Program fits nicely with schools’ focus on access

Originally published on The Columbia Daily Tribune website In the Columbia Public Schools, we believe our students are our kids. We believe every one of our kids is entitled to A.E.O. — Achievement, Enrichment, and Opportunity. Three simple words, and each one denotes access. Access to a great teacher who will nurture and develop our … Continued

The possibilities are endless

Originally published on The Columbia Daily Tribune website Looking back on this academic year, I am most proud of my time with the Talk Story, Write Story program. I knew it was going to be a huge inaugural undertaking but had no idea how much this scholarship effort would consume my life. From Day One, … Continued

Reynolds Journalism Institute announces 10th fellowship class

Eight fellowships have been awarded for the 2016-2017 academic year by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. The projects range from emerging technologies and watchdog journalism to community engagement and navigating new business models. This year’s RJI Fellowships were selected from 369 applicants worldwide. Each spring RJI leadership identifies journalists, technologists, entrepreneurs, business strategists and … Continued

RJI Fellow alumnus leads team launching new social debate application

Team members behind a newly launched social debate application didn’t believe people had an adequate place online to share opinions about the latest news events and gauge support for their views. This led Advance Digital’s incubator Alpha Group to create The Tylt, which lets people vote on news topics such as Apple’s refusal to unlock … Continued

Documentary class in session at RJI with Professor Spike Lee

A highlight of my RJI stay happened last week, 30 feet from my office. Spike Lee gave a master class to documentary and photojournalism students. He was in Columbia, Missouri, to premiere “2 Fists Up: We Gon Be Alright,” a new ESPN documentary on racial unrest at the University of Missouri that uses footage from the … Continued

Dodging the Memory Hole conference receives funding from Institute of Museum and Library Services

Dodging the Memory Hole 2016: Saving Online News was one of 20 initiatives to receive grant funding this week from the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. The forum is a part of an event series of the Journalism Digital News Archive at the University of Missouri and will promote the preservation of born-digital news content.   The Laura Bush program is part of the … Continued

Can structured news reinvent archives and reimagine objectivity?

In earlier posts I have reviewed the long-term potential of structured journalism to make newsrooms economically sustainable, empower news consumers and future-proof journalism as a profession. However, journalism is not just another business. Its economic and market success is important not only to its shareholders, customers and employees, but also to society in general. Journalism, … Continued

Small paper, small city undergoing big changes in Virginia

For a century, the Culpeper Star-Exponent — whose predecessors date to 1881 — served a small community that changed relatively little. Today, the newspaper is dealing with rapid change in its central Virginia market. Since 1980, Culpeper County has more than doubled its population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, mostly with commuters to the … Continued

How to make online news ‘brain friendly’

Online news can work with or against the brain. When RJI Fellows Alex Remington of The Washington Post and media researcher Paul Bolls applied brain science principles to news design, readers’ comprehension, recall and engagement increased. We interviewed the researchers (audio below) to learn how to make articles “brain friendly.” It’s all about the “reading path,” says Remington. “Classify the … Continued

Screen size and age affect how smartphone owners get mobile news stories

2015 RJI Mobile Media Research Report 4 Owners of large-screen smartphones (phablets) are much more likely than owners of standard-size smartphones to frequently use multiple approaches to access news organization content on their smartphones, according to the latest Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute mobile media poll. The survey also found that smartphone owners between the … Continued