General presentation of The Sponge Media Innovation Lab.

1. interdisciplinary community != dream

2. interdisciplinary community != dream

3. (a coder's perspective)
Victor Nițu
nightsh.eu / vnitu@ceata.org
Executive Director, Fundația Ceata (http://ceata.org)

4. match-making
interdisciplinary brainstorming
trainings
transparency in decisions
curiosity

5. match-making
* a lot of initiatives in matching skills and needs
* coming from people without the skills (or without the needs)
it's a bit pointless
* we DO have both the skills and the needs
* working together is a win-win situation

6. curiosity
Coders: What's the journalists' workflow like?
Journalists: I'd like to see some feature implemented, but I
don't know where to start... How does this
technical solution work?
Activists: how are those free software communities managing
themselves?

7. trainings
Geographers teaching coders how to build beautiful maps.
Programmers teaching journalists how to increase online security.
Journalists teaching all of us how to write good articles.
Legal experts showing us how broken is the system we rely on...
Free software activists demonstrating how the use of proprietary
solutions is bad for us all.

8. - Some bad surveillance law is about to pass and we'll all be
f***ed!
interdisciplinary brainstorming
- LOL no, let's do something!
Activists: We'll write a manifesto!
Legal experts: We'll make sure all the legal aspects are covered!
Coders: We'll write the platform for gathering signatures!
Journalists: We'll write about it everywhere!
e.g. http://coliberator.ro/petition

9. We meet and brainstorm over internal problems.
We keep each other informed about all aspects.
We use our combined skills to solve whatever comes up.
transparency in decisions
We solve it.
Beer.

10. history lesson #1 – Open Media Challenge
http://omc.thesponge.eu
When: 2012-09-29..30
What: 13 projects submitted
10 projects in development
8 delivered during the hackathon
Who: Knight-Mozilla, Cyberghost, CRJI, Ceata, geo-spatial.org,
ROSEdu, ApTI
(The Sponge & sponsors)

11. history lesson #1 – Open Media Challenge
Shortly after OMC:
* The Sponge community gathered in a decent-sized flat near
Victoriei Square, Bucharest
* New ideas kept coming
* The Sponge members got invited to speak at various events
and contribute to workshops in more European countries
* More local meetings

12. history lesson #1 – Open Media Challenge
Shortly after OMC:
* The Sponge community gathered in a decent-sized flat near
Victoriei Square, Bucharest
* New ideas kept coming
* The Sponge members got invited to speak at various events
and contribute to workshops in more European countries
* More local meetings
*

13. history lesson #2 – The Black Sea
“ We are a team of
experienced and
award-winning
journalists,
photographers,
film-makers,
information-designers
and coders, using a
platform that hosts
in-depth stories in text,
images, video and
infographics.”
“ We are a team of
experienced and
award-winning
journalists,
photographers,
film-makers,
information-designers
and coders, using a
platform that hosts
in-depth stories in text,
images, video and
infographics.”
http://theblacksea.eu

14. history lesson #2 – The Black Sea
Some highlights:
* we (coders) got to work with non-technical people
* we actually loved it
* got instant user feedback, but well-documented feedback
* got some brilliant UX ideas (yes, we do suck at this)
* people wrote about our work!
* understanding the journalistic workflow helped us refine
ours a bit
* wow, we built something useful AND used!

15. history lesson #2 – The Black Sea
Some highlights:
* we (coders) got to work with non-technical people
* we actually loved it
* got instant user feedback, but well-documented feedback
* got some brilliant UX ideas (yes, we do suck at this)
* people wrote about our work!
* understanding the journalistic workflow helped us refine
ours a bit
wow, we built something useful AND used!

16. What are we doing now?
Monthly topics set by The Sponge members plus:
* blog posts
* one public workshop / training
* spontaneous brainstorming sessions
--
A hackathon every few months.
--
Weekly public meetings where one person from within The
Sponge and one “outsider” come to show off their current
(or past) project.

17. What are we doing now?
Coding business:
* The Knowledge Exchange Platform
* Forking, improving and maintaining stuff we like
* identity.kde.org (Solena web based LDAP manager)
* KCFinder (AJAX/PHP file manager)
* Building new stuff
* a simple, UNIX-ish PHP framework
* a hackathon organizing platform
* a small publishing platform optimized for journalists
* Hacking on free databases published by governments all
around the world
* http://date.gov.ro
* http://ted.openspending.org

18. What are we doing now?
Coding business:
* The Knowledge Exchange Platform
* Forking, improving and maintaining stuff we like
* identity.kde.org (Solena web based LDAP manager)
* KCFinder (AJAX/PHP file manager)
* Building new stuff
* a simple, UNIX-ish PHP framework
* a hackathon organizing platform
* a small publishing platform optimized for journalists
* Hacking on free databases published by governments all
around the world
* http://date.gov.ro
* http://ted.openspending.org

19. Current needs and future plans
Logistics:
* We still need a bigger place (a 2-3 floors house?)
* We'd like to host our own infrastructure (blocked by
previous need)
People:
* We're always looking for similar projects or like-minded
human beings
* We are doers. We like other doers, too.
Funding:
* Ideas we have. For some, money we need.
* A house, rent money, infrastructure, tools, we can find
an use for almost everything on this planet!

20. Current needs and future plans
Logistics:
* We still need a bigger place (a 2-3 floors house?)
* We'd like to host our own infrastructure (blocked by
previous need)
People:
* We're always looking for similar projects or like-minded
human beings
* We are doers. We like other doers, too.
Funding:
* Ideas we have. For some, money we need.
* A house, rent money, infrastructure, tools, we can find
an use for almost everything on this planet!

21. Current needs and future plans
Logistics:
* We still need a bigger place (a 2-3 floors house?)
* We'd like to host our own infrastructure (blocked by
previous need)
People:
* We're always looking for similar projects or like-minded
human beings
* We are doers. We like other doers, too.
Funding:
* Ideas we have. For some, money we need.
* A house, rent money, infrastructure, tools, we can find
an use for almost everything on this planet!

22. Current needs and future plans
* A big, interdisciplinary hackerspace in Bucharest
* A brilliant software infrastructure able to solve all
problems :-)
* More hackathons
* More frontend developers!
* Improved academic outreach (e.g. universities, academic
programs)
* Efficiency: accelerated growth from concept to prototype
* Independence: we like to think free and do things the right way

23. Current needs and future plans
* A big, interdisciplinary hackerspace in Bucharest
* A brilliant software infrastructure able to solve all
problems :-)
* More hackathons
* More frontend developers!
* Improved academic outreach (e.g. universities, academic
programs)
* Efficiency: accelerated growth from concept to prototype
* Independence: we like to think free and do things the right way

24. Current needs and future plans
* A big, interdisciplinary hackerspace in Bucharest
* A brilliant software infrastructure able to solve all
problems :-)
* More hackathons
* More frontend developers!
* Improved academic outreach (e.g. universities, academic
programs)
* Efficiency: accelerated growth from concept to prototype
* Independence: we like to think free and do things the right way

25. Current needs and future plans
* A big, interdisciplinary hackerspace in Bucharest
* A brilliant software infrastructure able to solve all
problems :-)
* More hackathons
* More frontend developers!
* Improved academic outreach (e.g. universities, academic
programs)
* Efficiency: accelerated growth from concept to prototype
* Independence: we like to think free and do things the right way

26. Thanks for your patience!
Questions?
Ideas?
Resources?
Send them to contact@thesponge.eu
or directly to me at vnitu@ceata.org