This weekend, we are developing ideas and prototypes for tools that grow community around games for our very first invitational, SNDMakes Chicago, in partnership with Cards Against Humanity.
In less than three full days time, and by the end of our rapid prototyping sprint, each team will showcase their ideas starting at 5 p.m. Central time, Sunday, Feb. 7. Yes, we know that the presentations are scheduled during the time most people will be Super-Bowl-ing. We aim to be done by half-time!
Feel free to follow along in real-time on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook… or just catch our event recap next week.
Below, find the amazing group that will be taking on our next community tools question — How might we grow community around games, the artists who make them, the fans that love them? – whom represent nearly 30 different organizations, nearly all are local to the Chicago area:
- Chris Ballard, tw/@cj_ballard, The Washington Post
- Sean Bender, LinkedIn, Deloitte Greenhouse
- Aditi Bhandari, tw/@AditiHBhandari, Northwestern U. Knight Lab – Event host
- Michael Block, tw/@Mikamikem, Culture Shock Games, LLC
- Molly Bramlet, tw/@mollybramlet, Self-employed
- Mallory Busch, tw/@yeamal, Chicago Tribune, formerly NU Knight Lab
- Chris Courtney, tw/@designhawg, Bloc, Pilsen Labs
- Chris Coyier, tw/@chriscoyier, CodePen, Event host
- Matt Dennewitz, tw/@mattdennewitz, Pitchfork – Event host
- Philip Ehrenberg, in/phehrenberg, Game Changer – U. of Chicago
- Aidan Feay, tw/@aidanfeay, Vox Media, Product
- Trin Garritano, tw/@TrinAndTonic, Cards Aganist Humanity – Event partner, Floating mentor
- Joe Germuska, tw/@joegermuska, NU Knight Lab / Medill School – Event host, Floating mentor
- James T. Green, tw/@_jamestgreen, Self-employed
- Charlie Hall, tw/@Charlie_L_Hall, Polygon / Vox Media
- Will Hindmarch, tw/@wordwill, Self-employed writer & designer
- Nausheen Husain, tw/@nausheenhusain, Chicago Tribune
- Pete Karl II, tw/@steyblind, Entrepreneur
- Eunice Lee, tw/@euniceyounglee, Northwestern U. Knight Lab – Event host
- Greicy Mella, tw/@GreicyMella, National Enquirer
- Cindy Miller, in/cynthialm, Self-employed
- Katherine Nagasawa, tw/@heyitsladynaga, Documentarian, formerly NU Knight Lab, Event videographer and producer
- Ryan Nagle, tw/@ryannagle, Institute for Nonprofit News
- John Osborn, tw/@bayreporta, EdSource, Entrepreneur
- Kevin Reader, tw/@kevinreader, Cards Against Humanity – Event partner, Floating mentor
- Joyce Rice, tw/@teenyrobots, Self-employed cartoonist, designer
- Jackie Roche, tw/@JRocheWorkshop, Freelance cartoonist, illustrator
- Jenny Rowley, fb/jenny.rowley.58, Game Changer – U. of Chicago
- Cherisse Santa Cruz Datu, tw/@cherissd, Freelance Graphics Editor
- Amy Schwartz, tw/@amydracula, Cards Against Humanity – Event partner
- Jessica Soberman, tw/@sobermanj, Northwestern U. Knight Lab – Event host
- Ashlyn Sparrow, tw/@ashlynsparrow, Game Changer Chicago
- Max Temkin, tw/@maxtemkin, Cards Against Humanity – Event partner
- Allyson Wakeman, tw/@allysonkate, The Second City
- Sisi Wei, tw/@sisiwei, ProPublica
- Sandor Weisz, tw/@santheo, The Mystery League – Event staff, Floating mentor
- Zach Wise, tw/@zlwise, NU Knight Lab / Medill School – Event host
- Emily Withrow, tw/@emilywithrow, NU Knight Lab / Medill School – Event host
- Nicole Zhu, tw/@nicolelzhu, Northwestern U. Knight Lab – Event host
Event partner, hosts and funders
On the weekend of Feb. 5-7, we will be working out of Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood at Cards Against Humanity amazing office space as well as a kick-off social hour at Pitchfork Media offices. We found an excellent event-partnership with the amazing Cards Against Humanity team, and could not have pulled this event together without our amazing Chicago-event hosts: Codepen, Medill School and Northwestern U. Knight Lab, and Pitchfork Media.
We are grateful for the ongoing SNDMakes program support from Knight Foundation and our scholarship funders: Dow Jones News Fund, Scripps Howard Foundation, and Excellence in Ethics and Journalism Foundation. The SNDMakes community would not exist without their support.
Interested in becoming a future SNDMakes event partner or event host? Our partners are exactly as the word implies, they help to design the event as well as provide space, some materials, production and co-communication support. Our event hosts provide the funds necessary for production support and much more. For example, past event hosts have helped to provide the event’s five meals, snacks and beverages, evening team-building activities, materials and technology. We’d love for more to get involved. Please contact us at sndmakes [at] gmail for more information.
The Society’s SNDMakes events are about community, not competition. SNDMakes events are not “hackathons,” though we do produce workable prototypes in less than three days. Read our FAQs or check out some great posts from our makers such as Codepen founder Chris Coyier, Upstatement’s Mike Swartz, TheSkimm’s Dheerja Kaur, and plenty on the Vox Product team blog.
Contact us:
Find us out in the wild and follow along: #SNDMakes, Instagram, Facebook. Send us an email at sndmakes [at] gmail, or directly to:
- Ramla Mahmood, Designer at Vox Media. SND board member and SNDMakes co-director.
- Miranda Mulligan, Digital specialist, news design veteran, SND board member and SNDMakes co-director.
- Adam Schweigert, Product at Institute for Nonprofit. SNDMakes technology manager.
- Kyle Ellis, Director of Strategic Programs, Society For News Design.
- Stephen Komives, Executive Director, Society For News Design.
For news about future SNDMakes and other events, follow SND on Twitter or Facebook and consider supporting programs like this one by becoming a member.