As the end of the year nears, the local technology community continues to organize some great events. This week there are events on node.js, the platform for building fast, scalable applications that we use for our data and mapping sites, open journalism, and longform reading, plus a party thrown by the startup folks at Proudly Made In DC. Our roundup is below, and check out DC Tech Events for more meetups happening around town.

Monday, December 12

5:00 pm

Panel on Open Journalism : The Online News Association is hosting this panel on Open Journalism to talk about bringing transparency to the field and how to change the existing culture to be more open.

Wednesday, December 14

7:00–9:00 pm

NodeDC Meetup : This month’s node.js meetup will include three quick lightning talks on deploying node apps, the browser-based node debugging tool node-inspector, and the concept of TTD for APIs using node. If you want to learn some quick tricks with node.js, meet other local developers, and learn why node.js is gaining in popularity, come out to this meetup.

Thursday, December 15

5:00–8:00 pm

ProudlyMadeInDC Birthday Party : Proudly Made in DC — the startup network connecting and promoting local entrepreneurs and technologists — is celebrating one year in operation by throwing a party. Check it out to learn about local startups and meet the people behind them.

6:00 pm

The State of Reading : Want the latest scoop on online readers like the Kindle and iPad, and read it later services like the excellent Instapaper? At this meetup, Will Mitchell from Washington City Paper and Longform.org will discuss the state of longform reading looking at both the technology and journalism sides.

7:00 pm

NetSquared: Leveraging Video for Social Change : This month’s NetSquared meetup will look at how nonprofits can leverage video for social change, with presentations by the filmmaker behind Choosing Prevention and an online communications strategist.