4 ms·

OpenNews: Why Develop in the Newsroom?

37 points by knowtheory 14y ago

3amOpsGuy 14y ago
I think i've missed the point. How is this any different from sitting RAD (as in "rapid application development") guys in your business teams? Lots of companies do this already across many sectors. EDIT: It's still cool though.
- rabidsnail 14y ago
  You kill the project (or at least put it in maintenance mode) even if it gets traction.
knowtheory 14y ago
Particularly with all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the supposed demise of news, it's worth hearing from folks who actually work in these environments. More importantly, it's worth noting that they're doing some amazing work there.
dansinker 14y ago
These videos were created in part to help spread the word about the Knight-Mozilla Fellowships, which place developers, hackers, and tech-minded folks into newsrooms around the world to do open-source development, travel the world hacking the news, and much more. Tons of info here: mozillaopennews.org/fellowships/ The application closes August 11.
danso 14y ago
About 5 - 10 years ago, the status quo was to have developers be part of the business side of news orgs, that is, controlled by the ad people...not necessarily a bad thing, but a situation wholly different than what is being discussed in the OP, where hackers are helping to advance the news product and reportage. I'm having trouble thinking of other professions in which developers work inside the "prized" group of the organization -- in this case, editorial -- rather than as contractors or part of the IT group. Maybe programmers in the certain sectors of the financial industry?
- dansinker 14y ago
  I think you're right: There's a real shift now in newsrooms as they realize the value of having developers involved in the editorial process and the power in creating web-native news experiences.
jessevondoom 14y ago
I know Dan and a few of the others involved in this project and their passion is both amazing and warranted. Data is becoming and indispensable tool in the modern newsroom, and it makes sense that the pairing of seasoned journalists and creative developers is key to uncovering new stories today. Pretty exciting stuff, and I can't wait to see what they do next.
odacrem 14y ago
This is great stuff!!! It truly is an exciting time to be working in news/media. It is absolutely the case that mixing, mashing, hacking and building are a means-of-expression as vital to news/media as words and images. A key ingredient in our sauce over here at Vox Media (SB Nation, The Verge and soon Polygon) is a break with the old pattern where technology and development teams are considered (at the organization and conceptual level) to be utilities or tool providers for editorial and business initiatives. Rather, we embrace what internet native reporting and story telling require: an organization and mindset where editorial, business initiatives and technology are intertwined together like some kind of triple helix. This sounds like business speak but what it really is a tough challenge - one that is very exciting and one that is creating some pretty great opportunities for creative people and builders. The Knight-Mozilla OpenNews initiative looks like a great a way to get involved and I very much look forward to the ideas and things this fellowship program produces. Cheers!
rabidsnail 14y ago
What's the difference between news and information? Is it just freshness? Is the story format really the best way to convey the state of the world to the individual person on the other end of the wire, or is it just the best format for broadcast? My main frustration with The News is the story format. Not only do I have to spend the mental energy of reading the story, but I have to spend _more_ mental energy unraveling the narrative into its primary sources. Often that's actually impossible to do and I end up giving up and not reading the rest of the story.
- danso 14y ago
  Right...which is the purpose of having devs in the newsroom, to increase the variety of storytelling formats that the newsroom has, particularly for the online medium. Unfortunately, as most newsrooms have journalists trained almost exclusively in the narrative format, it's not a trivial task to conceive stories that are told differently than they are in print.
  - rabidsnail 14y ago
    I don't just object to the narrative format, I object to telling stories. I don't want a more interactive newspaper, I want a more accessible Bloomberg terminal. Everyblock seems to be a step in this direction, and I wholeheartedly approve.
    - knowtheory 14y ago
      mm. I don't think what you want and what Dan Sinker or Dan Nguyen are talking about is different from what you want. There's a "Show Your Work" movement in the news+tech community that's pretty popular, and making its way into stories too. Check out http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-linda-carswell-get-her-husbands-heart-back#annotated http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-linda-carswell-ge... for example.
      - rabidsnail 14y ago
        Very cool. Are those annotations crawlable? Is there an RDF schema for those kinds of snippets? PS: While this is a very small step in the right direction, it's very small.
rabidsnail 14y ago
David Nolen is really involved in the Clojure community (core.logic, core.match, clojurescript). I had no idea he worked at the Times.
- dansinker 14y ago
  The talent the Times has managed to build up on its dev team is pretty unbelievable.

37 points by knowtheory 14y ago

I think i've missed the point. How is this any different from sitting RAD (as in "rapid application development") guys in your business teams? Lots of companies do this already across many sectors. EDIT: It's still cool though.

rabidsnail 14y ago
You kill the project (or at least put it in maintenance mode) even if it gets traction.

knowtheory 14y ago

Particularly with all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the supposed demise of news, it's worth hearing from folks who actually work in these environments. More importantly, it's worth noting that they're doing some amazing work there.

dansinker 14y ago

These videos were created in part to help spread the word about the Knight-Mozilla Fellowships, which place developers, hackers, and tech-minded folks into newsrooms around the world to do open-source development, travel the world hacking the news, and much more. Tons of info here: mozillaopennews.org/fellowships/ The application closes August 11.

danso 14y ago

About 5 - 10 years ago, the status quo was to have developers be part of the business side of news orgs, that is, controlled by the ad people...not necessarily a bad thing, but a situation wholly different than what is being discussed in the OP, where hackers are helping to advance the news product and reportage. I'm having trouble thinking of other professions in which developers work inside the "prized" group of the organization -- in this case, editorial -- rather than as contractors or part of the IT group. Maybe programmers in the certain sectors of the financial industry?

dansinker 14y ago
I think you're right: There's a real shift now in newsrooms as they realize the value of having developers involved in the editorial process and the power in creating web-native news experiences.

jessevondoom 14y ago

I know Dan and a few of the others involved in this project and their passion is both amazing and warranted. Data is becoming and indispensable tool in the modern newsroom, and it makes sense that the pairing of seasoned journalists and creative developers is key to uncovering new stories today. Pretty exciting stuff, and I can't wait to see what they do next.

odacrem 14y ago

This is great stuff!!! It truly is an exciting time to be working in news/media. It is absolutely the case that mixing, mashing, hacking and building are a means-of-expression as vital to news/media as words and images. A key ingredient in our sauce over here at Vox Media (SB Nation, The Verge and soon Polygon) is a break with the old pattern where technology and development teams are considered (at the organization and conceptual level) to be utilities or tool providers for editorial and business initiatives. Rather, we embrace what internet native reporting and story telling require: an organization and mindset where editorial, business initiatives and technology are intertwined together like some kind of triple helix. This sounds like business speak but what it really is a tough challenge - one that is very exciting and one that is creating some pretty great opportunities for creative people and builders. The Knight-Mozilla OpenNews initiative looks like a great a way to get involved and I very much look forward to the ideas and things this fellowship program produces. Cheers!

rabidsnail 14y ago

What's the difference between news and information? Is it just freshness? Is the story format really the best way to convey the state of the world to the individual person on the other end of the wire, or is it just the best format for broadcast? My main frustration with The News is the story format. Not only do I have to spend the mental energy of reading the story, but I have to spend _more_ mental energy unraveling the narrative into its primary sources. Often that's actually impossible to do and I end up giving up and not reading the rest of the story.

danso 14y ago
Right...which is the purpose of having devs in the newsroom, to increase the variety of storytelling formats that the newsroom has, particularly for the online medium. Unfortunately, as most newsrooms have journalists trained almost exclusively in the narrative format, it's not a trivial task to conceive stories that are told differently than they are in print.
- rabidsnail 14y ago
  I don't just object to the narrative format, I object to telling stories. I don't want a more interactive newspaper, I want a more accessible Bloomberg terminal. Everyblock seems to be a step in this direction, and I wholeheartedly approve.
  - knowtheory 14y ago
    mm. I don't think what you want and what Dan Sinker or Dan Nguyen are talking about is different from what you want. There's a "Show Your Work" movement in the news+tech community that's pretty popular, and making its way into stories too. Check out http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-linda-carswell-get-her-husbands-heart-back#annotated http://www.propublica.org/article/why-cant-linda-carswell-ge... for example.
    - rabidsnail 14y ago
      Very cool. Are those annotations crawlable? Is there an RDF schema for those kinds of snippets? PS: While this is a very small step in the right direction, it's very small.

rabidsnail 14y ago

David Nolen is really involved in the Clojure community (core.logic, core.match, clojurescript). I had no idea he worked at the Times.

dansinker 14y ago
The talent the Times has managed to build up on its dev team is pretty unbelievable.