The London branch, which claims to be the first international chapter of Hacks/Hackers, will incorporate the Ruby in the Pub meetings organised by journalists Joanna Geary and James Ball to teach journalists the programming language Ruby on Rails.
Julian Burgess, editorial developer at the Times, and Jonathan Richards, a data journalist for the Times, have teamed up with Geary, who is the title's web development editor, business to launch the London meeting.
"The drive behind setting up Hacks/Hackers is that I think we're at a really crucial point in the industry where we need a serious injection of new digital skills, but we're yet attract people with those skills into the industry in significant numbers," Geary told Journalism.co.uk.
"Part of this is because these two groups think and communicate in slightly different ways. Also, while there is increasing enthusiasm to embrace new digital opportunities, I think there is a dearth of knowledge within the traditional media industry about what's possible and how that can be integrated into our daily story-telling routine.
"Also, I think we need curious, intelligent programmers developing a greater understanding of the process of storytelling and the demands of the news agenda. It would also be great to enthuse them about the opportunities our industry could offer them."
The group's first meeting will take place next Wednesday 18 August from 7:00pm at a London pub. Topics covered will include how to code, gathering data, data visualisation and resources for finding out more about coding and data journalism.
Geary said she hopes the group will provide "a neutral space" for both hacks and hackers to find out more about each other.
"Linking in to an international network of coders and journalists that are also grappling with the same issues helps us to learn and develop faster. I just hope people turn up!" she said.
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