Newsletter – Page 2

Nerd Alert 151: Go Wild

Posted on July 21, 2017July 21, 2017 by RC Lations

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: Read Atlanta Journal-Constitution intern Stephanie Lamm’s interview about how she mapped an affordable housing project that wasn’t providing useful data. And then read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Georgia News Lab article using that map.

RC: I recently came across Coveralls, which seems like a really great way to keep yourself accountable about writing unit tests.

Julia: This week in fun and interesting datasets: Analyzing the Gender Representation of 34,476 Comic Book Characters.

Kay: Check out this roundup of design and development books to read this summer. There’s something for coders, designers, and engagement managers – I recommend Elements of a Successful Website to everyone.

Inndy: Swimming with dolphins is SO last year.

WE MADE A THING

Our projects, manifest

Meet the Team: Part 4

This week we get to know RC Lations, the Lead Developer of INN Labs.

EVENTS/DEADLINES

Stay in the know

Tickets for WordCamp for Publishers are still available! Get ‘em while they’re hot and say hello to the whole INN Labs team at the event from August 17-19. ?
You can also SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER!

August 1: Last day to submit a paper to the Computation+Journalism Symposium.

August 18: Last day to apply for the Poynter-NABJ Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media.

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

Take a look at the latest installment of ProPublica’s maternal mortality series, and read about how the reporters approached crowdsourcing the dataset.

Check out this awesome behind-the-scenes look at how Brian Jacobs of National Geographic built an interactive 3D tour of a 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil.

The LA Times Data Desk are building a tool to make making maps better. Check it out on GitHub at datadesk/web-map-maker.

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

Reveal is hiring a radio and digital producer.

ProPublica Illinois is looking for an assistant director of development.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is hiring a network and security engineer.

Chalkbeat is hiring a digital producer.

Texas Tribune is hiring an interactive designer/developer.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: Animals as Leaders at the Dunlop Sessions. ?

WRITE: Tell the FCC your opinion on Net Neutrality.

WATCH: The hydraulic press channel on YouTube (an oldie, but a goodie).

EAT: Easy Vegan Macaroons.

DRINK: Watermelon Margaritas.

Mesmerizing.

Nerd Alert 131: Robots are people!

Posted on July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 by Ben Keith

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: Is it safe to start using CSS Grid? Rachel Andrew, CSS Working Group invited expert, argues yes.

RC: I’m really excited to check out Alley Interactive’s Voice WP project.

Julia: The News Media Alliance has called on Congress to allow publishers to negotiate collectively with Google and Facebook – get more details from the New York Times and the Atlantic.

Kay: INN is a fully remote team, so we’re always looking for new ways to improve our productivity across time zones. The team at Hanno put together a fantastic Remote Starter Kit and we’ll definitely be adopting a trick or two.

Inndy: I’m a robot (or a puppet, depending on your interpretation of my life), so what I’m about to link to doesn’t apply to me. I’m willing to bet it applies to most of you who are reading this email, though. You’re probably a human, probably using software that probably lives outside your body. You may not have written it, might not own the box it runs on, might not even have paid for the use of the software. But that software is still part of you, right? Give the Universal Declaration of Cyborg Rights a read, and then refresh yourself on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Stop us if you've heard this one before

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled newsletter to inform you that the INN product and technology team has a new brand! Now known as INN Labs, we’re still the same nerds you know and love. Check out our new home at labs.inn.org.

WE MADE A THING

Our projects, manifest

We've built a WordPress plugin to make using the Knight Lab storytelling tools easier. Now anyone can begin using these tools in WordPress without any coding skills!

Timeline, StoryMap and Juxtapose get oEmbed support, while Soundcite gains a shortcode. Read more about it.

EVENTS/DEADLINES

Stay in the know

Last Call registration for the NABJ Annual Convention is open until July 19.

Registration for the AAJA National Convention ends July 19.

Apply for the Grist fellowship program by July 31.

If you're going to SRCCON, sign up to bring board games and teach hobbies.

Today is the last day to buy a ticket to WordCamp for Publishers and still get guaranteed meals, swag, and events access. Here's the full schedule.

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

Public Source launched Small Town, Pennsylvania, a beautifully illustrated multipart look into what life is like outside of the big cities.

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

NPR is hiring a project manager/scrum master, a systems administrator, a web developer, a technology manager, a mobile developer, and a ton of interns.

ProPublica is hiring a data reporter and an editorial designer.

IRE is hiring a training director.

The Marshall Project is hiring a senior investigative reporter.

The Center for Public Integrity is hiring an audience engagement editor.

The Pew Research Center is hiring a DC-based senior developer for WordPress, PHP and JavaScript,

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: Human After All.

WATCH: Google DeepMind learning to run.

EAT: Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella quinoa veggie burgers.

DRINK: Roasted-peach lemonade.

The world's longest-burning light bulb.

Nerd Alert 127: The magic word is nerd

Posted on June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 by Gabriel Hongsdusit

HOT LINKS

RC: For an Inclusive Culture, Try Working Less.

Julia: The Stanford Open Policing Project released data on millions of state patrol stops – explore the data and review their findings..

Gabe: Here is an excellent curated list of all resources relating to Sass and SCSS, including frameworks, style guides and animations. (s/o to Aleszu for the link idea).

Kay: The case for why you need to think about author-focused design (instead of the typical reader-focused design).

Ben: The most interesting part of this list of 9 ways to end your stories is that they’re not just applicable to journalism. Good writing is good writing.

Inndy: This is what happens when you teach an AI to name guinea pigs.

WE MADE A THING

Our projects, manifest

Who’s behind the awesome INN tech team? We’re introducing a new series of blog posts for you to get to know us better. Our first post is about Ben Keith, our News Apps Developer.

EVENTS

Stay in the know

June 27: Last day to submit paper to Visualizar17: Migrations

June 27: Last day to apply for an Open News Ticket+Travel Scholarship

June 27: Curso de Realidad Virtual para Web (Online)

June 29: Google Amp, APIs and Tagging: Future Proofing Content @ the Trib (Austin, TX)

June 30: Last day to apply to be an Internet Freedom Festival Fellow

June 30: Last day to apply to Lenfest Institute’s Entrepreneur in Residence program and Local News and Information Innovation grants

SHOUT OUT

The Lens published a story tracking how many school lights work in New Orleans.
The Texas Tribune looked at which Texas bills passed and which failed.

The Knight Foundation has announced support for 20 projects aimed at increasing trust in the news and improving the spread of accurate information. Read more about the projects here.

LOVE NERD ALERT?

We love you back

Please consider supporting this newsletter with a donation to INN.

Or, if you'd rather contribute content over cash, be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks much!

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

NPR is hiring a Technology Manager, Web Developer, and Mobile Developer.

The University of Maryland is looking for a Lecturer on News Interaction Design and Development.

Vox is looking for a Front-End Engineer (Audience Development) and Senior Designer.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

READ: The Future is Not College But Compassion ❤️

LISTEN: Roxane Gay on Fresh Air ?

EAT: Miso Glazed Tofu ??

DRINK: Shiso Fine (Do-lang, Do-lang, Do-lang) ?

WATCH: How to do 12 different accents ?

And now, for my next trick...

Nerd Alert 126: Do Self-Driving Cars Dream of Analog Pedestrians?

Posted on June 16, 2017June 16, 2017 by Ben Keith

HOT LINKS

RC: Why printers add secret tracking dots.

Julia: Stardust is a GPU-based data visualization library. These examples look pretty powerful.

Gabe: Jane Solomon used Python to analyze gun emoji pairings for all you linguist nerds. ?

Kay: Populace uses data from social media and other sources to display crowd densities - making it easier to find breaking stories. Read more about it here.

Ben: An update to the survey of newsroom boundary servers I ran a couple weeks back: only five found so far. If you know of any others, please add them to the list.

Inndy: I like the idea of cars talking to each other.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Office Hours today will feature our very own Kay Lima talking about the Google Search Console. Join us at 2 p.m. Eastern on Zoom: zoom.us/j/298377456

BE OUR GUEST!

B Cordelia Yu is a content and editorial strategist who is "totes available to join yer product and community teams."

The Personal Democracy Forum was last week and the speaker who excited me most was Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, on stories from the future of democracy. She told us how civic hackers and journalists are using open data to educate about public policy and are building tools for inclusive participation to create the country’s laws†. The speaker before her, Colin Megill, talked about how they’re using machine learning to scale the process.

Normally I’m skeptical of folks touting tech as a solution to social complexity, but Taiwan’s civic hackers, journalists, scholars, and policymakers are coming together to create spaces for direct public participation in policymaking. Coming out of authoritarianism 30 years ago, their journos are sussing out what it means to be a free press in the time of the Internet—without our institutional baggage. So as I watch Taiwan, I wonder what it would mean to evolve our work from broadcasting truth to partnering with communities to discover truth and become bridges to speak to power.

† Is Taiwan a country? It’s complicated.

Be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

EVENTS/DEADLINES

Tickets are now on sale for WordCamp for Publishers!

Investigative Reporters and Editors' annual conference is in Phoenix next week, and Julia will be there. Say hi!

SHOUT OUT

Last week, we linked to a security article on Source. This week, we get to link to the entire Security Week on Source. It’s got a guide to practical paranoia, an interview with the Director of Newsroom Security at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and a training guide for digital security in newsrooms. Give ‘em a read!

GET A JOB

The Coral Project is hiring a Lead Engineer.

National Geographic is hiring a Director of Cartography.

WBEZ is looking for an Interactive Producer.

The Federal Elections Commission seeks an IT Specialist.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

SOME OTHER STUFF

LISTEN: Beethoven’s Sonata No.29 in B-flat Major, "Hammerklavier" ?

READ: Oil's Pipeline to America's Schools: Inside the fossil-fuel industry’s not-so-subtle push into K-12 education from The Center for Public Integrity.

WATCH: A Ghibli double feature.

EAT: Merguez with herby yogurt.

DRINK: Plenty of water.

From 2014, a truck barrier test.
No robots were harmed.

Email is a Sacred Space: Designing for Newsletters at SNDCLT 2017

Posted on June 6, 2017June 6, 2017 by Gabriel Hongsdusit

In April I had the chance to attend Unite + Rebel, the Society for News Design’s annual conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here’s a take-away from one of the workshops I attended.

Newsletters are an increasingly effective way to distribute your content and build a brand – so what should you keep in mind when designing and writing for newsletters? Quartz’s Priya Ganapati offers some best practices to build your audience and make your newsletter effective.

Don’t resort to clickbait

Newsletters are not about the clicks. Your main goal is to build a relationship with your audience ー and that comes before circulating your content. Ganapati stressed that email is a sacred space. People use email for personal reasons, like communicating with family and friends. It’s important to not litter that space with clickbait.

You should also consider where you want your newsletter to be consumed. The Quartz Daily Brief is an effective newsletter because it can be consumed entirely inside the inbox. Readers have the option to visit articles, but they can also receive all the relevant information from just reading the newsletter itself. It’s quick and easy consumption.

Lenny Letter is another example of a newsletter that lives inside the inbox. The format is simple but effective. Readers can read one article entirely within the newsletter.

Establish a template for your readers and stick with it

Newsletters are habit-forming. Structure your newsletter so that your audience will expect to see the same sections in their inbox.

Ann Friedman’s newsletter is a great example of this – it’s the same format every week. You want subscribers to get used to a pattern. In Friedman’s case, she has sections dedicated to her writing, curated links, GIFs and more. She’s even managed to monetize members-only sections in her newsletter that require a paid subscription.

Prioritize mobile and simplicity in your design

Newsletters should not have too many images because there is always the risk of visuals not loading. This is especially important because newsletters tend to be consumed through mobile devices.

Visuals should be chosen carefully to complement the surrounding content, but they shouldn’t act as the content itself. Text should be legible, and the overall layout should be simple enough to work within the constraints of the email format.

According to these principles, Thrillist’s newsletter is arguably a poorly designed newsletter. There’s no content that lives within the email itself, and readers have to click links that take them outside the inbox. Images take up too much real estate, are slow to load, and make the newsletter feel like clickbait.

With a gross open rate of 70 percent, New York Times newsletters are notoriously effective – and this NYT Cooking letter is a great example of how to use images appropriately. The template consists of only two parts: a short essay, which sometimes includes a recipe that lives inside the inbox, and a handful of curated recipes. Images complement the surrounding content but are not necessary to gain value from the newsletter.

What makes a signup page effective?

The first barrier to building a newsletter audience is collecting emails. Below are some best practices for structuring your signup page.

Less is more

Fewer fields lead to higher subscription rates. If you want more demographic information, consider making that an option for the subscriber but not a necessity.

Quartz asks for the subscriber’s demographic information only after the subscriber has provided their email address. Ganapati said there’s a 50 percent drop off from people who sign up for the newsletter to readers who continue to put in their demographic information. While that loss is substantial, it’s still better than losing potential subscribers by overwhelming them with too many form fields. Getting the email address is the first priority.

Offer content previews

Newsletters are about cultivating a specific audience and building a special relationship. You don’t necessarily want everyone to sign up for it. Offering a sample newsletter on a landing page could be a potential way to entice more subscribers and screen out people that wouldn’t be interested in subscribing.

The New York Times provides a sample for almost every newsletter they have, which gives the subscriber a preview of what they’re getting into. You could also provide a link to an archive.

Keep the readers’ needs in mind

The key to writing and designing for newsletters is to prioritize the needs of the reader. Focusing solely on circulating your branded content will only make your newsletter seem like clickbait. The best newsletters use curated content to create a specific user experience that aligns with the brand.

Designing with these principles will ensure that your newsletter breaks through the noise and engages and builds your audience.

Nerd Alert 114: Enter At Your Own Risk

Posted on March 24, 2017March 29, 2017 by RC Lations

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: "The more you let engagement metrics drive editorial, the more your site will look like a Taboola widget".

Gabe: Some general tips for talking tech with non-tech people. Don’t assume anything and be ready to explain things in multiple ways, because people have different ways of understanding things.

Julia: Check out the American Press Institute's report on how Americans decide what news to trust on social media.

Kay: Uncovering forgotten stories in handwritten text: the Europeana Transcribe project is using crowdsourcing to transform over 200,000 items from WWI into digital data for journalists and historians.

RC: Check out Foxhound, the first REST API-powered theme on WordPress.org.

Inndy: Boaty McBoatface embarks on its first tour of duty.

DEADLINES

Do you have ideas about how to improve the flow of accurate information? Submit a proposal to the Knight Prototype Fund by April 3.

If you're considering pitching a session for SRCCON 2017, the deadline for proposals in April 7 at 11:59pm ET.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Listen up!

As we start to build the next version of Largo, we'd love to hear your ideas, suggestions, and feedback on what you'd like to see included and updated!

For the next two weeks, our Office Hours will feature Largo-specific ideas sessions. This is a great chance to shape our ideas and get that one feature you've always wanted in the next version! We'd love to hear your feedback, so make sure to join us on Friday, March 24 and Friday, March 31 from 2-3pm EST.

All are welcome!

SHOUT OUT

Today's shout out goes to all the Capitol Hill reporters.

LOVE NERD ALERT?

We love you back

Please consider supporting this newsletter with a donation to INN.

Or, if you'd rather contribute content over cash, be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks much!

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

Maplight is hiring a Development Manager.

Searchlight New Mexico is hiring a Senior Data Journalist and Investigative Reporters.

Mother Jones has a Documentary Film Residency.

INN is hiring a Director of INN Labs.

The Center for Public Integrity is hiring a News Application Developer/Data Journalist.

The Marshall Project is hiring for a Features Editor, Multimedia Editor, Immigration Reporter, Membership Manager, Communications and Development Associate.

The Lens is looking for an Environment Reporter.

Mother Jones is hiring for an Advertising Sales Assistant, Foreign Influence/National Security Reporter, Managing/Production Editor, News Editor, and for a Mother Jones Documentary Film Residency.

ProPublica has a bunch of job openings for their new Illinois office

NPR Visuals is hiring a Summer Intern.

VTDigger is hiring a Chief Innovation Officer and a Social Media / Community Editor.

The Better Government Association (BGA) seeks a Development Assistant, a Board Liaison & Development Associate, and has Internships available.

The Sunlight Foundation is hiring an Operations Manager.

Mississippi Today is hiring a Product/Web Designer and Developer.

The Tor Project is seeking a Communications Director.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: Four New Gorillaz Tracks. ?

EAT: Roasted Asparagus Wrapped in Proscuitto.

DRINK: Elderfashion. ?

WATCH: German grocer Netto-Katzen's new ad.

A heart's a heavy burden.

Nerd Alert 113: Oh, Danny Boy…

Posted on March 17, 2017March 17, 2017 by Kay Lima

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: In Kavya Sukumar’s “Making Remote Working Work For You” article, she briefly mentions Geoff Hing opened his home as a coworking space for friends. Does anyone else do something similar?

Gabe: How the WSJ created its graphic about the Trump family’s 500+ conflicts of interest.

Julia: Have some fun animating thousands of points with D3.

Kay: For those of you interested in learning more about Accelerated Mobile Pages, here are some tips for translating custom stories to AMP.

RC: Check out this podcast on the state of javascript and javascript frameworks in a WordPress context.

Inndy: Trust me, I’m a robot.

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

Hearken: Helping reporters be more transparent, earn trust and build audience with Open Notebook.

The Knight Foundation released its report on How Youth Navigate the News Landscape.

The Center for Public Integrity just open-sourced their app generator: https://github.com/PublicI/app-generator.

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

Maplight is hiring a Development Manager.

Searchlight New Mexico is hiring a Senior Data Journalist and Investigative Reporters.

INN is hiring a Director of INN Labs.

The Center for Public Integrity is hiring a News Application Developer/Data Journalist.

The Marshall Project is hiring for a Multimedia Editor, an Immigration Reporter, a Membership Manager and Communications and Development Associate.

The Lens is looking for an Environment Reporter.

Mother Jones is hiring for a Facilities Manager, a Managing/Production editor and for a Mother Jones Documentary Film Residency.

ProPublica has a bunch of job openings for their new Illinois office.

NPR Visuals is hiring a Summer Intern.

VTDigger is hiring a Chief Innovation Officer and a Social Media / Community Editor.

The Better Government Association (BGA) seeks a Development Assistant, a Board Liaison & Development Associate, and has Internships available.

Reveal is hiring an Investigations Editor.

Mississippi Today is hiring a Product/Web Designer and Developer.

Chicago Public Media is hiring a Developer.

The Tor Project is seeking a Communications Director.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

WE MADE A THING

Our work

Pym Shortcode Version 1.2.0.2 is available to download, now with the latest Pym.js 1.2.0 and bug fixes.

LOVE NERD ALERT?

We love you back

Please consider supporting this newsletter with a donation to INN.

Or, if you'd rather contribute content over cash, be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks much!

DEADLINES

Stay in the know

Today is the deadline to apply for OpenNews ticket and travel scholarships. OpenNews is offering $500 toward the travel cost of attending an event as well as full coverage of your event registration fee.

Do you have ideas about how to improve the flow of accurate information? Submit a proposal to the Knight Prototype Fund by April 3.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Listen up!

As we start to build the next version of Largo, we'd love to hear your ideas, suggestions, and feedback on what you'd like to see included and updated!

All are welcome!

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: The Postmodern Jukebox covers “Give it away”. ?

EAT: Mamma Mia! ?

DRINK: The Mother-in-Law Cocktail. She’ll be pleased.?

WATCH: NICAR 2017 Lightning Talks.⚡

Harumph.

Nerd Alert 112: La La Labs

Posted on March 10, 2017March 14, 2017 by Gabriel Hongsdusit

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: Today’s link is a very long post, and it opens with an anecdote about how a comic author was almost driven to suicide by people who objected to his words, but it’s worth a read. “Empowerment” emphasizes identifying ways that people have agency and can change things, rather than telling them that everything is hopeless and run by a flawless conspiracy.

Gabe: Side projects give interviewees a chance to talk about their passions, how they work, and how they manage their time. What are questions you should be thinking of when you talk about your side project?

Julia: This interactive graphic looks at gender equality and dialogue in 2016’s highest grossing films. And here’s a look at how it was made.

Kay: Listen up, video journalists! Make sure to check out this app reviewed by Poynter. It gives you more control over the camera in your phone and lets you monitor your audio with headphones while filming.

RC: A huge step forward for collaborative editing in WordPress: Google Docs integration is now available on WordPress.com and via Jetpack.

Inndy: Who’s a good dog?

CITY OF STARS

Are you shining just for me?

This week the team got together in person for an INN staff meeting in LA. It was a great way to set goals for the future, collaborate on Largo, do some team building, and plan for INN Day. It was an incredibly productive week. Go team!

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

OpenNews recently introduced their field guide to open source in the newsroom. The guidebook walks you through the entire open-sourcing process, from getting your first release to handing off your project. If you’re interested in contributing, check out this guide.

EVENTS

Stay in the know

Sunshine Week starts this Sunday across the country, spanning from San Francisco to Minneapolis. Check out all of the panels, workshops, and events about the latest development in freedom of information resources.

MuckRock will be hosting two free events in Boston on all things FOIA-related.

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

INN is hiring a Grant Officer & Writer and a Director of INN Labs.

The Center for Public Integrity is hiring a News Application Developer/Data Journalist.

The Marshall Project is hiring for a Multimedia Editor, an Immigration Reporter, a Membership Manager and Communications and Development Associate.

The Lens is looking for an Environment Reporter.

Mother Jones is hiring for a Facilities Manager, a Managing/Production editor and for a Mother Jones Documentary Film Residency.

ProPublica has a bunch of job openings for their new Illinois office.

NPR Visuals is hiring a Summer Intern.

VTDigger is hiring a Chief Innovation Officer and a Social Media / Community Editor.

The Better Government Association (BGA) seeks a Development Assistant, a Board Liaison & Development Associate, and has Internships available.

Reveal is hiring an Investigations Editor.

The Sunlight Foundation is hiring an Operations Manager.

Mississippi Today is hiring a Product/Web Designer and Developer.

Chicago Public Media is hiring a Developer.

The Tor Project is seeking a Communications Director.

Vox Media’s Storytelling Studio is looking for a Front-End Designer.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

LOVE NERD ALERT?

We love you back

Please consider supporting this newsletter with a donation to INN.

Or, if you'd rather contribute content over cash, be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks much!

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: It’s been 11 years since we started taking the hobbits to Isengard.

EAT: Laksa in 30 minutes.

DRINK: Kombucha cocktails. Best drunk before yoga.

READ: 3 ways to fix a broken news industry.

Shake it.

Nerd Alert 111: Origami for News Nerds

Posted on March 3, 2017March 3, 2017 by Kay Lima

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: Ever wondered what a website was like in the past? Then take a look at Waybackpack, a command-line tool that lets you download the entire Wayback Machine archive for a given URL.

Gabe: This in-depth analysis of push notifications from 12 different news sites will get you thinking about how language and context frame the narratives constructed by media outlets. An important read in these times.

Julia: OpenNews released the results of their first community survey. Check out these charts and learn more about who news nerds are, how we work, and the challenges we face.

Kay: How do you get college students interested in a traditional newspaper? That’s what the Raleigh News & Observer is aiming to figure out with their 100% online College Town.

RC: Check out the pre-reading list for last weekend’s Misinfocon in Boston:

Fake news. It’s complicated: To understand the misinformation ecosystem, here's a breakdown of the types of fake content, content creators motivations and how it's being disseminated
The distributed denial of democracy: Coming together to address anti-democratic trolling and disinformation online
Persuading Algorithms with an AI Nudge: Fact-Checking Can Reduce the Spread of Unreliable News. It Can Also Do the Opposite

Inndy: A drone made out of mushrooms? Yep! This new humanitarian aid tech is built to save lives and then dissolve within days.

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

Congratulations to the recent winners of the Society for News Design's Best of Digital Design Competition! We're especially proud of our work with the Chicago Reporter, which received an Award of Excellence for #SettlingForMisconduct.

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

INN is hiring a Grant Officer & Writer and a Director of INN Labs.

The Center for Public Integrity is hiring a News Application Developer/Data Journalist.

The Marshall Project is hiring for a Multimedia Editor, an Immigration Reporter, a Membership Manager and Communications and Development Associate.

The Lens is looking for an Environment Reporter.

Mother Jones is hiring for a Facilities Manager, a Managing/Production editor and for a Mother Jones Documentary Film Residency.

ProPublica has a bunch of job openings for their new Illinois office.

NPR Visuals is hiring a Summer Intern.

VTDigger is hiring a Chief Innovation Officer and a Social Media / Community Editor.

The Better Government Association (BGA) seeks a Development Assistant, a Board Liaison & Development Associate, and has Internships available.

Reveal is hiring an Investigations Editor.

The Sunlight Foundation is hiring an Operations Manager.

Mississippi Today is hiring a Product/Web Designer and Developer.

Chicago Public Media is hiring a Developer.

The Tor Project is seeking a Communications Director.

Vox Media’s Storytelling Studio is looking for a Front-End Designer.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

WE MADE A THING

Our work

This week, the INN Nerds created not one, but two new WordPress plugins:
No Nonsense Google Analytics & Client Hosting Manager

New updates and additional documentation were also released for our Pym Shortcode plugin. ?

LOVE NERD ALERT?

We love you back

Please consider supporting this newsletter with a donation to INN.

Or, if you'd rather contribute content over cash, be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks much!

EVENTS & DEADLINES

Stay in the know

Julia and Ben are in Jacksonville, FL for NICAR through Sunday, March 5th. Are you there too? Make sure to say 'Hello!'

The deadline for INN Emerging Leaders Council nominations is March 15.

April 7th is the deadline for the Data Journalism Awards 2017 competition.

SRCCON: Propose your session starting March 22 and get in the 2017 ticket lottery starting April 26.

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: Tank and the Bangas ?

WATCH: Pick a politician, watch them get yelled at.

EAT: The new essentials of French cooking.

DRINK: When food waste becomes beer.

Dare to be creative!

Nerd Alert 110: When Bots Write News

Posted on February 24, 2017February 24, 2017 by Kay Lima

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

Ben: You watched Arrival, right? Wolfram has posted all the code from a recent live stream discussing the analysis of the heptapod language on Github.

Gabe: I have no words for Christoph Niemann’s masterpiece story on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Julia: Did some reading on CSS this week: an ode to element queries and a cheat sheet comparing CSS Grid Layout and Flexbox.

Kay: The Columbia Journalism Review’s ongoing Platform and Publishers project reveals 10 interesting takeaways on how publishers are using social media platforms.

RC: Read about Alphabet subsidiary Jigsaw and their new Conversation API - an AI-driven solution for combating internet trolls.

Inndy: What do news-writing bots mean for the future of journalism?

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

Awesome work by the team at Reveal. They took a deep look at the Oroville Dam to show us how America’s tallest dam nearly overflowed.

GET A JOB

Good jobs with good people

ProPublica has a bunch of job openings for their new Illinois office.

NPR Visuals is hiring a summer intern.

VTDigger is hiring a Chief Innovation Officer and a Social Media / Community Editor.

The Better Government Association (BGA) seeks a full-time Civic Engagement & Special Projects Coordinator.

Reveal is hiring an Investigations Editor.

The Sunlight Foundation is hiring an Operations Manager.

Mississippi Today is hiring a Product/Web Designer and Developer.

Chicago Public Media is hiring a Developer.

IRE is seeking a Training Director.

The Tor Project is seeking a Communications Director.

Vox Media’s Storytelling Studio is looking for a Front-End Designer.

INN is hiring a Grant Officer & Writer and a Director of INN Labs.

If you're looking for general jobs in nonprofit news, check out the main INN newsletter and sign up here to get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Two INN newsletters are better than one!

WE MADE A THING

Our work

Last Friday we launched the re-design of our Largo Project website. We also created a new Support Landing Page that consolidates all of our available support resources. Our design apprentice, Gabe Hongsdusit, wrote about the process of creating illustrations and animations for the re-design in a recent blog post.

LOVE NERD ALERT?

We love you back

Please consider supporting this newsletter with a donation to INN.

Or, if you'd rather contribute content over cash, be a guest contributor! Read more about that here and shoot us an email at nerds@inn.org if you're interested. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks much!

EVENTS

IRL happenings

Julia and Ben are heading to Jacksonville, FL for NICAR next week – find them and say hello, and stop by Julia’s Thursday morning panel on remote working.

SOME OTHER STUFF

Gather ye rosebuds

LISTEN: A Take Away Show with Lee Fields. ?

WATCH: Every New York Times front page since 1852.

EAT: These simple yet sophisticated 3-ingredient parmesan shortbreads are the perfect complement to your weekend cocktails.

DRINK: Can You Taste the Music? Breweries and Bands Collaborate on Beers Inspired by Song.

Now as you were.