Barrett Golding, a Web developer and leader of the project Hearing Voices from NPR, will create and test a suite of open-source WordPress plugins designed to make journalists’ everyday tasks faster and easier. These tasks could range from fact-checking and finding free images to creating immersive multimedia presentations and previewing mobile versions of their articles. The project will put “big-media tools” into the hands of media professionals and freelancers who don’t have access to large programming teams, says Golding.

The concept, practice, and social and cultural value of entrepreneurial journalism will be explored by Mark Deuze, a professor of media studies at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Tamara Witschge, a Rosalind Franklin Fellow at the University of Groningen Faculty of Arts in the Netherlands. Sharing their findings is expected to help nurture and grow entrepreneurial journalism.

Tracy Clark, founder of Reportory, conducted a six-month usability test on her technology platform, utilized by publishers, to create daily news digests for their subscribers based on individual preferences. During the fellowship she worked with a mid-size publisher to pilot her technology to test engagement and satisfaction differences between editor-selected and personalized email newsletters.

David Caswell used his fellowship to evaluate the efficacy of structured narratives for reporting and consuming news. Using a structured journalism platform called Structured Stories, Caswell worked closely with a research team from the Missouri School of Journalism to manage and evaluate several structured reporting projects and to conduct a major survey of consumer understanding of structured narratives.

As part of her RJI Fellowship, Tad Bartimus, an award-winning journalist and founder of Talk Story, Write Story, successfully launched her one-on-one writing mentorship project in Missouri. The program, which started in Hana, Hawaii, in 1998, has led to the mentoring of hundreds of financially disadvantaged high school students and has helped dozens of those students in Alaska and Hawaii — and now Missouri — write winning college scholarship essays.

As a 2014-2015 Reynolds Fellow, Nikki Usher, assistant professor at The George Washington University, studied for-profit startups in journalism, specifically new digital news outlets, to determine if technology is making inroads to “reboot” journalism and provide new opportunities for citizens to consume news.

APG Media of Southern Minnesota LLC studied trends in native advertising and its application for small- and medium-sized media companies. Jaci Smith, former managing editor of the Faribault Daily News, served as the project leader for the institutional fellowship. After creating a successful program at the Daily News, Smith was invited to share her insights at various industry events across the country.

The Washington Post will study how news organizations can display and package news stories, specifically on mobile devices, in a more memorable and comprehensible way. Alex Remington, product manager of The Washington Post, will serve as the project leader for the institutional fellowship.

St. Louis Public Radio studied how news organizations can most effectively engage niche groups in a community. Kelsey Proud, former digital innovation editor at the news organization, served as the project leader for the institutional fellowship.

VML will explore the most effective and productive ways to use social media in a news and brand environment that make the most of what Twitter, Facebook, etc., have to offer.

Chad Martin, who is the director, North America — social and emerging media at VML, served as the project leader for the VML institutional fellowship at the Reynolds Journalism Institute.