For immediate release:

Hacks/Hackers forges new local partnerships for San Francisco and New York events

December 11, 2015 -- Hacks/Hackers has confirmed new local partnerships for its Connect event series, including Matter Ventures (San Francisco), New School’s Journalism + Design program (NYC), and the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University (San Francisco)

“We believe the future of media will be discovered through lots and lots of experiments and we created Matter to be that place where those experiments can happen,” said Corey Ford, Managing Director of Matter Ventures. “The two most important things we focus on everyday is building a culture of experimentation and a community of innovators.  We are excited to work more closely with Hacks/Hackers to bring our communities closer together and expand our ecosystem of innovators.”

Developed in partnership with Google News Lab, which empowers innovation at the intersection of technology and media, Connect is organized in collaboration with local Hacks/Hackers chapters, and works closely with local early-stage investors, digital agencies, product-development experts, and highly-relevant academic programs, in order to best meet the needs of the local media and entrepreneurial community.

“We’re really excited about this collaboration. For some years now we have believed that entrepreneurship — taking a risk to create something new by seeing and responding to an opportunity — is one of journalism’s most promising futures,” said Jim Bettinger, JSK Fellowships Director.

Connect previously announced partnerships with: Seedcamp (London), Medill University’s Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship program (San Francisco), Alley Interactive (San Francisco, NYC), Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY (NYC), NYC Media Lab (NYC), and Grand Central Tech (NYC).

For all dates, locations and details of upcoming Connect events, visit connect.hackshackers.com 

About Connect
Hacks/Hackers Connect, a global partnership between Hacks/Hackers and Google News Lab, is a series of local events designed to support current and aspiring media entrepreneurs.

About Hacks/Hackers
Hacks/Hackers Inc. is a global grassroots network of journalists, technologists, designers and businesspeople who are passionate about the future of media and believe the free flow of information is essential for democratic society. With more than 70 local groups across all continents, members gather regularly to learn, network and collaborate on projects. The U.S.-based parent is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization.

About Google News Lab
Google News Lab is the company's effort to empower innovation at the intersection of technology and media. Our mission is to collaborate with journalists and entrepreneurs to build the future of media with Google. We do this through a global outreach effort to empower technology-driven storytelling in newsrooms; a strong data journalism practice based on our Google Trends platform; and through unique partnerships that seek to increase access to quality information globally.

About Matter Ventures

At Matter, we believe the future of media that matters is being created right now through lots and lots of experiments. That’s why we support entrepreneurs building scalable media ventures that create a more informed, connected, and empowered society.  We invest seed capital and provide intensive support through our five-month human-centered, prototype-driven startup accelerator program in San Francisco.  You can read more about our program and the journeys of our entrepreneurs here: https://medium.com/matter-driven-narrative 

About Journalism + Design at the New School

Journalism + Design is a new undergraduate program, launched with the generous support of the Knight Foundation, that merges design thinking with time-tested journalistic principles and practice. We believe that to survive in our increasingly complex media ecosystem, journalists must be imaginative, nimble, strategic, willing to experiment, and able to innovate. Through a constantly evolving curriculum and using practitioner-professors pulled from the most forward-looking talent in New York City, we prepare students to be the journalists of tomorrow.

About the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University

The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford foster journalistic innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Each year, we select up to 20 fellows from around the world and bring them together for 10 months at Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Immersed in the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of this region, they are inspired to let go of old assumptions and learn new ways of thinking and working. Recent fellows have launched journalism startups, created cross-border investigative reporting partnerships, or crafted tools to enhance reporting. Others have been sought out to lead innovation in established news organizations. More about the JSK Fellowships: http://jsk.stanford.edu.

###

Caption: Participants use design thinking to develop new news-media product ideas at Connect Berlin. Credit: Steffi Loos

Video from Connect Berlin

More photos from Connect Berlin