What's New About New Media?

While media has always, by its very nature, been in a state of flux, a number of significant developments in recent years - everything from WikiLeaks and the rise of social media networks to Australia’s media inquiry - have highlighted just how rapidly it is now changing. More importantly, they serve as examples of the often unpredictable extent to which such changes are being led not by legacy media, but for the first time, by disparate audiences around the world.

Some argue the internet is simply an alternative medium for news. Others argue that it rids us of all the rules that used to apply and makes what was once black and white an unsettling grey. Journalists and technologists are now at the centre of the crossroads of new media, and both are equally fascinated by what the future holds and what it means for them.

Hacks/Hackers started in the US as a grassroots society which hosts events - conferences, parties, hack days etc - bringing journalists (hacks) and technologists (hackers) together to share their respective skills and ideas about the future of news, information and media. HH events are now held regularly in dozens of cities around the world. Until now, the group has never operated in Australia.

Melbourne will be the first Australian chapter of Hacks/Hackers and our aim will be to help make sense of this rapidly changing media landscape. Our inaugural event will feature a panel of three speakers who will discuss the theme for the night "What's new about new media?" to provide a deeper insight into the way journalism is evolving online.

Our panel of speakers is:

David Schonstein, Datalicious (http://www.datalicious.com/)

David has a background in research, with a Ph.D. in psychoacoustics. Currently a Marketing Analyst at Datalicious. He has a deep respect for data - skilled at finding signals in noise using code and producing actionable insights. Previously completed web-based data visualisation project betterworldflux.com (http://betterworldflux.com/).

John Barratt, The Wall and Trendsmap (Stateless Systems)

John is a Melbourne based software developer. He is the primary developer of Trendsmap (http://trendsmap.com/) at Stateless Systems. Over the last year there he has also worked on the automated data feed that creates the content for The Wall (http://thewall.com.au/) and it's international cousins. He also likes to work on custom weather visualisations at The Weather Chaser (http://www.theweatherchaser.com/) in some of his limited spare time.

Craig Dixon, deputy editor, http://TheAge.com.au

Steve Doig, Knight Chair in Journalism, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University. (Courtesy of The Melbourne Press Club (http://centreforadvancedjournalism.createsend1.com/t/r-l-dhuitjt-eluydiiur-k/))

This will be followed by a Q&A session and drinks.

UPDATE:

LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE. You MUST RSVP at Melbourne Uni's website to secure your seat for this free event: https://register.eventarc.com/event/view/8850/tickets/hackshackers-whats-new-about-new-media

An RSVP on this meetup page will not guarantee you a seat. Sorry for any inconvenience.