The past few years have seen a surge in government sanctioned civic hacking events, including the ‘National Day of Hacking’ in the USA, ‘National Hack the Government Day’ in the UK and ‘GovHack’ in Australia. Propelled by a growing Open Data movement, these kinds of events attract problem solvers with a social conscience, with the aim of creating web applications that release the social value of government datasets. Yet, the vast majority of participants are developers, designers and entrepreneurs. Drawing from my experience at GovHack, I shall argue that humanists can make important contributions to civic hacking events as storytellers and strategists, ensuring concepts and executions are grounded in real life research problems. Further to this, collaboration with industry brings design and usability to the forefront and provides an opportunity for historians to engage with the commercial logics that drive the competitive world of online start-ups. For researchers new to digital humanities, these outcome-driven events offer a potential gateway into the field, providing opportunities to gain practical experience and establish networks with like-minded practitioners and organisations outside the academy. Digital Humanist, Alan Liu has argued that researchers in the humanities need to work harder to engage with public audiences and articulate the value of what t

1. Historian to
hacker in 48 hrs.
What humanists have to offer at civic hacking events
and what they can learn.
Jo Hawkins | University of Western Australia
www.historypunk.com | @history_punk

2. What can humanists
offer?
Research driven outcomes.
What can humanists
learn?
User-focused outcomes.

3. Research driven
outcomes.
What can humanists offer?

10. Translator
Communicator

11. User-focused
outcomes.
What can humanists learn?

12. UX/UI
User experience
User interface
Source: Jodie Moule, Killer UX Design, 2012 <http://www.sitepoint.com/store/killer-ux-design/>.

13. RESEARCH
INSIGHT
CONCEPT
DESIGN

14. RESEARCH
INSIGHT
CONCEPT
DESIGN

15. RESEARCH
INSIGHT
CONCEPT
DESIGN

20. Digital humanists
don’t need to know
how to code.
But they do need to
know about UX/UI.

21. GovHack is happening
around Australia 11-13
July 2014.