CAREER: Computational Journalism: Integrating Algorithms and People in the Production of News Information

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to develop computational news-report discovery workflows and tools that weave together expert journalists, online crowd contributors, and algorithms, with the intent of lowering the cost and increasing the efficiency, effectiveness, and scale at which new news reports can be identified. This goal will be reinforced by an integrated education plan aimed at advancing the skills and capabilities of professional and aspiring computational and data journalists through a series of public writings, professional workshops, and curricula. By synthesizing computational and crowdsourced information processing approaches with theories of newsworthiness from communication and journalism studies, this research will produce foundational knowledge and principles for the field of computational journalism. Beyond the specific domain, contributions will advance and catalyze research in broader fields of information science and human-computer interaction in relation to the efficiency and effectiveness of hybrid processes for information production, and the design of information interfaces to enable experts to more effectively monitor the world for important events. The research project will (1) develop a conceptual design framework based on a user-centered needs assessment of computational story discovery tools, (2) instantiate that framework in a series of novel sociotechnical systems that will be adapted to three reporting scenarios including investigative, factchecking, and social journalism, and (3) produce empirical knowledge about the cost efficiency and effectiveness of story discovery tools, which will provide insights into the role of algorithms in supporting the sustainability of public interest news information. System evaluations, including field deployments with professional journalists, will assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the novel workflows and interfaces developed in order to understand potential impacts on the utility and sustainability of news information production. Insights will further refine the design framework and expose new opportunities in adjacent information monitoring domains such as open source intelligence and crisis informatics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.