Technology
Lessons from a viral obituary
Once in a while, notice of someone’s death takes on a life all its own — the addict who was also a mother with a beautiful voice, the hard-living, sweet-souled uncle, the former beauty queen grandma who wrote her own obituary. Three months into my RJI fellowship experimenting with obituaries, I’ve been thinking a lot about what … Continued
Amazon’s win toward drone deliveries will benefit journalists
It’s not clear who was more excited about the announcement from the FAA Monday that the agency was granting approval to retail giant Amazon to operate as an air carrier with a fleet of drone delivery vehicles: online shopping addicts or drone nerds. The move by the FAA certifies Amazon Air — the company’s name … Continued
A case study: Photojournalism and its value to a community
While I spent time thinking about the numbers surrounding my project, looking through data and designing new ways to collect it, something more palpable happened that strikes right at the heart of my main question: What’s the value of strong photojournalism to a community? For more than 41 years, the people of Jasper, Indiana, picked … Continued
Interactive video: Day-in-the-life of frontline worker and their family
Thousands of medical workers have traveled to various parts of the country to aid COVID-19 patients. We asked one family of five to share what their typical day has been like during the pandemic, for the essential worker and her loved ones left behind at home. Visit the interactive video by clicking on the image … Continued
La Voz de Chatham
During my RJI innovation fellowship at the Chatham News + Record this summer, I worked on a variety of audience engagement-related projects. One of the efforts that particularly excited me was a project made possible by a Facebook Journalism Project COVID-19 Local News Relief Grant, which the News + Record received right before the start … Continued
Creating a voice in podcasting
Podcasts create an audience connection by connecting your community with a voice from your newsroom. This can diversify your audience’s experience through audio accessibility which gives you the opportunity to reach new parts of your community. One of The Washington Post’s most popular podcasts is “Can He Do That?” It discusses the powers and limitations of the President, and how … Continued
Q&A: Behind the AP News app with Dave Clark
Tatyana Monnay is the RJI Student Innovation Fellow at the Associated Press. This summer our student fellows will be sharing dispatches from their fellowships in newsrooms across the country for Innovation in Focus. Dave Clark is a mobile editor for the Associated Press. We spoke with him about the work that goes into the language choices and editing for … Continued
Can obituaries help save local news?
Years ago when asked what will save local news, Steven Waldman had two answers: national service and obituaries. You might know Waldman as the co-founder of Report for America, a Peace Corps-like model that pairs emerging journalists with local newsrooms to cover critical issues to those communities. After years of talking with journalists about what … Continued
Utilizing the WhatsApp audio feature for news
One of the most popular features of WhatsApp is the ability to leave a short audio message in lieu of a text message, video or photo. It’s a feature that’s widely used across the world, but less so in the United States. And Radio remains popular across Latin America, especially in areas with limited internet … Continued
Build a real-time dataviz bot (for free!)
When it’s not busy playing host to cryptocurrency scams, Twitter remains a widely adopted platform for the distribution of bite-sized information. For that reason alone, it’s well-suited to sharing real-time data—especially via charts and graphics.