São Paulo, the most populous city and a thriving cultural hub in South America, will host the first Hacks/Hackers group in Brazil. A group of journalists involved with the National Association of Investigative Journalism – Abraji, led by Knight International Fellow of the International Center for Journalists, Gustavo Faleiros, is organizing the first meeting along with Everton Alvarenga, from the Open Knowlege Foundation in Brazil, and 3 other representatives from the W3C local office . The event happens July 16, 7 p.m., in the Folha de S. Paulo auditorium on Alameda Barão de Limeira, 425, 9º andar (See map)

São Paulo has a vibrant ecosystem of journalists and technologists working on meaningful data visualizations, active blogs and mobile applications. Some examples of this work will be shown at the first Hacks/Hackers meeting and the professionals involved will explain the process of creating the projects.

The first meeting will also try to identify potential leaders for working groups on data journalism, web scraping, HTML 5 and digital mapping, among many other subjects. One of the issues brought by W3C representative Vagner Diniz is the importance of the semantic Web and the need for media houses to start opening and linking their data.

The Hacks/Hackers meeting also happens just as Brazil has approved its Freedom of Information Law. Access to government data has increased the interest of media outlets on working with applications that help filter information and make it relevant to the public. Journalist Fabiano Angélico will present the main features of the law and its importance for people working to foster media innovation.

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To learn more about the next Hacks/Hackers São Paulo events and hackathons, sign up for the Meetup group.