On Wednesday, Nov. 27, Hacks/Hackers Zurich kicked off as the first local Hacks/Hackers group in Switzerland. Sixteen people of various backgrounds met at Maison Blunt, a tearoom in Zurich’s lively quarter of «Kreis 5». The plan for this first meetup was to get to know each other, understand our experience and expectations, and to collect ideas for building this small community from the ground up. We want to make Hacks/Hackers Zurich the right place to connect journalism to technology, ideas to capabilities and, most importantly, people to people.

A few notes that we took with us from this pleasant evening with friends and fellows:

(i) A meetup like this does not only attract Hacks and Hackers but also hybrids, which we’re calling Hacksters, thanks to a suggestion by Hannes Gassert.

(ii) For the second Hacks/Hackers Zurich meeting, we’d like to touch base more closely with the Swiss journalism community. One of our main goals is to gain insights from the various newsrooms and learn how teams at different media houses combine journalism with data and technology in the digital age.

(iii) Currently, there seem to be significant shifts in the journalistic field. One example has been the start of Watson in January. We believe that it’s our duty to feel the pulse of the community and engage key players actively in our meetup.

(iiii) Last but not least, we’ll definitely shake-up the format to keep things interesting and different every time we meet — changing the place, time, format and of course, the mix of people as Hacks/Hackers Zurich grows. A small selection of the things we have in mind include showcases of successful projects; core conversations with field experts; talks and lectures by established practitioners; and visits to newsrooms, studios and labs where new concepts are born.

Watch this space or follow us on Twitter at @HacksHackersZRH for updates.

As a side note, Yann Heurtaux, one of our dear participants, had the opportunity to talk to the organizers of Hack/Hackers LDN just before the meetup in Zürich. You can watch the hangout here.