Dan Sinker

Fellowship Experience Advisor

Dan has built a life out of making things that people love. For 25 years–starting when he was just 19 years old–he’s made real things that break new ground, resonate with communities, and amplify new voices. Before advising the Civic Media Fellowships, Dan ran OpenNews, a journalism nonprofit that helped build community and collaboration among technologists in newsrooms around the world. Prior to OpenNews, Dan was the founder of the influential underground magazine Punk Planet and the author of the infamous @MayorEmanuel twitter feed. In addition, he is the co-founder of the long running oddball political podcast Says Who.

Inspiration

Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. — Mark Twain

Me in Three

What kind of art to do you like to create?
I love to create work that gets people talking–to each other and about the world around them.

If you had your own time machine, would you travel to the past or the future?
I’d totally travel to the past. I’d love to be able to see the details that get overlooked in history books: the smells, the feel, the little bits and pieces that have long been forgotten.

What was your dream job as a kid?
I really wanted to be a stunt man, mostly because I was super into the Lee Majors stunt performer/bounty hunter TV show The Fall Guy.

This pretty much sums up my existence