Guardian Hack Day #ghack1
The Guardian’s technology team hosted its first Guardian Hack Day last Thursday and Friday. Staff and a few invited guests entered into a 24-hour codefest where anything was possible. I was fortunate to be one of the guest participants.
The hack I built turned certain phrases in Guardian articles, like “Something is” or “Somebody said”, into a link that shows you how the same phrase ended in other Guardian articles. For example:
This hack shows, with a simple technique, it’s possible to summarize how an authority, like the Guardian, reports a topic over time. Perhaps something similar could be applied to the New Zealand parliamentary debates? I’ll add it to the todo list!
Martin Belam, has a good write up of some of the other Guardian hacks made at the event.
Hack day events, such as the Guardian’s, show amazing work can be produced in a 24 hour period. All that’s required are computers, an Internet connection, and a bunch of creative people.
Creative work doesn’t require meetings, project managment, business analysis, or a procurement process. Or, should I say, all those activities are fulfilled by the people making the work conversing with each other and with business domain experts. Software code required can be written on the spot. Code re-used from elsewhere is usually open source software licensed under a Free Software licence, so no fees need to be paid.
Fortunately, pretty much every day that I work on TheyWorkForYou.co.nz feels like a hack day.
Update: you can see photos of the Guardian hack day on Flickr.
