Developing and Evaluating Digital Creativity Support in Google Docs for Journalists

Although journalism is classified as one of the creative industries, there is little bespoke digital support for creative thinking by journalists. To fill the gap, this paper reports new research that led to the implementation and first evaluation of JUICE, a new digital prototype to support creative thinking by journalists during the early development of news stories. Emerging from a user centred design process, JUICE is implemented as a simple Add-on Sidebar and Dialog Box in Google Docs that a journalist can invoke when developing news stories. Interviews with experienced journalists were used to elicit 6 strategies that JUICE uses to guide its users to generate different angles on news stories using creative information searches and interactive creativity support. In this paper we describe the information search algorithm and new interactive support to create news stories with one of these strategies – the individual human angle on the story – then report a first evaluation of JUICE implemented with the algorithm and support during its use by journalism students. Results revealed that most of these student journalists were able use JUICE to generate new news stories with individual human angles in a short period of time, but still used established web search tools to collect more detailed information about the angle in order to write the story. Journalist feedback was used to improve the usability of JUICE and design new interactive features

Digital Creativity Support for Original Journalism

The decline in circulations and revenues resulting from the digitalization of news production and consumption has led to a crisis in journalism.Journalists have less time to research, investigate and write original stories, leading to problems for our democratic processes and holding the powerful to account. This paper reports the architecture, features and rationale for new digital creativity support designed to support journalists to discover more original angles onstories. It also summarises the evaluation of the tool’s use in 3 newsrooms

INJECT: Algorithms to Discover Creative Angles on News

INJECT is a new digitaltool tosupport journalists to think more creativelywhendiscoveringnewangles on stories under devel-opment. It deliversinteractiveand intelligentsupport embeddedin the text editorsthat journalists work with regularly. This support is generated bycombiningcomplex creative searchesofmillionsof related news storiespublished in multiplelanguageswith entityextraction algorithms and interactive creative guidance tailored to news. This paper reportsthetool’sarchitecture, some itsalgo-rithms, and the design decisions made to delivera reliable and us-able tool for journalistsin different newsroomsand work contexts

Making the News: Digital Creativity Support for Journalists

This paper reports the design and first evaluations of new digital support for journalists to discover and examine creative angles on news stories under development. The support integrated creative news search algorithms, interactive creative sparks and reusable concept cards into one daily work tool of journalists. The first evaluations of INJECT by journalists in their places of work to write published news stories revealed that the journalists generated new angles on existing stories rather than new stories, changed their writing behaviour, and reported evidence that INJECT use had the potential to increase the objectivity and the boldness of journalism methods used

Evaluating the Use of Digital Creativity Support by Journalists in Newsrooms

This paper reports the evaluation of a new digital support tool designed to increase journalist creativity and productivity in newsrooms. After outlining the tool’s principles, interactive features and architecture, the paper reports the installation and use of the tool over 2 months by 12 journalists in the newsrooms of 3 newspapers. Results from this evaluation revealed that tool use was associated with published news articles rated as more novel but not more valuable than published articles written by the same journalists without the tool. However, tool use did not increase journalist productivity. The evaluation results were used to inform future changes to the digital creativity support tool

Designing Digital Content to Support Science Journalism

Journalists need to become more effective at communicating science and countering post-truth activities that seek to undermine scientific processes and evidence. Digital support for journalists when investigating and writing about sciencerelated topics is one means of improving this science communication. However, little bespoke digital support is available. This paper reports the research and development of one new form of such digital support. During a participatory design process, experienced science journalists and other professionals were interviewed about their challenges experienced and understanding of good practices in science journalism. These challenges and good practices informed the development of a prototype of a new form of digital tool that was evaluated by journalists without specialist science training. A new version of the prototype, called INQUEST, was implemented to automate some parts of good practices in order to augment journalists’ capabilities. These practices included the retrieval of science information from diverse sources, targeting different science audiences, and providing different forms of guidance for explaining science to the target audience. This prototype is presented, and an early evaluation of it is reported

Teaching Health Impact and Behavior with Infographics

The use of Infographics can be a tool that not only allows for the communication of empirical health data in an understandable format, but encourages the health administration student to present evidence-based research in a creative manner. The purpose of this paper is to describe a learning exercise that implements Infographics to demonstrate an impact of a health issue and/or encourage a health behavior change. This learning exercise is developed to increase student knowledge and visual literacy skills with respect to presenting, in a concise format, a well-researched and referenced health issue and/or a health behavior change. Specifically, the exercise was designed to: (a) curate health statistics and reference information for the selected health issue; (b) identify media resources and apply copyright and fair use in a proper manner; (c) evaluate internet resources for credibility and accuracy; and (d) utilize Infographic tools to communicate one\u27s visual viewpoint. At the conclusion of the course, students reflected on the effective visual aspects of their Infographics and the points that were challenging to communicate using this medium. The benefits of this applied learning approach for students and the faculty instructor are discussed

A manifesto for the creative economy

The UK\u27s creative economy is one of its great national strengths, historically deeply rooted and accounting for around one-tenth of the whole economy. It provides jobs for 2.5 million people – more than in financial services, advanced manufacturing or construction – and in recent years, this creative workforce has grown four times faster than the workforce as a whole. But behind this success lies much disruption and business uncertainty, associated with digital technologies. Previously profitable business models have been swept away, young companies from outside the UK have dominated new internet markets, and some UK creative businesses have struggled to compete. UK policymakers too have failed to keep pace with developments in North America and parts of Asia. But it is not too late to refresh tired policies. This manifesto sets out our 10-point plan to bolster one of the UK\u27s fastest growing sectors

Algorithms for journalism : The future of news work

Software-generated news, sometimes called “robot journalism,” has recently given rise to concerns that the automation of news will make journalists redundant. These arguments follow a deterministic line of thinking. Algorithms choose information for users but are also the construct of social process and practice. The aim of this essay is to explore “the algorithmic turn” (Napoli, 2014a) in news production. Based on case studies from three separate news outlets it is found that the impact of automated news is, first, increased efficiency and job satisfaction with automation of monotonous and error-prone routine tasks; second, automation of journalism routine tasks resulting in losses of journalist jobs; and third, new forms of work that require computational thinkingPeer reviewe

Unlock the doc! i-docs and networks of inquiry

This dissertation and project analyse the ongoing crisis in news journalism and evidence-based inquiries. Through practice-led research, the completed prototype Labyrinths & Leaks examines methods for overlapping evidence through the interactive documentary (i-doc) form. This i-doc prototype explores ‘false flags’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2017) that arose through its predecessor Breaking the News (2011), my linear documentary about the Timor-Leste crisis of 2006–2008. I take these misrepresentations as limitations of news media and a sign to address evidentiary accounts through the documentary form. Indeterminacy is both an affordance and limitation of i-docs. Unbounded by space and time, i-docs offer a holding state for cultural analysis, inquiry into evidence and, through various exchanges, a site for possible reconciliations through what John Corner (2011, p. 210) refers to as a ‘sustained exercise in reflexivity’. My dissertation conducts research into various methods for minimising authorial control and filtering evidence through a networked inquiry. I later assess i-docs’ merits as a form for interpreting media manipulation. Through this project, I propose a journalistic documentary design practice, affording a multidisciplinary network of inquiry. As a cultural form, the i-doc has potential to afford qualities of independence sought by documentary practitioners choosing to work beyond the broadcaster. The contingent qualities of i-docs allow the unforeseeable and unexpected to open contested historical events, and disrupt how linear media affords their untimely closure