Hacks/Hackers June meetup: Breaking convention

Please note the venue for this meetup. We are once again on the move.

This month's meetup promises to be fantastic, focusing on two projects which have launched within the past month.

The first is UsVsTh3m, a new mobile-first site from Trinity Mirror. The second topic up for discussion is Firestorm, the Guardian's multimedia story published as Guardian Australia launched.

1. Creating a mobile-first site of 'topical funny stuff'

Martin Belam, UsVsTh3m (http://usvsth3m.com/)

UsVsTh3m launched in May. It’s a site of 'topical funny stuff' designed to be read on a mobile phone.

The idea for the site came out of a one-day ideas workshop at Trinity Mirror (which publishes the Mirror newspaper) in April. The site was up and running five weeks later.

Martin, who is project lead on UsVsTh3m, will need little introduction to Hacks/Hackers regulars.

He has been working in digital product development, information architecture and user-experience design, for organisations like the Guardian, Sony, Vodafone and the BBC.

He writes about user experience, journalism and digital media at MartinBelam.com (http://MartinBelam.com/).

2. Telling the story of Firestorm

Jon Henley and Robin Beitra will take us through the creation of Firestorm (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/may/26/firestorm-bushfire-dunalley-holmes-family), the Guardian's multimedia story on a bushfire in Tasmania.

Jon will talk us through the storytelling; Robin will be able to explain how it was built.

Jon was the writer on Firestorm. A senior Guardian feature writer and former foreign correspondent, he has reported for the paper from more than 20 countries and was for 10 years its chief Paris correspondent. His work has been shortlisted for several awards including Feature Writer of the Year (British Press Awards) and Best Digital Innovation (Foreign Press Association, for the Twitter-based series Greece on the Breadline (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/greece-on-the-breadline) telling the stories of ordinary people in Greece's economic crisis).

Robin is a software developer with a background in creating museum installations and online games. As part of the Guardian Interactive Team he now works on a wide range of multimedia projects for the website, and was a core member of the Firestorm team.

Lightning Pitches - 3 minute windows into the worlds of:

Alex Wood, Tech City News (http://techcitynews.com/) Tassos Stevens, Coney (http://www.youhavefoundconey.net/home/) Craig Silverman, Spundge (https://www.spundge.com/) Also an early heads up: Hacks/Hackers July Meetup will be on whistleblowing. Keep an eye out for further announcements.

Bring some cash as we have no drinks sponsor for this event. The Frontline Club has a bar.