Innovation in Focus
Innovation in Focus is a series exploring new tech, tools and methods of storytelling for journalism. We interview experts, test ideas and provide our findings with templates, guidance and how-tos so you can implement the same innovations in your newsroom.
Sign up for the Innovation in Focus Newsletter to get a monthly delivery of each topic.
Whether you’re a one-man band or a large metro, this series will help you take the next step in innovative journalism.
Email the editor: lytle@rjionline.org
Interactive Chats: The journey of the user
Juliana Ruhfus, interactive producer at Al Jazeera, shares her thoughts on InterviewJS.
Interactive Chats: Our tips for building a story in InterviewJS
Find out how student creator Emily Dunn covered a story using InterviewJS.
Sonification: Turning stories into sound
Michael Corey, Senior Data Editor at Reveal, shares his tips for sonification storytelling
Sonification: Hearing drought in Missouri
Using data from 2000-2018, we created a sound story to highlight drought percentages in Missouri.
Social specific content: Building for Instagram, Snapchat and more
Tips on five tools we tried while creating social specific content for promotion of our video story.
Social specific content: Promoting your stories differently
We test different social specific content editors to promote a news feature video.
Bots: Tips and Tools
How to use the Facebook ad archive for projects and tips on what to think about before you start!
Bots: Meet the ProPublica Election DataBot
We spoke with one of the original creators of the ProPublica Election Databot.
Bots: Helping journalists find the story
We used an election databot to lead us to a story about ad numbers from two local politicians.
Games for News: Test your Como knowledge!
This month’s Innovation in Focus illustrates how to use a news game to let your readers interact with news stories. Emily Kummerfeld created this game for readers in Columbia, Missouri, to test their knowledge of the city. Next week: Sisi Wei, deputy editor of news applications at ProPublica, shares how ProPublica approaches building news games in its newsroom.