Welcome to Storybench
There’s nothing cheesier than a mission statement unless, of course, you have a mission. And we do. In fact, it’s emblazoned on the walls of our office: “We don’t have to reinvent journalism. We get to reinvent journalism.” It reminds the faculty, the students, and the working journalists at the core of our Media Innovation program at Northeastern University that telling true stories in 2014 is a vastly more imaginative undertaking than it was just a few short years ago. And it’s in just that spirit that we bring you Storybench, a news site produced in partnership with Esquire magazine. Simply put, we’d like to be a Maker’s guide to digital storytelling, a cookbook for photographers interested in design or designers interested in video or overwhelmed editors and educators just trying to make sense of it all.
—From our bench to yours, Jeff Howe, Program Coordinator, Media Innovation @ Northeastern
Now for a quick tour of Storybench
Features and news
Storybench will provide in-depth coverage of the most useful tools and latest news in digital storytelling. We will also interview and profile the people behind some of the most compelling work out there. Among them will be journalists, programmers, designers, documentarians, sound and game designers–anyone with a hand in discovering new ways to tell stories digitally.
Do it yourself
The D.I.Y. section contains how to’s like How to build your own headline generator or How to brand a chart with Chartbuilder. They serve as a roadmap to get you up to speed on the latest tools being used.
Don’t know how to code? Don’t worry, that’s what the tutorial section is for. At the very least you’ll understand the vocabulary used in building these gizmos.
Clickworthy
Our must-reads section is nestled under Clickworthy. This is where we point to what is generating buzz in the digital storytelling space.
We’ll do short write-ups on what’s coming over the transom–we will point, for example, to the latest interactive documentary, the debate over emojis in journalism, or a recent portfolio of newsroom infographics.
Twitter and newsletter signup
Follow us on Twitter @story_bench where we will be pointing to even more. We’ll be happy to hear from you. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter or scroll to the bottom of the page.
To send story ideas or feedback to Storybench, email Dina at d.kraft[at]neu.edu
Remember this is a service-oriented blog, we want to cover what you, your students, or your news teams need to know. Suggestions welcome!