OpenNews/hackdays/openinternet

Knight-Mozilla-MIT "The Open Internet" Hack Day

The Knight-Mozilla OpenNews project is sponsoring at 24-hour [1] as a lead-in to the 2014 MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference. While the conference is invite-only, the hack day is open to talented developers, designers, journalists, and open web advocates who want to spend their weekend working with others to build amazing things.

Following the conference theme of "The Open Internet and Everything After," this hack day will focus on projects related to the open web and net neutrality.

If you're tweeting about this hackday, please use the #owhack hashtag.

Logistics

• Where: MIT Media Lab 3rd Floor 75 Amherst Street Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
• When: 3pm sharp Saturday June 21 to 4pm Sunday June 22
• Will there be food? Yes, there will be food. We will be providing dinner on Saturday night, breakfast and lunch on Sunday, and snacks throughout.
• What to bring You will need to bring your own laptop and power supply. Also, bring any data sets or open-web-related projects you want to work on.
• We'll supply the WiFi, the plugs, and collaboration and brainstorming materials like post-its, sharpies, etc.

Schedule

Saturday 6/21

• 3pm Opening Circle
• 7pm Dinner
• 10pm Building closes

Sunday 6/22

• 9am Building opens
• 9am Breakfast
• 1pm Lunch
• 2:45pm Show and Tell
• 3:45pm Closing Circle

Communications

Want to get in touch with other hack day participants?

• Join the #opennews channel on irc.mozilla.org
• Tweet questions/ideas with #owhack hashtag. Tag @opennews with any questions about the event
• Email OpenNews if there are any questions/concerns/ideas that should be emailed to the group on off hours.

HackDash: Project Teams and Ideas

We're going to use HackDash, developed by our friends at Hacks/Hackers Buenos Aires, to help gather teams and ideas this year.

How to use HackDash

• Go to our HackDash page. There's an example project listed to show the basic project format.
• To create or join a project, log in with Twitter, GitHub, or Meetup (if you don't have any of those accounts, email Erika for assistance).
• To create a project:
  • Click create a project.
  • If your project exists on GitHub, you can import some of the fields from your GitHub repo using the GitHub importer.
  • Give your project a title and description. Both of these items will be shown on the project card on the HackDash page. You can also include a photo associated with your project.
  • If there's a link associated with your project, you can include that as well as any topical tags.
  • The final drop list is for "state" of your project, which you can update as the project progresses from brainstorming to wireframing and so on.
  • Click create project!
• Once a project exists, anyone can join, like, or follow the project. The Twitter avatars for team members are displayed at the bottom of the project card.
• Each project card also includes a Disqus comment thread where team members can communicate or other people can offer feedback on the idea.

It should be that simple. We'll have an easy way to collaborate and see all of the projects from the hack day. Please go ahead and start adding project ideas. If a project looks interesting to you, join the team.

Let Erika know if you have any questions or run into issues with the setup. This tool is in active development by Dan Zajdband, so we can get help with any questions and any feedback is much appreciated.

Data of the Open Web

We're collecting data sets for you to work form this weekend. Add them here!

Tools & APIs

Have tools or APIs that would be helpful for this hack weekend? List them here.

Waldo Jaquith pointed out broadband map APIs and bulk downloads.

Communications

If you're tweeting about this hackday, please use the #owhack hashtag

To stay connected to the Knight-Mozilla OpenNews project, follow us @opennews and check the web to find out additional ways to get involved.

Your Blogs

If you're blogging about the event, please link to it here.

Places to Eat and Drink

We'll be feeding you dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. Additionally, we'll be providing snacks and plenty of caffeine throughout. That said, if you're looking to find food some other time while you're in town:

• Za Homemade pickles, excellent wine list. Rest of menu is pizza and salad and THAT'S IT. Across the street from the Marriott.
• Mary Chung's Classic MIT hangout. Chinese food. Eat the Suan La Chow Show. In Central Square. Lip-dragging distance from Le Meridien; an eight minute walk from the Marriott.

Do You Want To Eat A Vegetable?

Veggie Galaxy Vegan/vegetarian diner and bakery. Retro/air-quotes diner food. Only vegan. Clover Vegan restaurant. Informal, inexpensive.

Lisa Williams' Guide to Things To Do, See and Eat in Boston From a native.