Getting started with Git and GitHub

If you’re working online, it’s time you get to know Git and Github. Hacks/Hackers Miami is here to help. HHMIA will join forces with the Code for Miami civic hacking brigade to host a joint meetup, “Getting started with Git and GitHub” with developer Jake A. Smith on Monday, August 5 at 7 p.m. at The LAB Miami.

Here’s a preview: Git is an open-source version control system that allows people to collaborate on files at the same time without interfering with the work of others. GitHub is a hosting service for those files that also simplifies Git with a graphical interface and extra features.

Together, these tools have have dramatically changed how many developers work — democratizing code, ramping up efficiency and creating an ecosystem dedicated to making software better together. GitHub is surprisingly great for writing and project management too.

So imagine for a minute what could happen if journalists adopted this technology for news production. What if we started repositories for stories, apps or projects and invited users to fork (duplicate) them, update them, edit them send pull requests for clarification? What if we liberated our stories, apps and projects for users to build new things with them? Many news outlets are already are doing this, and that trend is only likely to grow.

Still need convincing? In an interview with KnightLab this week, celebrated technologist Clay Johnson had this to say about the role of GitHub in news production:

If I were running a newsroom, I’d be making my team experiment with doing workflows in GitHub. I’d be doing forking and pull requests via GitHub, collaborative editing via GitHub, exchanging story ideas and research tasks via GitHub issues, and making sure my reporters knew how to use GitHub. In a year, that’ll pay off because knowing how to use GitHub is about to be very important for a newsroom.

Hacks/Hackers presenter Jake A. Smith is a software developer and technologist with a strong emphasis in application performance. Jake has given a few excellent talks this year at local meetups on app performance monitoring and source control with Git and he’s always looking for new opportunities to help grow the developer community.

If you go:

Who: Hacks/Hackers Miami
What: Getting started with Git and GitHub
Where: The LAB Miami
400 NW 26th Street,
Miami, FL 33127
When: Monday, Aug. 5, 2013 7 p.m.
More info and RSVP.