RJI Fellowships
Does the idea of talking to a news bot bother you? That is interesting. Please continue
The first chatbot was born in 1966. Eliza, as her creator named her, mimicked a psycho-therapist. You can still chat with Eliza, like I did. Eliza was a proof of concept: an experiment designed to explore the potential of conversational interfaces. Now, 50 years on, chatbots are starting to crack into the mainstream — at … Continued
Christopher Guess presents Push
RJI Fellow Christopher Guess spoke about Push, his open source mobile app, during a brown bag luncheon Aug. 31 at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Guess is improving the news app during his 2017-2018 fellowship. His tasks include simplifying the setup and management of the app, he says. Developing a news app from scratch … Continued
Tyus Monroe: A Talk Story, Write Story success story in progress
Tyus Monroe is a 2017 graduate of Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri. She believes teachers aren’t engaging young black male students as much as other kids. That’s why she wants to become a teacher. “If I can do my part to get more black males in the graduating class, I’m going to do that … Continued
Survey: Journalists’ most urgent training needs are mobile, data and video
Respondents say they’d try bite-size lessons on their phone to learn digital skills.
AL.com’s news deputy program: A fledgling success despite obstacles, missteps and hiccups
My RJI Fellowship project, dubbed the Deputy Program, has had its share of kinks. But it’s also yielding tips, information and insights that would be nearly impossible for the AL.com newsroom to come up with on its own. It’s creating engagement and connections with people who might otherwise believe they don’t have a stake or … Continued
RJI Fellow receives investment from Missouri accelerator fund for chatbot tool
GroundSource, a community engagement platform founded by RJI Fellow Andrew Haeg, recently received a $50,000 investment from the Missouri Innovation Center Accelerator Fund. Haeg is completing an institutional fellowship in August with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. He spent a year developing bots to deepen engagement at various news outlets. The funds will allow … Continued
Open the Room Project helps journalists, citizens and towns broadcast on Facebook Live
This week we launch the Open the Room Project, which provides community journalists, citizen activists and town administrators with step-by-step directions to build a scalable, affordable system for streaming public meetings, events and sporting contests. The project was inspired by citizen activists who are streaming town council meetings via smartphones to Facebook Live. Our work … Continued
RJI Fellow expands work on mobile news app for smaller news organizations
Push notifications from The New York Times, the Guardian, BuzzFeed and The Washington Post alert us every day to scandal, horror, scientific achievement and grief. However, this capability lies mainly in the realm of large news organizations. Without a 24-hour news desk, smaller news outlets — especially weeklies and investigative centers — struggle to remind users … Continued
Newsletter optimizer Opt In allows newsrooms to improve newsletters or create one from scratch
Eighth in a series to help newsrooms curate effective newsletters.
Class is in session: Join me to create mobile learning in digital skills for journalists
Second in a series introducing our 2017-2018 RJI Fellows and their projects.