Remember, remember, the 1st of September

If you’re interested in helping to shape the future of Hacks/Hackers – one of the the world’s largest networks of people interested in the future of news, media, and information – you will want to put Tuesday, September 1st, in your calendar (that’s tomorrow).

Tomorrow at 8AM Pacific / 11AM Eastern / 12PM in Buenos Aires / 3PM GMT / 4PM CEST / 5PM in Johannesburg / 8:30PM in New Delhi / 11PM in Hong Kong (find your local time here), Hacks/Hackers organizers from around the world – and any anyone who’s passionate about this movement – will host their first global “open call.”

The call marks the start of a series of monthly open access conference calls for the Hacks/Hackers community at large to share information and to put forward ideas to address pressing community issues. The calls will work to build on the idea of similar initiatives like the Mozilla Drumbeat, Webmaker, and OpenNews community calls. The conference call will take place on the first Tuesday of each month.

If you’re part of the Hacks/Hackers community – an organizer, a fire-starter, or just passionate about the nexus of journalism and technology – you should take a moment right now to add these calls to your calendar, and to make a point of attending one and contributing. The calls will endeavour to collect and share the community’s experiences, challenges, and ideas for solving those challenges, as well as upcoming events, professional opportunities, and more.

The open call series is just one of many ideas that Hacks/Hackers members suggested at the recent “listening session” that was held at the Media Party in Buenos Aires, possibly one of the largest gatherings of organizers to date. Hacks/Hackers sponsored this year’s Media Party, an annual event organized by Hacks/Hackers Buenos Aires that brings together more than 1000 media innovators for three days of workshops, a media fair, a hackathon, and more.

Based on feedback from organizers over the last several months, more listening sessions are being planned for this fall; keep an eye out for the Hacks/Hackers pirate flag at events like the Online News Association’s annual conference, Mozilla Festival, NICAR, and – it should go without saying – at Hacks/Hackers Connect in New York, London, and San Francisco.

There have been some important conversation starters about the future of Hacks/Hackers right here on this site, as well as some thoughtful responses that unpack some of the challenges ahead. Those conversations have weaved their way into the Connect events and are the focus of listening sessions like the one at Media Party. This network is active and growing. The time to get involved is now.

Ready to join the Hacks/Hackers movement? Here are five things you can do today:

• Join your local chapter, if you’re not already a member.

• If you’re a Hacks/Hackers chapter organizer, please consider joining one of the upcoming calls.

• If you’re helping to organize Hacks/Hackers in your city, please ensure that you’re on the organizers’ Google Group to receive important updates and to share information with your fellow organizers.

• If your chapter is not listed here, please send a quick note to ashley AT hackshackers DOT com to provide your chapter’s information.

• If you want to start a chapter in your city, please consider joining an open call and send a quick note to propose your new chapter and request a Meetup.com group.

Lot’s more to share, and yet I’m going to leave it there for today (oh, the suspense!). Questions, comments, feedback? Drop a note in the comments, or send me a direct line.