News
FL#199: Language recognition via Speechmatics
A British company called Speechmatics is working to build more accurate technology to turn spoken words into text across a wide range of different languages. We explore how the system might help journalists in the future. Reporting by Lily Oppenheimer, Rachel Wise and Jessica King. Additional information A key aspect of the technology is that … Continued
What a team at the Honolulu Civil Beat is learning while experimenting with Facebook Live
We asked newsrooms and ad agencies what they are doing today that they weren’t doing a year ago. Turns out quite a lot! This new RJI series will highlight some of the innovations and experiments we discovered and share what leaders are learning along the way. We call it The What’s New? Q&A.
FL#198: Ideas for social video from VICE Media
The growth of Facebook Live and the continued popularity of video on social media platforms opens the door for new ways to tell stories visually. We get some ideas from Adam Banicki, senior producer at VICE Media. Reporting by Lily Oppenheimer, Rachel Wise and Jessica King.
California trip makes us a stronger team
If you’ve watched the reaction video taken at the RJI Tech Showcase in late April, you probably already know just how shocked we were to win the app competition. We didn’t even all know each other before starting the competition, so getting to this point was pretty surreal for us. We had no idea what … Continued
Tech, media leaders advise and inspire student entrepreneurs
Bay Area trip includes stops at Google, Matter and Banjo.
What is the role of a journalist in a post-objectivity world?
Editor’s note: Tom Warhover, Missouri School of Journalism associate professor, was part of a panel discussion titled “Objectivity in Journalism” June 6 at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. He was joined by political theorist Ainsley LeSure; Victor Navasky, editor emeritus of The Nation; and journalist Lewis Wallace, a Marketplace reporter who was fired after publishing the blog post “Objectivity is dead, and I’m okay with it.” These are Warhover’s opening remarks.
FL#197: Following the crowd with Populace
The startup Populace uses data from social media and other sources to display crowd densities at various locations across urban areas. As a result, the system could make it possible for journalists to find out automatically whenever an unusually large crowd gathers in a public place. We find out how it works from founder and … Continued
Please don’t go: New digital ad platform keeps visitors on your news site after they click an ad
AdKiosks is a new digital ad platform that will allow a consumer — while visiting a website — to browse an in-ad catalog and purchase an item from inside the ad without leaving the webpage. The hope is that visitors will stay and consume other content after they’re done, says Peter Meng, founder of AdKiosks and a 2011-2012 … Continued
FL#196: Automation at The Washington Post
Jeremy Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives at The Washington Post, says computer automation could increase a newsroom’s capabilities in three important ways: analyzing vast amounts of data, putting information into digestible forms, and tailoring the end result for each individual user. We dive into the details and find out how the Post has experimented already. … Continued
FL#195: A home page designed by algorithm
(Video missing) The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet developed an algorithm guided partially by editors and partially by reader preferences that delivers a personalized home page for each website visitor. Editor in chief Fredric Karén credits the technology with a significant boost in online traffic and digital subscriptions. Reporting by Lily Oppenheimer, Rachel Wise and Jessica … Continued