Brown Institute

Magic Grant Information Session (Stanford)
2018-03-01 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Brown Institute at Stanford, 355 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305
Want to learn more about our Magic Grants? Come to one of our upcoming information sessions where you can find out:

What kind of projects we funded in the past.
What kind of projects we didn’t fund in the past.
How our staff can help you develop your proposal.
What our eligibility guidelines are.
How to apply.

At Stanford, there will be sessions held on February 15 at 9 AM and March 1 at 4 PM, both held in the Brown Institute (Gates 174). RSVP (or request a one-on-one meeting on an alternate date) here.

Base Camp 2018
2018-03-03 - 2018-03-04 | Brown Institute at Stanford, 355 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305
The Brown Institute for Media Innovation invites you to apply to the Media Innovation Base Camp taking place on March 3-4, 2018 at Stanford University. The Media Innovation Base Camp offers a great starting point for entrepreneurial students who want to explore the interplay between story and technology. All travel and lodging expenses will be covered by the Brown Institute.
The topic for Base Camp 2018 is Media Literacy and Transparency. We will assemble a cohort of up to 8 students from each campus who will work in mixed teams (with representation from both journalism and engineering) to address different aspects of this topic. In an era when Facebook can change its News Feed overnight, or sites like Twitter allow coordinated activity to provide people outsized voices on the network, the platforms many of us rely on for our news are fragile and easily gamed. What can we do to encourage a robust “media ecology”? How can we help people better understand the origins and truthfulness of the information they receive?
Our goal at Base Camp is to introduce students to a design process, with a goal of prototyping an new idea that might lead to a one-year “Magic Grant” project (read about the Brown Institute’s Magic Grant program here). Brown Institute Fellows, industry experts, and faculty will be on hand to provide feedback, guidance, and support. You don’t need to have a fleshed-out idea to apply for these events — the Base Camp is designed to give you space to develop your ideas collaboratively. That said, you do need to demonstrate an expressed interest in the topic.
Selected participants will partake in one or two small priming exercises prior to the event to help lay the groundwork for more informed interactions during the actual event. These could take the form of paired conversations via Skype or Hangout, assigned readings or diarying exercises, suggested museum or site visits, or bicoastal lectures.
2-Day Program Outline
Day 1 – Morning: Group & Project Identification
Day 1 – Afternoon: Prototyping
Day 2 – Morning: Prototyping
Day 2 – Afternoon: Project Presentations and Brown Institute Overview Presentation
Application Details
In your application, you must provide the following:

Current Résumé/CV
Academic Transcript (current for Stanford students; undergraduate for Columbia students)
The theme of this year’s Base Camp is “Media Literacy and Transparency.” Explain your interest in the topic. (500 word max)
Base Camp is an exercise in interdisciplinary collaboration. Explain your experience and interest in working in multi-disciplinary teams. (300 word max)

Application Deadline: January 30, 2018
Applications are holistically reviewed by a panel consisting of the Brown Institute staff and other faculty members, a process that thoroughly considers each candidate’s interests, academic qualifications, and background/prior experiences. If you submit a project idea, we will evaluate it as an example of your interests and your desire to collaborate.
Apply at brwn.co/basecamp2018

Magic Grant Information Session & Mixer (Columbia)
2018-03-05 09:30 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Brown Institute at Columbia, 2950 Broadway, New York, NY, 10027, United States
Are you passionate about the role that emerging technologies can play in the future of media? Do you have a story that can only be told using technology outside the scope of traditional media? A Brown Institute Magic Grant might be for you.
Established in 2012 as a collaboration between Columbia University’s Journalism School and Stanford’s School of Engineering, Brown Institute Magic Grants seed innovation in the changing media landscape.
Magic Grants provide year-long funding awards of up to $150,000 ($300,000 for teams with members of both the Columbia and Stanford communities). In addition to funding, grantees have access to a distinguished advisory and mentoring group, an extensive and inspiring alumni network.
If you’re interested in learning more about our Magic Grant offerings, come to one of our upcoming information session where you can find out:

The types of projects we’re interested in supporting
The various types of support we offer to grantees & fellows
Eligibility guidelines
How our staff can help you develop your proposal
How to apply

At Columbia, there will be sessions held on Monday, January 29 at 1:00pm, Friday February 16 at 5:00pm and Monday, March 5 at 9:30am, all held in the Brown Institute (Pulitzer Hall). We will also be announcing one-on-one office hours beginning in February on our website.
RSVP at brwn.co/mar-mixer

Dean Baquet in Conversation
2018-03-06 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Cubberley Auditorium, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, 94305, United States
Join the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Stanford University as we welcome New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet in a conversation on media, the news, and the state of journalism.
Tickets available via Eventbrite.

Magic Grant Info Session - Stanford
2018-03-15 12:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Brown Institute at Stanford, 355 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305
Please RSVP if planning to attend.

Transparency Series Seminar: Augmented Reality
2018-03-23 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Brown Institute at Columbia, 2950 Broadway, New York, NY, 10027, United States
This is perhaps our most experimental event in terms of “distance” from journalistic practice. Augmented reality (AR) provides a view of an event or phenomenon that is enhanced, “augmented,” with computer-generated elements, perhaps responding to sensor input (sound, video of the event, GPS coordinates) or triggers computed through computer vision tools operating on the scene. A mobile device like a phone or a tablet are often the viewing portal for the augmented scene. Join us for a Friday evening seminar with Graham Roberts, Director of Immersive Platforms Storytelling, who will talk to the challenges and affordances of augmented reality in journalism.

Transparency Series Workshop: Augmented Reality
2018-03-25 10:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Brown Institute at Columbia, 2950 Broadway, New York, NY, 10027, United States
The storytelling capacity with AR is enormous, although the toolsets are still a bit hard to use. Join members from Etsy and the New York Times to get up-and-running with augmented reality, and spend the day building a story prototype utilizing the technology.
Apply for the workshop
