[ddj] Africa's 1st data journalism bootcamp is looking for civic-minded developers/coders

Tue Jan 24 10:26:26 UTC 2012

This might be of interest to those developers who are based in East Africa
and are interested in building apps for civic media.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Justin Arenstein <justinarenstein at gmail.com>
Date: 21 January 2012 21:34
Subject: [scraperwiki] Africa's 1st data journalism bootcamp is looking for
civic-minded developers / coders
To: scraperwiki at googlegroups.com

>>>>POSTED FOR ANYONE ON THE LIST WHO IS BASED IN EAST AFRICA<<<<

Africa's 1st data journalism <http://www.datadrivenjournalism.net/> bootcamp
is offering free seats to 25 developers / coders who are interested in
building apps for civic media / open data audiences.

The event is scheduled for Nairobi between January 25 - 27, 2012, and is
underwritten by the region's largest media houses.

The bootcamp will be led by some of the world's most senior trainers from
the BBC, Google, and the Open Knowledge Foundation. Participants will each
receive a free copy of Guardian data editor Simon Roger's new book, Fasts
are Sacred - the Power of
Data<http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jan/06/facts-sacred-guardian-shorts-ebook>,
and will be in line to win Galaxy Tabs after the workshop's two major
project sessions. Participants will also get tips on how to enter the new $1m
African News Innovation Challenge <http://www.facebook.com/NewsChallenge> and
the new Data Journalism Awards <http://datajournalismawards.org/>.

The bootcamp will bring together 50 journalists with 25 young local
developers / coders, and will seek to teach them now to work in teams to
build news-driven mobile apps and civic engagement websites using the KODI
resources <http://opendata.go.ke/> already available to Kenyans, plus
additional resources from the World Bank <http://data.worldbank.org/>
 and the Open Knowledge
Foundation<http://blog.okfn.org/2011/06/29/new-visualisations-for-openspending/>
in
Germany, plus other global organisations. The best project from the
bootcamp will qualify for a $2,000 seed grant, to allow the team to build a
fully-functional prototype.

Some of the news-driven civic apps and 'utility news' sites built in
similar data journalism initiatives elsewhere in the world include Where
Did My Tax Dollars Go <http://www.wheredidmytaxdollarsgo.com/> and the Lord's
Resistance Army Crisis Tracker <http://www.lracrisistracker.com/> and Country
Sin Rankings <http://countysinrankings.org/>.

Bootcamp participants will be invited to help launch
HacksHackers.com<http://hackshackers.com/>'s
new Kenyan chapter <http://www.facebook.com/HacksHackersAfrica> so that
they can continue to expand their digital journalism skills.

The initiative is underwritten by the continent's largest association of
media owners, the African Media
Initiative<http://www.africanmediainitiative.org/> (AMI),
and the World Bank Institute <http://wbi.worldbank.org/wbi/> (WBI).

To confirm your seat, you *need to commit to attend all three days of the
bootcamp* at Strathmore University's computer school. You should reserve
your seat by replying to this email, confirming the following information:

[1] Your name
[2] Your organisational affiliation & job designation (if relevant)
[3] Your email address & mobile number
[4] An indication of your computer skills
[5] An indication of whether you've got any open data / civic media / data
journalism experience

Seats will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. You should
therefore reply as soon as possible.

Regards,

Justin Arenstein*
*AMI digital strategist

SA Mobile: +27-82-374-0812
US Mobile: +1-650-336-5878 *
*Skype: JustinArenstein
Twitter: JustinArenstein <http://twitter.com/justinarenstein>
Web: http://www.linkedin.com/**in/JustinArenstein<http://www.linkedin.com/in/JustinArenstein>
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