The Brown Institute for Media Innovation, a collaboration between Columbia Journalism School and the Stanford University’s School of Engineering, is pleased to announce its 2018-2019 Magic Grants. Each year, the Brown Institute awards close to $1M in funding to foster new tools and modes of expression, and to create stories that escape the bounds of
Brown and the UN-DESA Stat Division launch Data Storytelling CfP
The Columbia Journalism School’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation in collaboration with UN-DESA’s Statistics Division is pleased to announce a call for project proposals on data storytelling, aimed at nurturing new collaborations between national statistics systems (NSSs), including national statistical offices (NSOs), and journalism outlets. Proposals are due 20 July 2018, and winners will be
All-city journalism class receives press
In Spring of 2018, Brown Institute Director Mark Hansen co-designed and co-taught an all-city class focused on defending journalism and democracy. The class, Tech, Media & Democracy had representation from six New York City-based universities, including Cornell Tech, City University of New York, New York University, The New School, and The Pratt Institute, and Columbia Journalism School
DataShare, Explained
Reporting and breaking the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers investigations required a centralized platform that made it possible for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ to collaborate while exploring tens of millions of files. As successful as these probes proved, the platform failed to make a searchable database that connected data stored in individual reporters’ computers. Supported by a 2017-18 Magic Grant
Public records under threat
On April 13, members of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the Brown Institute of Media Innovation at Stanford coordinated an event to discuss the threats to public records in an age of digital distribution. With an audience of eighty, panels comprised of journalists, technologists, librarians and engineers identified the biggest challenges in this
Reporting from Rwanda
Francesco Fiondella, principle investigator of the Data Interrupted Magic Grant, has spent the past week in Rwanda, collecting artifacts, conducting interviews, and reporting on data loss in the country due to the 1994 conflict. Fracesco has spent the week digging through archives, unearthing unlogged weather data that might help strengthen existing climate models. He has interviewed
‘1000 Cut Journey’ Launches at Tribeca Film Festival
The Brown Institute is delighted to announce that 1000Cut, a 2017-18 Magic Grant, is launching today as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Tribeca Immersive, presented by AT&T. The 2018 Tribeca Immersive program showcases works by artists who are pushing boundaries, using technology to tell stories and create new experiences and will be on display
Photograpy, Expanded: Counter Histories
Over the past two days, the Brown Institute in New York played host to Photography Expanded: Counter Histories. The program provided sixteen photographers, artists and media professionals imaginative ways to respond creatively to existing images, bringing layers of story into our lived experiences and environments. The program also explored strategies to circumvent or challenge static
Brown travels for spring break
Over spring break, the Brown Institute dispersed, giving talks, leading trainings, and participating in labs. It began at NICAR on Friday, March 9, where Mark Hansen co-led a workshop on how to find stories in data through visualization. In collaboration with Alberto Cairo, Olga Pierce and Rachael Tatman, Professor Hansen taught core concepts of a data interview, through