NewsCubed: journalism through design

As journalism navigates a new technological landscape, both researchers and practitioners need ways to innovate. Established methods of journalism research are designed to study practice and understand its importance, but they are not suited to solving problems or developing new ideas. This paper argues that design methods provide tools that allow journalism researchers to address problems in parallel with solutions and to invent new practice. The paper outlines the development of the NewsCube, an innovative storytelling tool. In doing so, it demonstrates how design produces artefacts that act as tools for reflection and knowledge production. The study contributes to discussion around practice-led research in journalism and shows how such research can provide perspectives on journalism that more conventional forms of enquiry cannot

Journalism Design: Interactive Technologies and the Future of Storytelling

Journalism Design is about the future of journalism. As technologies increasingly, and continually, reshape the way we interact with information, with each other and with our environment, journalists need new ways to tell stories. Journalists often see technology as something that improves what they are doing or that makes it more convenient. However, the growing might of technology companies has put journalism and news organisations in a difficult position: readers and revenues have moved, and platforms exert increasing control over story design. Skye Doherty argues that, rather than adapting journalism to new technologies, journalists should be creating the technologies themselves and those technologies should be designed for core values such as the public interest. Drawing from theories and practices of interaction design, this book demonstrates how journalists can use their expertise to imagine new ways of doing journalism. The design and development of the NewsCube, a three-dimensional storytelling tool, is detailed, as well as how interaction design can be used to imagine new forms of journalism. The book concludes by calling for closer ties between researchers and working journalists and suggests that journalism has a hybrid future - in newsrooms, communities, design studios and tech companies

NewsCube: final report

The NewsCube was one of three recipients of the 2014 Walkley Grants for Innovation in Journalism. The project was awarded $25,000 to develop a website beta and a forward plan. This report outlines how the grant money was spent, what has been achieved, challenges, and future plans. It also reflects on the grant process and makes observations on execution, mentorship, expertise, and research

Will the geeks inherit the newsroom?: Reflections on why journalists should learn computer science

Journalists need to learn the language of technology or they risk further eroding their own economic value. While the economic crisis during the second half of the 2000s shocked many news media companies into taking digital products seriously, they are doing so in an increasingly networked and mobile media landscape in which it is device makers and software developers—not media companies—that control audiences and revenues. This paper posits that developing procedural literacies might help journalists close the gap between information technology and traditional journalism and in doing so, allow them to regain some control over their craft. It examines the literature surrounding these fields and seeks to identify challenges to introducing computer science skills to traditional journalism education

Journalism meets interaction design: an interdisciplinary undergraduate teaching initiative

As the media industry moves to a post-industrial model, there is a need for journalists—current and future—to have a deeper understanding of the ways that technology impacts their work and how best to produce journalism for mobile and networked devices. This article examines a teaching initiative designed to introduce journalism students to elements of social and mobile technology theory and design practice. Using feedback gained from peers, students, and industry professionals, the initiative was deemed successful; however, we outline several recommendations for improvement

Exploring journalistic values through design: a student perspective

As journalism grapples with technological disruption, the value of its practices to audiences, and society more broadly, is being questioned. Journalism is underpinned by a strong value system that modern communication platforms sometimes obscure. Yet we know that technology can be designed to support values — professional and more general human values. In this short paper, we present some initial findings of how students engaged with journalistic values through a human-centred design process. Through researching, designing and reflecting, aspiring journalists explored ideas for technologies that embodied journalistic values. The process revealed value tensions but also perspectives on the design of communication technology