Fall 2014

News Automata - LLSJ 2237 A

Professor(s):   Francis Tseng  
Day(s):  T
Time(s):  6:00 pm - 7:50 pm 
CRN:  7822
Credits:  2
Prerequisite(s): 

Course Description
The recent proliferation of cheap cloud computing and developments in artificial intelligence mean that automation technology is everywhere. What is the role of this technology in news? How can programs assist in the reporting process? This hands-on, making workshop explores different algorithms and approaches being applied to the practice and consumption of journalism, ranging from automatic summarization and fact-checking to crowdsourced reporting systems to articles written entirely by robots. Discussion will include the ethical and practical implications of these technologies, and students will be exposed to current attempts to automate parts of the news process, as well as learn basic computational thinking through small projects week to week. Students will learn from Journalism + Design's developer-in-residence Francis Tseng, a developer and interaction designer at IDEO and recipient of the Knight Foundation's 2014 prototype grant.

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