'Hackathon' aimed at helping migrants, research

(AP) ‘Hackathon’ aimed at helping migrants, research
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press
MIAMI
Journalists, activists and techies in 20 U.S. and Latin American cities will brainstorm and code their way toward understanding migration patterns across the Western Hemisphere this weekend, the latest effort to use digital collaboration to rethink immigration’s role in society.

Backers of the Americas Datafest say they hope participants in the 48-hour meetups to produce, apps, websites or programs that can be useful to migrants, the nonprofits that work with them and the researchers who study these issues.

Organizers say they hope participants produce apps, websites or programs that can be useful to migrants and the researchers. The Datafests will take place in Miami at Univision and at Harvard, Stanford and other universities. Others will be held in Mexico, across Central America, and even in Madrid.