What We’ve Been Reading and Sharing — Aug. 1–15
Each day Sourcefabric shares on social media a wide range of stories affecting the converging worlds of journalism and technology. If you haven’t had the opportunity, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@Sourcefabric), Facebook (Sourcefabric), YouTube (Sourcefabric), Instagram (@sourcefabric_org), LinkedIn (sourcefabric) and, of course, here on Medium.
With so many new developments and changes taking place in the industry, we want to help you keep track with a bi-weekly roundup of the most popular stories we are reading and sharing with the community.
Sourcefabric News:
Read Sourcefabric’s interview with Emily Goligoski of Membership Puzzle on technology partnerships for newsrooms. She notes its importance especially when that technology is open source, combining efforts and adding onto one another’s work in ways that aren’t proprietary. http://bit.ly/2ONcM7C
We are proud to support Headline’s vision of giving independent voices in Brazil a bigger platform, which will be powered by Superdesk, our open-source newsroom CMS. Read the full story at http://bit.ly/31EnwqB
Today’s journalists are on the move more than ever and require as much flexibility as possible in publishing their coverage of live news events. That’s why we’ve updated our Live Blog Reporter app for greater integration with newsroom workflows. http://bit.ly/2yHMqcz
We are hiring! Check out our latest job openings, which include positions for a Remote System Administrator and a Full-Stack Web Developer for Superdesk.
Education, Journalism Skills, Funding:
The Financial Times has open-sourced some of the story templates they use in their newsroom, making them available from their Github account. Each contains detailed instructions and best practices for the story type. http://bit.ly/2GWzZhg
Fact-checkers have had to adapt as the tech giants limiting access to their data in the name of privacy. Learn how the open-source intelligence community is dealing with the closure of tools such as Graph Search, CrowdTangle and Stalkscan. http://bit.ly/2P1TNXl via @Poynter
If you’re working in print or broadcast media and you need to adapt to online journalism, Thomson Foundation offers this free, self-paced course on the principles and best practices of producing online stories. http://bit.ly/2UOSCvU
The European Union is making €4.175 million available for actions and pilot projects aimed at supporting media freedom and investigative journalism. The deadline for proposals is Sept. 27. http://bit.ly/31dMay9
Politics
As Hong Kong enters its third month of mass anti-government protests, Reporters Without Borders has condemned escalating violence against journalists, and compiled a list of recent attacks. http://bit.ly/2yYQ5CL @RSF_inter
The recent elections in Turkey were a big victory for local online news outlets and a refutation of Erdoğan’s state-captured media. Democracy assistance and media development communities should take note, according to @gijn. http://bit.ly/2TuBfgR
A correspondent details the extensive if not darkly comical steps the Chinese security apparatus took to prevent him from reporting on re-education camps in Xinjiang, the region in northwestern China that’s home to the Uighurs. http://bit.ly/2KqYHHI
The State of Journalism
Former The Guardian EIC Alan Rusbridger discusses his new book “Breaking News,“ an optimistic look at the future of news and the importance of journalism in our modern world. http://bit.ly/2YIYKIG By @_Felix Simon_
Solutions for the local news crisis? “There can and will be no future for news — especially local news — if we continue to wait on an increasingly disproportionate class of benevolent billionaires to swoop in and save the day.” http://bit.ly/2YRRTrD By @jsamditis
Big Media and Super Platforms
Facebook is reportedly planning to give news publishers up to $3 million to license stories and headlines in their upcoming “News” tab. But such an agreement will not likely help ailing publishers. http://bit.ly/2Z2SN4O By @robwilliamsNY via @MediaPost
David Skok interviews Richard Gingras, head of Google News, who discusses the news ecosystem, responds to GDPR criticism, and answers the question: Is Google really a child of the open web? http://bit.ly/31xQl7T
Newsrooms are increasingly bypassing super platforms like Facebook and turning to private messaging apps like Telegram to distribute stories and build audience engagement. http://bit.ly/2yNxE3V By @faisalkalim via What’s New In Publishing.
Open Source and Tech
Availability, sustainability and transparency. Thought-provoking discussion on why open-source software is essential and must be nurtured. By Thierry Carrez at @openstack http://bit.ly/2H0cyDS
Some thoughts on what open source isn’t and what it is: “Where it came from should still inform today’s thinking about open source. But it also shouldn’t overly constrain that thinking.” https://red.ht/2Z0ATj2 By Gordon Haff via @opensourceway
Krishna Bharat discusses the impact AI is having on journalism and democracy, both positive and negative. http://bit.ly/2YFwXs0 via @GENinnovate
How would you fix the internet if you could? The Guardian wants to know. The internet of 2019 is full of annoyances and dark patterns, designed to make us click this button, ignore that disclaimer, and just keep scrolling, all under the watchful eye of surveillance tools. http://bit.ly/2OvCf5h
Local News
People’s Press is a cool monthly magazine about the fictional neighbourhood of Civitana in 2030. The online project, backed by the EU, explores what future role responsible, ethical and socially beneficial digital technologies might play in building healthy local communities. http://bit.ly/2KgojHh @DSI4EU
Five trends that could save local news: Q&A with Heidi Legg, director of special projects at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. http://bit.ly/33eB3Xl
Podcasting
Dev curious but don’t know where to start? Check out this great curated list of podcasts at Github on everything from tech in China to open-source innovation. http://bit.ly/2yYi5q3
Jenna Spinelle, host of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy’s popular “Democracy Works” podcast, shares five questions to ask before starting a podcast at your organization, including: “Does somebody else already do this?” http://bit.ly/2HfbY5x
Wondering which tools the pros use to make their podcasts stand out? Here are the 67 tools @podcast_junkies uses to get the job done: http://bit.ly/2OEb9cr. Also, check out their Incredibly Exhaustive List of Podcasts About Podcasting: http://bit.ly/2OI2C8w
