How often have you thought, there's got to be a better way to do comments? On May 26, do something about it.

Join Hacks/Hackers NYC for an idea-generating session focused on creating more dynamic spaces for online news discussion with NYU's Clay Shirky, ProPublica's Amanda Michel, and Ro Gupta of Disqus.

What makes news valuable in the public sphere is the ability to share and talk about it. How do we improve the online experience? What features are necessary? What are the roles of names and anonymity? The dangers of crowd control and moderation? What technologies can be incorporated to surface the good stuff and manage the message mass?

Bring your best ideas for technology, design and community-building and be prepared to share — the best ideas will be invited to build working prototypes, with help from Mozilla. You can also qualify for a paid, yearlong fellowship to develop your ideas at the BBC, Boston.com, The Guardian, Zeit Online, or Al Jazeera English through the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership.

RSVP now to participate in the discussion on May 26 at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Speaking:

• Clay Shirky, NYU Associate Arts Professor at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and Distinguished Writer in Residence in the Journalism Department
• Amanda Michel, Director of Distributed Reporting, ProPublica
• Ro Gupta, Head of Business Development, Disqus

Registration for the event is $5, payable in advance through our Meetup page. This includes bahn mi sandwiches and drinks. If the registration fee is beyond your budget, email nyc [at] hackshackers [dot] com and we'll work something out.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Presentations and discussion begin at 7 p.m.

Thanks to NYU ITP for providing space for the event, and to the Knight Foundation and Mozilla for support. To learn more about the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership, visit http://drumbeat.org/journalism.

We look forward to brainstorming with you,

—Chrys, Jenny & Al
Co-organizers, Hacks/Hackers NYC