The only constant is change. From the advent of movable type to social media and the cloud, technology has always changed the way we tell stories, and it always will. A relatively new movement of journalists (hacks) and technologists (hackers) have come together to learn from and inspire each other. Together they combine their skills to “filter, visualize and distribute information.” The result is a richer, more meaningful way to tell stories. See hackshackers.com.
The following panels feature some of the top hacks and hackers at SXSW, must-sees for anyone interested in the future of journalism.
1. Will News Apps Re-Invent Journalism?
Monday, March 14 – 3:30 p.m.
Aron Pilhofer, Editor of Interactive News for The New York Times, leads this panel that discusses “the current state of news apps, emerging trends, and the future of professional news delivery.” Read more about Pilhofer and his team of “renegade cybergeeks.”
2. Hacking the News: Applying Computer Science to Journalism
Sunday, March 13 – 11 a.m.
This panel, led by Storify co-founder and CEO Burt Herman, looks at the future of storytelling, specifically “object-oriented programming, model-view controller frameworks, database-driven Web applications and social code repositories.” More on Storify.
3. Open for News: Turning Journalism Inside Out
Sunday March 13 – 11 a.m.
Ian Katz and Jemima Kiss from The Guardian will try to answer the question, “What do you think the future of journalism should look like?”
4. Why Journalists Need to Think Like Geeks
Sunday March 13 – 5 p.m.
The New Yorker’s Blake Eskin asks the question, “How can we teach journalists to think about technology?”
5. Bloggers vs. Journalists: It’s a Psychological Thing
Saturday, March 12 – 3:30 p.m.
Anyone who has ever worked in a newsroom can relate to this. From Jay Rosen, press critic and Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University: “The only way we can finally kill this meme–bloggers vs. journalists–and proceed into a brighter and pro-am future for interactive journalism is to go right at the psychological element in it: the denial, the projection, the neuroses, the narcissism, the grandiosity, the rage, the fears of annihilation: the monsters of the id in the newsroom, and the fantasy of toppling the MSM in the blogosphere.”