Hackathalon
The
Hackathlon
Fred Barnes, the Washington
commentator, is (we think) the original source of a profound insight on the
nature of journalism--indeed, on human nature. "The most important quality any
piece of writing can have," he says, "is doneness ." (A related remark is
attributed to Gloria Steinem: "I don't like writing. I like having
written.")
It is in this spirit that
Slate
this week kicks off its first annual "Hackathlon." The
Hackathlon will be officiated by Deputy Editor Jack Shafer, who apparently
feels there isn't enough bad writing in
Slate
. Four
self-proclaimed hacks (insert earnest demurral here: Oh, no, they're actually
extremely talented, etc., etc., etc.) will compete in trying to produce a piece
in a hurry. Readers will vote on whose work comes closest to resembling a
respectable work of journalism. Since true hackability is fearless and
fungible, the contestants will be tested in a variety of journalistic
genres.
This year's hackathletes
are: Malcolm Gladwell of The New Yorker , Michael Specter of the New
York Times , Hanna Rosin of the New Republic , and Geoffrey Wheatcroft
of British publications too numerous to mention. The Hackathlon is a
world-class event: Gladwell will be filing from New York City; Specter from
Moscow; Rosin from Washington, D.C.; and Wheatcroft from Bath, England. Shafer
will officiate from Redmond, Wash. Here are Shafer's instructions to the
players:
"Each Saturday, I will
e-mail each hack a Hackathlon topic, a cheat sheet (notes, quotes, and facts),
and the name of a specific publication whose style each hack is expected to
ape. The hacks will have two hours to complete the assignment and e-mail me at
Hack Central. If any hack takes longer than two hours to complete his/her
assignment, we will report this transgression on the page with his/her
copy.
"The four events: a New
York Times Op-Ed (maximum length, 750 words); a New Yorker "Talk of
the Town" (maximum length, 750 words); the First 1,000 Words of a Vanity
Fair profile; a Breaking News Story.
"Don't write parody. As one
accomplished hack put it, the essence of hackery is 'adjusting to a minimum of
information to produce the maximum journalistic effect.' Actually, he went on a
little longer to fill the available space. I've taken the liberty of truncating
his remarks.
"The collected hackwork will
be posted on
Slate
on four successive Tuesdays, beginning Nov.
11. Readers will be invited to vote for the best hackwork in each event. The
hack who collects the most votes will be declared victor and be invited to
return next year to face challengers. The cheat sheets will be published for
readers' inspection.
"Prepare
yourselves."
Reader
Survey, Round 2
While the
hacks are hacking away, we've got homework for you as well. But it will take a
lot less than two hours. We'd be grateful if you took a few minutes to fill out
our second annual online reader survey. It will be on our site for two weeks,
beginning Friday, Nov. 7. All the questions are easy: "What is the capital of
North Dakota?" "Who is the chairman of the Microsoft Corp.?" "What is your
credit-card number?" That sort of thing. E-mail
Slate
readers
will get the survey by e-mail. Last year almost 4,000
Slate
readers answered our survey. They seemed to enjoy it, and it was extremely
helpful to us. Thanks.
Correction, Sort Of
Michael Lewis' "Millionerds"
column, as originally posted, stated that his subject this week--T.J. Rodgers,
CEO of Cypress Semiconducter--despises Gil Amelio, former CEO of Apple
Computer, because of Amelio's support for President Clinton. The article was
posted Tuesday evening (Nov. 4), and by Wednesday morning we had received half
a dozen e-mail messages from various readers establishing beyond question, with
supportive documentation, that Amelio supported George Bush in 1992 and Bob
Dole in 1996. So, in keeping with our policy, the article was amended. But
Rodgers did tell Lewis that he despises Amelio because Amelio supported
Clinton, so it is Rodgers' mistake, not our author's, that we are
correcting.
--Michael Kinsley
