Hacking Reality: Tactical Technology and Social Media

The Hacking Reality program is designed to help people engage their environment by any means necessary. Participants will learn and share a wide range of skills while studying an equally wide-range of subjects. Our method is to take the hacker ethic of exploring and understanding technology and apply that to our communities and society.

Co-ordinated by Jesse Hirsh and Metaviews.ca the program will offer events on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. These events will be organized according to the following thematic configuration:

Thursday evenings:

Impossible Ideas - starting Jan 5th
A screening, debate, or interview followed by facilitated discussion regarding ideas or subjects that merit greater attention and focus.

Play the Impossible - starting Jan 12th
A brief discussion about a game or concept followed by play.

Test the Impossible - starting Jan 19th
Invited guests showcase or demonstrate emerging applications, services, or products, followed by critique, cross-examination, and feedback from program participants.

Improv the Impossible - starting Jan 26th
Improvisation and role playing exercises, followed by performance, and then an open mic.

Hack the Impossible - starting Feb 23rd
Free and open source software provides a starting point for these hands on hack sessions. Come to learn, come to hack, come to observe, help us build the infrastructure of the academy and talk about computer, network, and mobile security.

Sunday afternoons:

YouTube School - starting Jan 8th
Group discussion analyzing, dissecting, and enjoying YouTube as a platform and as an ecosystem. Taking place every two weeks this relaxed and informal session is designed to teach participants how to produce and use online video.

Candidate/Campaign School - starting Jan 15th
A member driven resource to help participants run for public office, run a campaign, or engage in political punditry. We will meet every two weeks to debate, dissect, and discuss best practices, strategies, and the necessary steps to succeed.

Dead Media Swaps
Bring out your dead, old, and forgotten media for a show-and-tell that looks at how media and society changes (or doesn’t). A swap, not a dump, the purpose of the session is to exchange stories and artifacts from recent if not distant media history.

Future of Health
As part of Metaviews major research project for 2012 we will be holding sessions within the Hacking Reality program that explore the future of health. This is within the context of the changes facing the Canadian health care system, however the focus will be on the impact technology is having and will continue to have on the health care sector.

Participation

Participation in the program is open to members of the Academy of the Impossible and subscribers to Metaviews. Members of the public are also invited to participate at a cost of $10 per event.

Participants in the program will also have access to live streaming of events when not able to attend in person.

This program will change and evolve with time. Please refer to this page for any updates or changes to the program. Events will be listed on the Academy and Metaviews event pages.