ArtiCo | The full story

THE IDEA-What is ArtiCo?

ArtiCo is aiming to be the first community for Journalism university students in Greece.

The beginning:

We had the honor to work on our startup during the Ad Discovery Workshop with Ms.Betty Tsakarestou as our mentor and coach. Here are some photos of our very first presentation.

At this point, it is important to note that we had a different name at the beginning which was: “Communicators UNIte” and our motto was #Young_voices_matter. The name, however, was hard for many to pronounce and understand the real meaning behind it which was: all communication and media university students to come together.

So that is when our long journey began.

The Problem:

Most students that have been through internships during their studies have faced numerous problems that give them the wrong impression of how article writing should be done.

Artico AIMs at:

That is why we are aiming to create a site under the watch of the big Universities that “host” Journalism and Communication departments so students can finally see how it is for them to have the chance to publish real journalistic work.

Artico’s main goal is to connect students from all over Greece first and later on from all over the world to share their ideas in a multimedia way. Young photographers, advertisers, researchers, and journalists can come together as one to have a chance for a high-class practice of their future profession in the article writing field. They will have the opportunity to improve their skills and also gain a prestigious confirmation paper for their CVs that will make them stand out. It is finally their chance to learn how to write a real journalistic article from their very first year of studies in a safe and pleasant environment; that of a university.

More specifically:

SOLUTIONS:

First Approach:

Our first approach to our potential audience that will use our “product” was through a Facebook group, which has over 200 likes gained organically in a period of a couple of months.

link: https://www.facebook.com/communicatorsunite/?fref=ts

We also made a questionnaire in Google forms because we wanted to see if the problems we detected were actually faced by the journalism and communication students. Was an internship like the one we vision really needed? Is our product essential? We created a Google form in which almost 100 students answered and their answers satisfied us a lot. Here we have the results of the answers of 21 students but once we had from all 100 students the results did not change at all than the ones you see in the pictures.

The questions were in Greek because our primary target group was greek students. The questions in English mean(clockwise):

1. Would you like to be part of a journalistic community formed by communicators in general? 81% YES | 19% NO
2. Would you be interested in an Internship in your field? 100% YES
3. Would you be interested in the exchange of ideas and opinions from students that study in the same field as you? 100% YES

Of course, there were some more questions, but these three were the most important and critical ones because they prove that our project is something students really need.

Artico at Startup Weekend Entrepreneurial Journalism in Athens

We also had the honor to participate in Startup Weekend Entrepreneurial Journalism on 20–22 of May at Impact Hub Athens. Our idea was voted second best by the audience and that is how we had the chance to move to the next phase and prepare it so we could present it to six very important judges. Among them was Jeremy Caplan from Townight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism.

However, it was an extremely hard weekend as the team had to work for two days almost straight in order to make the whole project come to life from scratch, with no flaws included. Also only one of us could represent the team from the Ad Discovery workshop(Panteion University workshop with Ms.Betty Tsakarestou) and one of the teammates from the startup weekend got sick. Only two people, in all, got to work finally on the whole project for those two days. At least the outcome and the experience were more than rewarding.

In addition, special thanks have to be given to our coaches who helped us and gave us their guidance. Their tips and insights into the field had a drastic contribution that shaped the final outcome.

Voted second best idea by the audience(1st was Spam Reloaded)

To make things a little more clear, I had been personally been working on an idea that I had the chance to develop at Ms. Tsakarestou Ad Discovery Workshop at Panteion University with Joanna Gkouma, Narine Gasparova, Denise Boziki and Erasmus student Juliette Amaury. During the Startup Weekend I worked with a different team; Nick Papailiou and Eleutheria Drio.

AFTER STARTUP

The experience was so rewarding and will accompany me for the rest of my life. I got the chance to create a shaped purpose and inspire people, providing clarity and motivation. I also had the chance to do some very valuable networking and connect with other people whose character ispired me and provided me with energy. I learned the importance of team working because only when someone gets to work with a good team do they get to appreciate and understand real teamwork. I also got to take a huge load of responsibility and get to know how to be resilient and determined.

I am looking forward to the next Startup Weekend because I know how its contribution will help me shape a more bright future.

Credits to the team that contributed to tis whole project. Their help at the Startup Weekend Entrepreneurial Journalism was more than satisfactory and very valuable.