RFE/RL Hackathon
Innovation for Independent Media
6⁠–7 September 2019
HubHub Palac ARA in Prague
Register for 2020! About
Share:

About

The RFE/RL Hackathon is a 24-hour event bringing together journalists, coders and designers to innovate and build digital prototypes in support of media freedom. The Hackathon will be held on September 6th and 7th at HubHub Palac ARA in Prague.

RFE/RL journalists report the news in 22 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate.​

2019 Hackathon is Over!

93

Participants

54

Coders, Designers and Journalists

10

Teams

The Winners

1st

Trend Eintopf

A web app that helps to quickly determine if Twitter trends are legitimate or artificially created by bots.
2nd

Nudge

A plug-in that helps to make online discussions on news media websites more civil by positive or negative reinforcement, e.g. it recites the proposed comments back to the user, giving a “nudge” to think twice.
3rd

4words

Distributed social network mobile app based on theory of memes. The app helps people to organize massive protests against restrictive governments and to spread ideas anonymously.
Mapbox Prize

Hidden Impact

The tool that uses big data to correlate geographically specific environmental phenomena and social trends over time to tackle challenge of verifying and analyzing widely disparate information about the relationship between environmental impact and human activity.

Hack Themes

Fake news – how to identify and debunk?

Disinformation is a big challenge for media today. Even for experienced and tech savvy journalists, sometimes it may not be easy to identify disinformation. For example, images and videos are professionally manipulated. Websites and social media accounts disseminating them are disguised as credible sources — such as government officials or other well-known personas. It seems there are enough useful online tools that help identify fake news stories, but the problem still persists. So how can we  identify and debunk disinformation effectively? Keeping in mind that the ultimate victims of disinformation are media consumers, how can media strengthen their ‘immunity’ to disinformation?

Open Debate

The concept of open debate and the idea of finding a way for the people to communicate with each other with more respect and consideration should be observed from the standpoint of media literacy.

If the media literacy level is low, as it is in many countries, and people do not have critical thinking skills developed, they are more inclined to act emotionally rather than rationally and react without arguments and with hate speech.

Open debate does not mean the ability to access platforms to express opinions, or to have to find a way to bypass laws and oppressed regimes to speak freely. It’s also not about opposite opinions talking past each other.

Open debate is the freedom to have a conversation with regards and respect to others, regardless of their views.

The aim of this concept is to find a solution to foster critical thinking and to increase media literacy.

News Censorship

There are governments that supervise and control information and ideas circulated amongst their people and abroad. In recent years, censorship refers to the examination of books, periodicals, plays, films, television and radio programs, news reports, and other communication media for the purpose of altering or suppressing parts thought to be objectionable or questioning the status quo.

Thanks to the Internet, there are many solutions today to bypass government censorship. These tools allow the population to access information freely even though doing so puts them at risk.

How can journalists reach people living under censorship? How can we help them access free information in a safe and modern way?

Judges & Mentors

Šárka Štrossová

Šárka Štrossová

CEO at WebExpo
Jozef Vodička

Jozef Vodička

Developer Experts European Lead at Google
Tomáš Fidler

Tomáš Fidler

Senior Service Engineer at Microsoft
Aleksandar Vladimirov

Aleksandar Vladimirov

Technical Project Manager at Thales
Kimberly Conger

Kimberly Conger

Acting Director, Pangea Digital & Design Director at RFE/RL
Jan Cibulka

Jan Cibulka

Data journalist at iROZHLAS.cz
Nikolaos Chrysaidos

Nikolaos Chrysaidos

Head of Mobile Threats & Security at Avast
Jaroslav Anděl

Jaroslav Anděl

Curator and Lecturer at Anglo-American University
Konstantin Käfer

Konstantin Käfer

Software Engineer at Mapbox
Tomáš Barták

Tomáš Barták

Head Of Design at Seznam.cz
David Bečvařík

David Bečvařík

Solutions Architect at Red Hat
Kaarmanbek Kuluev

Kaarmanbek Kuluev

Senior Social Media Producer at Current Time TV
Pete Baumgartner

Pete Baumgartner

Senior Editor at RFE/RL
Vaclav Bedrich

Vaclav Bedrich

Project Coordinator at Prague Media Point
Dagmar Caspe

Dagmar Caspe

Project Coordinator at Prague Media Point
Filip Noubel

Filip Noubel

Managing Editor at Global Voices

Schedule

6⁠–7 September 2019
  • 17.00 — Registration
  • 18.00 — Opening
  • 18.25 — Konstantin Käfer (Mapbox keynote)
  • 18.35 — Tomáš Fidler (Microsoft keynote)
  • 18.45 — Themes introduction
  • 19.00 — Putting the teams together
  • 19.15 — Dinner and networking
  • 20.00 — David Bečvařík (Docker Prague Community session)
  • 20.00 — Tomas Bartak (Seznam.cz design session)
  • 20.00 — Jan Cibulka (iROZHLAS.cz data journalism session)
  • 20.30 — Begin hacking
  • 23.00 — Group check in
  • 09.00 — Breakfast
  • 09.30 — Group check in
  • 13.00 — Lunch
  • 15.00 — Hacking ends
  • 15.30 — Prepare presentations
  • 16.30 — Presentations
  • 18.45 — Winners
  • 19.00 — Closing
  • 20.00 — Party and networking

FAQ

Who can attend?

Journalists (students or professionals), designers, and coders.

When and where is it?

September 6th, 7th 2019. HubHub Coworking, Perlová 5, 110 00 Staré Město, Prague, Czech Republic.

Is this a free event?

Yes! Attendance, food, and swag is all completely free! 💸

Do you offer travel reimbursement?

Unfortunately, we cannot provide travel reimbursements.

What if there is a change of plans or an emergency?

In the event of a change of plans or an emergency, we will contact you via email. You can also follow us on Twitter for updates.

Can I work on my hack before the event?

No. To maintain competition integrity and fairness, all work on your hack must be done at the event.

Will there be free food and drinks?

There will be multiple meals scheduled throughout the event. Drinks and snacks will also be available, and 1 free drink at the after party. 🌯 ☕️

Is there a theme for the hackathon?

Yes! You’ll have the choice of choosing a project within our three tracks Fake news – how to identify and debunk?, Open Debate, or News Censorship. The hack you decide to do must fall within the track that you choose.

What are the rules?

The maximum team size is 5 people. All projects must be started from scratch at the start of the hacking period and completed by the designated time. All participants must follow the enforced Code of Conduct.

Is there a schedule?

Yes! See above.

Can I sign up with a team?

We allow team sign ups of up to 5 people as long as you have a journalist in your team. All team members must sign up individually and you can specify team members on your application.

What should I bring?

Bring your laptop, chargers, a valid ID, and comfortable clothes. We also recommend a sleeping bag and pillow so you can take advantage of our designated napping zones 😴

Is the event in English only?

Yes.

Got more questions? Get in touch!

Prize Partners

Mapbox
Webexpo
XACT
Octopus

Event Partners

HubHub
Microsoft
Mews
Svět Neziskovek
Czech Startups
Prague Containers Meetup
StartupWeekend

Registration

Registration has been closed.
Register for 2020