Use your mad skills to hack journalism

The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, in partnership with the Public Media Platform (PMP) and KQED, will challenge teams of developers, journalists and innovative thinkers to build tools to help journalists add context and meaning to stories amid the flurry of social media during breaking news. The hackathon will take place the weekend of May 31-June 1 at KQED's headquarters in San Francisco.

Participants will work together over the course of 37 hours to develop ideas and create rough prototypes. The resulting projects will be evaluated by investors, hackathon partners and other leaders in the digital media and journalism industry. Top-rated teams will receive cash awards and other prizes.

"Journalism has just started to scratch the surface of the opportunities that could be available from social media and archives," said RJI Executive Director Randy Picht. "A hackathon is a great way to dig a little deeper and we're excited to work with our partners to make it happen."

The event will also include workshops on current application development trends in digital and social media, and a demonstration area will showcase new tools for journalists.

The hackathon hashtag is #rjihacks.

For more information or to request an invitation, click here.