArthur foundation.

Mark your calendars for three different opportunities to work with the teams from Hacks/Hackers, the Minnesota Journalism Center and technologists at the University of Minnesota to develop and prototype your wildest and most useful ideas.

Thursday, Jan. 30: Idea development workshop

First, we're hosting a kickoff event to get the ideas flowing. It's happening in conjunction with the Minnesota Newspaper Association's annual convention, but we encourage journalists from any type of news organization to attend. It's not limited to newspaper journalists!

We'll begin the workshop by hearing from some local news organizations about how they're using AI -- and if they're not yet using it, how they're beginning to think about it.

Then we'll bring participants together to identify opportunities to use AI in their news organizations' operations, reporting and workflows. We'll identify the types of work that AI is good at, and participants will develop ideas around applications of AI use in their news organizations.

Some of those ideas could form the basis of projects developed during the two-day hackathon on the University of Minnesota's campus Friday (Jan. 31) and Saturday (Feb. 1).

Friday, Jan. 31: MNA Convention concurrent session

In addition to our half-day conference workshop, the MJC and Hacks/Hackers teams will host a panel discussion during the MNA Conventions' Friday concurrent sessions.

In conjunction with Alex Mahadevan from The Poynter Institute and Lynn Walsh from Trusting News, MJC director Benjamin Toff will talk about ways audiences are responding to news organizations’ growing use of AI; how newsrooms can disclose these efforts in a transparent manner; and how to center ethics in all of these applications. 

Minnesota Newspaper Association logo

The session is open to all registered MNA Convention attendees, and is part of three days of collaborations -- hosted by the Minnesota Journalism Center in conjunction with Hacks/Hackers --  among journalists, computer programmers and community members to build new tools to make our communities stronger, more connected and more informed.

Friday, Jan. 31 + Saturday, Feb. 1: Hackathon

In this separate (but related!) main event, we'll gather journalists, developers, community members and students to work in teams and move some of those big ideas closer to reality.

Join us for a hands-on hackathon to prototype AI solutions that strengthen local journalism and civic engagement.

  • What: AI Hackathon: Making Local Civic Information More Accessible in Minnesota Communities
  • Where: University of Minnesota -- Twin Cities campus
  • When: Friday evening (5:30-8 p.m.) and all day Saturday (9 a.m.-5 p.m.)
  • Who should join: Minnesota journalists who want to bring their newsroom expertise to creating new tools. (If you've got an idea or a problem you'd like to solve with AI and programming, all the better -- but even if not, we need all the newsroom experience we can get!)
    • Plus: Anyone who cares about how communities share, access and assess information, from civic tech developers and designers to community organizers, local government staff, 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.

Some of the projects will likely come from the seeds of ideas raised in Thursday's MNA Convention workshop, and others will surface during Friday and Saturday's hackathon idea sessions.

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.

About Hacks/Hackers and the Minnesota Journalism Center

This three-day event is a collaboration between Hacks/Hackers and the Minnesota Journalism Center, with help from The Poynter Institute, Trusting News, the Minnesota Newspaper Association and support from the MacArthur Foundation

The Hacks/Hackers organizational logo has the phrase "Hacks/Hackers" in black type with a transparent background.

Hacks/Hackers unites diverse communities to advance media innovation and foster public trust in the information ecosystem.

Minnesota Journalism Center logo

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 or our AI + Local News events and how to get involved. We hope to see you there!

Minnesota Journalism Center logo