Remember those evenings crammed into a pub basement, swapping stories with fellow journalists, developers, and data nerds? If you were part of the Hacks/Hackers LDN scene, you'll know exactly what we mean. And good news: it's coming back.Hacks/Hackers LDN - or #HHLdn to those in the know - brought together "hacks" (journalists) and "hackers" (technologists) from 2010 onwards. The idea was simple but brilliant: get the people who tell stories in a room with the people who build tools, and see what happens. Over the years, it grew into a community of more than 4,000 members, with monthly meet-ups, weekend entrepreneurship events, and the occasional summer picnic thrown in for good measure.What started as a pub meet-up grew into massive gatherings with waiting lists of 600+ people. Pubs were swapped for venues like Google and Twitter HQs and mini-hamburgers made their appearance alongside top-calibre speakers.Then the pandemic hit. Like so many community events, Hacks/Hackers LDN went quiet and a lot of us quietly wondered whether it would ever come back.Well, it is, just with a fresh coat of paint. The event is relaunching as Source Code, a new name that nods to both sides of the community: the source in journalism, and the source code in tech. The new organising team — Madhav Chinnappa, Amanda Nunn, Tristan Werkmeister and us at JUK — have taken up the mantle with the full blessing of the original founders.If you work in journalism, media tech, data, product, or anywhere in between, this is your invitation. Come along on 31 March, meet some brilliant people, argue about the future of the news industry, and have a drink or two. It's going to be a good one.Current speakers:• Harriet Meyer, founder of AI for Media, who has spent two decades in national newspapers, magazines and digital publishing. She now trains journalists and content teams to build practical, responsible AI workflows.
• Steven Wilson-Beales, former head of SEO at Global, now SEO consultant specialising in news and content strategy, and co-chair of the Journalism Advisory Board for the Association of Publishers. He’ll be unpacking what SEO looks like in the age of AI-generated answers and zero-click search, and what publishers should be doing about it.
• Saskia Welch, head of community at The Newsmast Foundation, a charity that creates hybrid news and social apps for news publishers. Its pilot case study in The Bristol Cable has already shown an encouraging response, and they're looking to partner with more publishers on a pro bono basis.
• Natalie McEvoy and James Vaughan-Jones will demo their pre-launch product, ClearDraft. The AI-powered product was trained by lawyers and media law experts to provide an initial legal clearance for articles, podcasts and scripts. They want to know how journalists feel about the service before they go to market.

Want to help make it happen? If you or your company fancies sponsoring the drinks or supporting the event commercially, the team would love to hear from you. Drop me a line at marcela@journalism.co.uk — it's a great way to get your name in front of a room full of smart, engaged people who sit right at the crossroads of media and technology. We're also open to session pitches if you're interested in some stage time.It's been a few years, but the spirit of this community - curious, collaborative, and always up for a good conversation - hasn't gone anywhere. See you on the 31st.

Sign up here, it's shaping up nicely👇

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