In Boston this week, I asked Hacks/Hackers galactic coordinator Jenny8Lee how they started bringing journalists and developers together. She said: “Hacks/Hackers events are a part of the DIY empire. We give people an event template and they run with it. It works well.” As MoJo is very much about hacks and hackers hacking news, I asked Jenny to say more:

I also asked Jenny ‘what blows your mind in news online?’ She dug into the whole local wiki phenomena, where medium sized communities create a mini-wikipedia to meet local information needs. In Davis, California, nearly one in seven residents use a wiki like this to do everything from surfacing news stories toorganizing events to find lost pets. Similar wikis are popping up across the US. [nb. video gets wonky at this point -> audio still awesome]

Jenny also riffed a bit on why she likes the MoJo fellowship: “It’s an open way into journalism. It’s important news outlets saying ‘we are now accepting anyone who is really passionate and can do something.‘” Yup, that’s right.

If you’re passionate hack+hacker you should definitely enter the MoJo challenge. Just think of it: you might end up at BBC, the Guardian or one of our other news partners working on the next big thing in online video. All you have to do to get started is submit your idea.

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This is part of series of interviews with people involved in the Knight Mozilla News Innovation Partnership (MoJo). Find out more on the MoJo web site or enter the MoJo news innovation challenge.