Eight big topics for journalism and tech in 2016
Ok, the year’s not over yet. But we took the opportunity to discuss some of the themes at this year’s Mozfest, which took place at the weekend. Ideas came from the 30 or so journalists, technologists and others who attended our session.
We called our session “Five big topics for Hacks (journalists) and Hackers (technologists) in 2016.” And during the discussion that five increased to eight…These are the ones we came up with — some based on our experience running Hacks Hackers London over the year, some from our work in journalism/technology, and some from Connect, a weekend-long event we ran for entrepreneurs back in February.
Here they are in no particular order.
- Tech platforms are now journalism platforms — discuss
With Twitter Moments, Facebook Instant Articles, Google AMP and Google News Labs moving more into the news space (Google supported us to run Connect, for example), it’s clear that tech companies are having a big and increasing impact on news.
2. Entrepreneurialism in journalism and tech
At Connect, we found that there are plenty of grassroots people and groups trying to solve journalism problems with technology. But why aren’t more coming to fruition, especially in the UK?
3. Virtual reality and storytelling
How do we use this platform, and how do we get the content out to people who want to see it?
4. Polyglot roles in journalism and tech
We think we’re moving beyond journalists who code. So how should students now learn to be journalists? And should how journalists continue learning in a world where training budgets are in short supply, tech keeps changing, and time is short? How can we learn from outside the newsroom, whether that’s getting inspiration for storytelling, or better understanding analytics or products?
5. Analytics
We’re now all used to measuring success using multiple platforms. Sometimes it feels like we’re drowning in numbers, but what does it all mean? Since what you measure affects what you do, are we sure we’re measuring the right things? How do we benchmark?
6. The energy of change
People are still losing their jobs in journalism and tech, with big newsroom cuts this year. On the flip-side, we’ve been through some of the most creative, inventive years in journalism recently. How do we harness the energy? How do we ensure newsrooms don’t lose their most innovative people when budgets are cut?
7. The open web vs the app world
A big theme for misfits was a decentralized web. So how does that sit when articles are in silos and such as Snapchat? Are we working in the right places?
8. Public service journalism
Given that a lot of journalists cite some form of “changing the world” as a reason for their vocation, what’s the future for public service journalism? (This one was crowdsourced at the event).
In our discussion at Mozfest — perhaps inevitably — we came up with more questions than answers, and won’t try and summarize them all here. After a round of speed-dating style intros, we split into small groups to feed back very quickly under headings “the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”
Top insights? On point 8, it was suggested that some of the newest platforms are holding themselves to very high account, because they have so much to prove compared to trusted brands that have something of a name to fall back on. That’s hopeful. On analytics, the discussion group raised a good point about privacy. We cover intrusion by other organisations all the time, but are we mindful of reader’s willingness to be monitored when we obsess over personalised news and unique visitor numbers?
Anyone in London or visiting the city should come and discuss these topics and more at our monthly meet-ups which are free and have some excellent speakers: sign up here to get email alerts when tickets become available.
What is Hacks Hackers?
A grassroots organisation of journalists and technologists who come together to rethink the future of news. Hacks Hackers London is a vibrant community with 4,000 members, over 200 of whom attend meet-ups every month.
And thanks to Mozfest for hosting us!
(Hacks Hackers London is run by SarahMarshall, Federica Cherubini, Jeremy Walker and Cassie Werber. Get in touch on info at hhldn.co.uk)
