Category Archive: News

The Future of Digital Media Panel

On Sept. 29, 2014, in celebration of dedication day for the Newhouse School’s Dick Clark Studios and the Alan Gerry Media Innovation Center, Horvitz Chair Professor Dan Pacheco moderated a panel about the future of digital media. It included an accomplished group of digital media experts including:

  • Kristina Hahn, Head of Consumer Packaged Goods at Google.
  • Ed Wise, SVP of Branded Entertainment at Turner.
  • Mitch Gelman, VP of Product at Gannett Digital.
  • Larry Hryb, Director of XBox Live at Microsoft.

The panel focused on current and emerging trends in digital media, includingthe rise of YouTube as a competitor to television, branded content, the use of virtual reality and gaming to interest younger audiences in journalism, and creating story experiences in the Oculus Rift. You can read press coverage of the panel from the Newhouse web site, The Daily Orange and Syracuse.com. You can also watch the full 90-minute live recording on UStream here:

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

The panel was also covered widely through social media. See what resonated with people in the Twittersphere through this curated Storify by Newhouse graduate student Lauren Cavalli.

Kickstarter Webinar Next Wednesday, 10/2 at 6 p.m.

NH_Kick It Up_full logo_green_cleanedup
Do you have a storytelling idea or project that could use some monetary support? Crowdfunding portals like Kickstarter are a way to get contributions from people who want to see your project happen. Just ask sophomore Luke Rafferty, who used Kickstarter in the spring to raise over $6,300 to launch The Timeless Artisans.

There’s a lot more to success than simply putting up a snappy pitch. You may be wondering: what kinds of pitch videos work best? How should you set up your rewards? How do you budget your campaign so that you can launch your site or service, and also deliver the rewards you promise?

Get answers to these questions and more in a webinar from Kickstarter’s Stephanie Pereira on Wednesday, October at 2 at 6 p.m. You’re invited to come to an in-person watching party with FREE PIZZA. Please RSVP to Dan Pacheco at drpachec@syr.edu if you plan to come so we can order enough food.

Can’t make it in person? You can also watch online from any computer via YouTube. Just RSVP through EventBrite for free and we’ll send you a link shortly before the event begins. If you’re attending from afar, please tweet your questions to @JournovationSU during the session. We’ll be monitoring our Twitter feed during that time and will pose as many questions as possible to Stephanie during the webinar.

Hope to see you there!

New Newhouse program “Kick it Up!” offers crowdfunding training, financial support to student entrepreneurs

Training will take place November 19; application period is November 20 – December 9

Attention, Newhouse students! Do you have a storytelling idea or project that could use some monetary support? Are you using Kickstarter or another similar service to crowdfund but would like some guidance?

That’s where Kick it Up! comes in. A new program offered by the Newhouse School, “Kick it Up!” can help in two ways:

  • In-person and online training on how to run an effective Kickstarter campaign, which will be held on Tuesday, November 19, at 6 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3.
  • Monetary awards of up to $1,500 for students who post Kickstarter projects this fall under the theme of “Non-Fiction Storytelling or Services” and attract high numbers of backers. Funding is based on the number of backers—projects with 50 or more backers will receive $150; projects with 100 or more backers will receive $450; and those with 150 or more backers will receive $900. Students receive 100 percent of this funding.

To apply, submit your project via the online form at https://journovation.syr.edu/kick-it-up/  any time between November 20 and December 9. Applications during this round must be non-fiction storytelling projects or services—anything factual in nature with an intent to inform rather than to persuade or entertain—from currently enrolled Newhouse students. Ten projects will be chosen in the first round, and select projects will also be featured on a Newhouse Kickstarter page and promoted by the school.

Newhouse will also feature projects from Newhouse students whose projects go beyond the “non-fiction” definition, as well as from alumni who have graduated within the last five years. These kinds of projects are not directly eligible for matching funds, but if a current Newhouse student is working on them, he or she may enter the project. Any Newhouse student or alumnus interested in being featured is invited to join Newhouse’s network on Kickstarter by following this link: http://kck.st/14vpggl.

“Kick it Up!” is sponsored by Dan Pacheco, Newhouse’s Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair of Journalism Innovation, with additional financial support from Newhouse Dean Lorraine Branham and Syracuse University Provost Eric Spina. Contact Pacheco with questions at drpachec@syr.edu.

Looking to launch a News or Civic Media startup? This class can help.

NEW 400/600: Creating the Next News Startup is starting its third semester, and a new class of civic-minded media entrepreneurs is preparing to go out into the world and make a difference by informing communities with unmet needs.

The class still has a few open slots. If you’re a Syracuse University student — regardless of your major — look for NEW 400 (for undergrads) or NEW 600 (for grads) in MySlice. The course meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:45 – 5:05 p.m. in the Newhouse building. (Have questions? Contact Journalism Innovation Chair Dan Pacheco).

While this course is run out of the S.I. Newhouse school, it’s open to juniors, seniors and grad students from all schools at Syracuse University. We’ll even admit sophomores who can demonstrate prior entrepreneurial experience. Have friends with design or coding skills? Encourage them to sign up and take the course along with you and use the course and build your dream team while getting mentored by Dan Pacheco, the Chair of Journalism and Innovation and an active media entrepreneur.

NEW 400/600 is ideal for students who have an idea for a new informational site, product or service with factual information and civic engagement at its core. You can expect to learn about:

  • Business basics.
  • Market research.
  • Rapid prototyping.
  • Pitching your startup.
  • Writing product requirements.
  • WordPress, Drupal and other common CMS’s.
  • Ad networks and data analytics.
  • Using social media APIs to build a brand.
  • Funding and grants.

You’ll also meet real media entrepreneurs through guest lectures, both online and in person.

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Hacking Journalism coverage

If you couldn’t make it to the Newhouse School for our Hacking Journalism seminar with Dan Schultz, you’re in luck. Watch the recorded live-stream below. You can also read live coverage in Twitter and social media on Storify.

Video streaming by Ustream

 

 

Upcoming events of interest to journovators

Here are some upcoming events at the S.I. Newhouse school that we think may be of interest to SU students and journovators.

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Brown Bag Lunch with Natalie Gourvich from Squarespace

12-1 P

M – Thursday, January 31st, I-3 Center (Newhouse 3 432-434)
Open to SU students and faculty.

Please join Natalie Gourvich, Business Development Manager for Squarespace, on Thursday, January 31st at 12:00pm in the I-3 Center (room 432/434) to learn about how you can use Squarespace to build a website for your research, creative and classroom projects. Squarespace is an easy-to-use website creation platform in business since 2005. Faculty member Deb Pang Davis has been using it regularly since 2008 for client sites as well as her own.

Squarespace recently launched Version 6 (V6) an intuitive, drag-n-drop experience for people who dread getting their hands “dirty” with code. The beauty of it (still in beta) is that for those of us who don’t mind some grease, Squarespace is exceptionally malleable. The icing on the cake? Squarespace is very secure, stable (no hackers!) and has 24/7 customer support.

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Hacking Journalism with Dan Schultz

NOON-1 PM – Wednesday, February 6, I3 Center (Newhouse 3, Room 432)
Open to SU students, faculty and the general public.

Our second Digital Edge Journalism seminar is scheduled for Feb. 6 and will feature Dan Schultz. Dan’s topic will be “Hacking Journalism.” He’ll be speaking from noon-1:30 p.m. in the I3 Center (Newhouse 3, Room 432). Please RSVP on Eve

ntbrite so that we can plan for space. Light snacks will be provided for those who RSVP and bring their Eventbrite tickets.

Most journalists can only do so much on their own with technology. To create something that is truly unique and innovative, you need to work with a developer. Thankfully, more and more developers are choosing journalism as a profession.

Dan Schultz is an MIT Media Lab grad and currently completing a Knight Mozilla Journalism fellowship at the Boston Globe. His recent projects include Truth Goggles, which compares news stories with PolitiFact articles in real time to determine if a statement is true or false; and ATTN-SPAN, which watches C-SPAN for you to create personalized episodes about what your representatives said in Congress.

See his code in action and get tips for how to convince coders to apply their skills to journalism.

Please RSVP on Eventbrite.
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Was Big Data the Difference?

Journalist? Political junkie? Tech geek? Find out why, and how Big Data may be the future of campaigning.The last election may have been won by the party that did the best job of aggregating and analyzing data about voters.

 

SPEAKERS:

  • Ashley Bryant: State digital director, Ohio, Obama for America.
  • Paul Cristian Morarescu: Assistant professor, data science, the School of Information Studies.
  • Grant Reeher: Professor, Political Science, The Maxwell School.
  • Hub Brown: Associate Dean, Research, Creativity, International Initiatives and Diversity. Associate Professor, S.I. Newhouse School (moderator).

 

Hacking the News with Dan Schultz

Our second Digital Edge Journalism seminar is scheduled for Feb. 6 and will feature Dan Schultz, who will be talking about “Hacking Journalism.” He’ll be speaking from noon-1:30 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenham auditorium in Newhouse building 3. Please RSVP on Eventbrite so that we can plan for space. Light snacks will be provided for those who RSVP and bring their Eventbrite tickets.

ABOUT THE EVENT

Technology is changing all media, including journalism, but the fact is that most journalists can only get so far on their own. Creating something that is truly unique and innovative in the digital sphere requires working with a developer.

But where are these mythical developers, and why would they work on journalism when they could work at, say, Google or NASA?

Believe it or not, more and more developers are choosing journalism as a profession for a simple reason: they want to do something that makes a difference in the world. They call themselves hacker-journalists, and this is your chance to meet one.

Dan Schultz is an MIT Media Lab grad who is currently completing a Knight Mozilla OpenNews fellowship at the Boston Globe. His recent projects include Truth Goggles, which compares news stories with PolitiFact articles in real time to determine if a statement is true or false; and ATTN-SPAN, which watches C-SPAN for you to create personalized episodes about what your representatives said in Congress.

In this seminar, you’ll get to see Dan’s creations in action and get tips for how to convince coders to apply their skills to journalism. And who knows, you may even learn a little programming so you can hack the news yourself.

Please RSVP on Eventbrite.

Media coverage of Drone Day

The Syracuse local and campus media attended our Drone Day presentation on Jan. 23, watching our presentation about drones in journalism and the demonstration of our drone.

Here are links to the coverage.

Syracuse University journalism prof demos $300 camera drone | syracuse.com

Sneak Peek at Future of Flying Newsroom Drones : News : CNYcentral.com

Drones could buzz through your backyard : News : CNYcentral.com

Drone technology could soon be used in news – YNN, Your News Now

Brave new world: Professor displays drone, encourages students to explore controversial future | The Daily Orange

Syracuse University News » News for the Syracuse University community » Video: using drones for news coverage 

Drone Day at Newhouse (Storify)

 

http://storify.com/bpmoritz/drone-day-at-the-newhouse-school

Drone Week: The Drone Journalism Lab

It’s Drone Week here at Journovation, where we’re getting ready for our first Digital Edge Journalism Seminar on Wednesday (don’t foret to sign up here).

To get a better idea what is going with with drones in journalism, a great place to start is the Drone Journalism Lab. It’s at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is run by Professor Matt Waite, one of the brightest thinkers in the future-of-journalism world.

You can read all about the lab here. And you can see an example of how a drone can be used for journalism here, with their coverage of summer droughts in the midwest.