Public Channel

Β View Only
Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

Invitation to register in ICA Pre-conference Hackathon (June 3–4, 2026)

  • 1.  Invitation to register in ICA Pre-conference Hackathon (June 3–4, 2026)

    Posted 13 days ago

    Dear ICA Community,

    I'm excited to invite you to participate in ICA Hackathon, a pre-conference event at ICA 2026 designed to spark collaboration, creativity, and innovation across our field. Organized by the Computational Methods Division and the Communication Science and Biology Interest Group (CSaB) of ICA, the hackathon emphasizes collective learning, sharing, and collaboration rather than competition.

    This hackathon aims to bring together scholars, students, and practitioners to collaborate across divisions and interest groups. Whether you're curious about AI in research, digital methods, public scholarship, or creative knowledge production, this is a space to experiment, build, and prototype ideas that can shape the future of our field.

    πŸ—“ When: June 3-4, 2026 (pre-conference days)
    πŸ“ Where: SU School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University, Van Der Byl Rd, Stellenbosch Central, Stellenbosch, 7600, South Africa

    What is a Hackathon?
    Our hackathon is not a coding competition (though coders are welcome!). It's a structured, team-based innovation sprint where participants work together to:

    • Develop digital tools or methodological innovations

    • Prototype pedagogical resources

    • Design public-facing communication initiatives

    • Rethink scholarly workflows in an era of AI and automation

    • Build collaborative research concepts across subfields

    Participants will form interdisciplinary teams, identify a pressing challenge or opportunity in communication scholarship, and work intensively to generate tangible outputs.

    Who should participate?

    • Faculty exploring digital transformation in research and teaching

    • Graduate students eager to collaborate and build new skills

    • Early-career scholars seeking interdisciplinary partnerships

    • Anyone curious about innovation in communication science

    Hence, everybody is welcome to join! No prior technical expertise is required-just curiosity, creativity, and a collaborative spirit.

    Why participate?

    • Build meaningful cross-division connections

    • Experiment with new ideas in a low-stakes, high-creativity environment

    • Gain hands-on experience with digital tools and collaborative innovation

    • Contribute to shaping the future of communication scholarship

    Spots are limited to ensure meaningful collaboration.

    πŸ”— Learn more about the hackathon: https://hackingcommsci.org/
    πŸ“ Register here: https://www.icahdq.org/event/Hackathon26

    ⏳ Last day to register: 4th May, 2026

    I would love to see strong representation from across ICA divisions and interest groups. If you believe communication scholarship should be proactive-rather than reactive-in the face of digital transformation, this is the space for you.

    Please feel free to share this invitation widely within your networks.



    ------------------------------
    Aditi Dutta
    University of Birmingham
    Birmingham
    United Kingdom
    ------------------------------


Related Content