Toward a More Perfect Union: The Case for Culturally Responsive Computational Journalism

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Kim Pearson @professorkim #compjourno

The local news picture is just as grim – despite some promising startups.


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Traditional skills and values, still matter, though.

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Not only are citizens without access marginalized, aspiring communications professionals on the wrong side of the divide are disadvantaged.

Tech shift exacerbates news industry’s longstanding diversity problem.



These companies are hiring, and several have their own news operations

We need a news and information professionals capable of reporting, vetting, presenting and disseminating vital information in the public interest.



What does a modern journalist do?

But many practicing or aspiring journalists are ill-equipped or ill-disposed to delve into computer science and related fields.And cash-strapped news organizations can’t or won’t invest in training. Therefore, we need insights from computing and journalism education research.

Write stories Build websites or customize content management systemsShoot and edit images and videoDesign games, puzzles and simulationsCreate and manage online communitiesBuild appsScrape websitesManage social mediaCreate bots to draft stories based on seismic data, sports scores, earnings reportsCreate animations and infographicsWrite and implement procedures for vetting social media informationWrite grants and business plans


Culturally responsive journalism: Lessons from education research

• Culture affects the willingness to learn something new. No one approach reaches every learner.

• Enhancing intrinsic motivation to learn requires:

“Establishing inclusion—creating a learning atmosphere in which students and teachers feel respected by and connected to one another.Developing attitude—creating a favorable disposition toward the learning experience through personal relevance and choice.Enhancing meaning—creating challenging, thoughtful learning experiences that include student perspectives and values.Engendering competence—creating an understanding that students are effective in learning something they value.”

These goals are not only important for communications professionals, but frthe constituencies they serve.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept95/vol53/num01/A-Framework-for-Culturally-Responsive-Teaching.aspx


The Culturally Responsive News Organization: the ideal

• Is inclusive. The staff reflects the constituency it serves. The teams making design, editorial and management decisions are diverse.

• Builds community – through data, technology and shoe-leather reporting

• Focuses on what’s meaningful – not just clickbait• Enhances the competence and capacity of both

staff and community.• The reality: not enough people or resources for in-

depth coverage, much less new initiatives• Undertheorized area – existing scholarship has

little impact on management practice

TCNJ Journalism: Some Context

• Housed in the English department• Major and two minors• Some courses cross-listed with IMM• 4 faculty and select adjuncts• Trenton Times embedded in Advanced

Reporting, Feature Writing classes• Mandatory internships• Students, grads staff most local news

organizations• Online journalism since 1996• Committed to infusing computing and

multimedia across curriculum



Collaborations between CS and Journalism

• Unbound Content Management System • Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers http://www.tcnj.edu/~ijims• Gumshoe – Donna Shaw and Emilie Lounsberry• Distributed Expertise Project – created formal curricular models

http://www.tcnj.edu/~ijims


Trenton’s news, tech environment• One tabloid and one

broadsheet daily paper• One public access cable

television and radio station

• Major decline in numbers of state house reporters

• Significant losses of beat reporting expertise

• In our newsroom census project last spring, we only found one reporter from Trenton. He was a freelancer who has since moved away.

• A 2013 investigation by Race, Gender and News staff found partial efforts to address digital divide, no real program in schools

• Mercer Street friends Digital Initiative showed promise, not funded past pilot

• Beyond Expectations media project –limited funding, no tech component

• TCNJ TrentonWorks –IMM Design Perspectives class










Ability to contribute and share contentPollution data,

legislative updates, scraped from government sources

Searchable maps with contemporary and historical information about known and suspected brownfields

FAQs. Glossary

Chemicals, Facilities, Political representatives

Not shown, blog, search, redesigned user interface. . Responsive, mobile-friendly design.


Future directions – possible broadening participation and pedagogical research

• Further development of SOAP – exploring broader community involvement – sensors and app development?

• Develop alternate reality game model: #TrentonTrending, Struggles of Algebra

• Bring higher-level computing into Trenton Makes Music project – collaboration with Teresa Nakra

• Bring more programming into journalism curriculum –more html, css and scraping techniques

Education

Toward a More Perfect Union: The Case for Culturally Responsive Computational Journalism