Hacks/Hackers Unite Highlights

Last night Hacks/Hackers Unite had their demos at KQED in San Francisco.  The goal of the weekend gathering was for journalists, designers, and developers to build media apps for the iPad and other tablet devices. One of my favorites, Citizen Kid News, was awarded the top prize.  Citizen Kid News provides kid-friendly news articles, culled from the web, and encourages interaction through game mechanics.  Readers start out at “Cub Reporters” but can make their way up to “Editor” if they rack up enough points.  The neatest thing is that kids can eventually contribute their own articles to Citizen Kid News.  Other projects that I found interesting include:

3-in-1 Story: Lets users fluidly move between the text, audio, and video versions of a story.

News Apper: Provides template-based solution that enables non-technical writers to create iPad apps containing text, video, photo, maps, and more.

Open Margin: Attempts to make reading books more social through integration with social media but also through its interaction design.

The complete list of projects can be found here: http://unite.hackshackers.com/2010/05/order-of-presentations/