Category: Insights
Old dogs and new tricks: Tom Rosenstiel on reinventing local TV news
As “We Interrupt This Newscast,” one of the largest research projects about local television news, was on the eve of landing on bookshelves nearly a decade ago, Tom Rosenstiel, one […]
Will educators warm up to the learning possibilities of games like Assassin’s Creed?
Without a time machine, the world of ancient Egypt that most people know is a half-finished puzzle pieced together by egyptologists. Until now. The sun-dappled streets of Alexandria, ancient temples […]
China’s intranet fends off censored words through the Great Firewall
You know the internet as a seemingly infinite online environment ruled by openness and free expression. But in China, the internet is more like an intranet. What is an intranet? An […]
How Sosolimited uses data to create experiences that are physical and sensory
Making data physical, visceral, and emotional is the primary goal for Sosolimited, a Boston-based design studio. “The incorporation of live data, especially user-created data, makes the space engaging in a […]
SXSW: Is the future of our cities a branded utopia or commercial dystopia?
By 2050, it is expected that two-thirds of the global population will live in cities. By then, the “smart city” market is meant to triple, meaning that more and more […]
SXSW: Key takeaways on data journalism from the “news nerds” panel
Nearly every news story you read today involves numbers. Many news outlets, like The Washington Post and The New York Times, have found effective ways of presenting stories with data-heavy […]
SXSW: Virtual reality pioneer Nonny de la Peña on immersive storytelling
Often referred to as the ‘Godmother of Virtual Reality,’ investigative journalist Nonny de la Peña has paved the way for a new era of immersive storytelling though virtual reality. In […]
How nwzer wants to rebuild journalism using AI and citizen reporters
“Artificial intelligence powered citizen journalism. Building news together.” That’s how Netherlands-based nwzer – which founder Karim Maassen calls “the Uber of journalism” – bills itself. nwzer aims to put the power of news production into the hands of […]
SXSW: TV writers on the ingredients of successful storytelling
It’s the best job in the world, the panelists agreed. Though distinct in their assorted identities and backgrounds, the three speakers at “Inside the Modern Day Writer’s Room,” held Tuesday […]
SXSW: The danger in designing frictionless experiences like Uber, Hulu and Blue Apron
How many apps do you have on your phone specifically designed to make your life easier? Instead of waiting for the bus that may or may not come, ride-sharing services […]
NICAR: Data stories from last year that you could be doing in your newsroom
The NICAR conference is all about seeing and learning from the best of data journalism. And what better way of understanding success than taking a look at the past. The […]
SXSW: For women in journalism the future is not bleak. But there’s a lot to work on.
At a SXSW session on journalism last Saturday, panelists Sophia Jones, Jasmine Garsd Garcia, Tara Todras-Whitehill and Daniella Zalcman wanted the room to know, first and foremost, that their outlook […]
SXSW: Bernie Sanders thinks the average American is “disgusted with the current political process”
In a sit-down interview with CNN reporter Jake Tapper, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont spoke about economic and social issues at the forefront of national politics including immigration reform, gun […]
Ten principles for photojournalists
It’s bound to happen. Sometime in your career as a budding photojournalist you will encounter the challenge and privilege of building a relationship with another human being in order to […]
Understanding how new copyright law will affect social media embeds for news publishers
Picture this: A photo of two major athletes goes viral, weaving across social platforms, and pops up via embed on popular news sites. For most, this doesn’t seem noteworthy – […]
Despite the growing educational uses for virtual reality, research into its potential problems is lacking
From experiencing swimming underwater with a Blue Whale, to feeling what it is like to live in solitary confinement or reliving the horrors of 9/11, virtual reality is changing the […]
Figuring out local TV’s future with the help of the industry
It’s no secret the media landscape is evolving. Social media dominates. People’s faces are glued to their smartphones. But their thirst for news and information hasn’t disappeared. If anything, it’s […]
How The Pudding discovered swing states will suffer most from job automation
Will robots take your job one day? Probably. But how should that affect your choices in the voting booth? Ilia Blinderman, a data journalist at The Pudding, recently published an […]
What can data visualization learn from feminism?
It’s about time to infuse feminism into data science and visualization. At least, that’s what Emerson data visualization and civic tech professor Catherine D’Ignazio says based on her research into […]
Local TV news is important. Seriously.
Hello again from Northeastern University’s Reinventing Local TV News Project. We’re entering an exciting phase as we begin experimenting with new methods for video news storytelling and searching for better […]
How I designed a journalism course around email newsletters
Can cannabis help address the opioids crisis? What is Northeastern University’s relationship with the environment? What about the university’s role in gentrification? And what is the future of digital storytelling? […]
The website as archive: why NowThis publishes all of its content straight to social media
NowThis is a digital video news network that garners upwards of two billion views every month, according to Christian Tom, the company’s publisher and vice president of sales. And until […]
Did President Trump’s tweets about the NFL overshadow larger news stories? A Media Cloud analysis
Despite raking in hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets, President Donald Trump’s tweets about black football players kneeling during the national anthem did not overshadow larger news stories since […]
Social media and news: The dilemma of our time
“Our mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together,” says Facebook on its Community Standards page. Founded as a social network, Facebook […]
Six things I learned developing an interactive map on the effects of climate change
Every once in a while, newsroom developers and visual journalists get one of those projects that becomes both a big challenge and a great learning experience. That was the case […]
The Athletic hopes to solve sports reporting with fewer ads and deeper stories
Imagine chopping the sports section out of a newspaper and selling it on its own, online, along with sections from 14 other cities. That’s the product The Athletic founders Adam […]
Build it, hack it, share it: Lessons from MIT’s Civic Data Design Lab director Sarah Williams
Build it, hack it, share it. This was the message that Sarah Williams, director of MIT’s Civic Data Design Lab and a professor of technology and urban planning, hoped to […]
A new guide for print journalists moving into audio
More people are accessing news in audio formats. Between the steady rise in podcast listeners and the extensive reach of radio, demand for audio news is high. And as print […]
Six ways Alberto Cairo thinks you can improve your data visualizations
There’s a pesky little number that many in the data visualization community would just as soon ignore – one-third of Americans can’t properly read a scatter plot. Newsrooms and other […]
NodeXL’s Marc Smith on how mapping virtual crowd networks is relevant to journalism
As social scientists try to understand the online communities we form, journalists are missing out on stories that network theory could help unravel, according to Marc Smith, a sociologist and director […]