Vox Media Storytelling Blog: All Posts by Kainaz AmariaAnother great SB Nation blog2017-04-11T16:48:00-04:00https://storytelling.voxmedia.com/authors/kainaz-amaria/rss2017-04-11T16:48:00-04:002017-04-11T16:48:00-04:00Lessons from judging nearly 400 multimedia stories and a Q&A with Steve Duenes
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<figcaption>(Clockwise from top left) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-gymnast-simone-biles.html?module=Article&region=TopBar&action=Click&pgtype=Multimedia">NYT</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/28/us/chicago-violence-walking-to-school-a-bullet-could-hit-me-and-my-kids-anytime.html">NYT</a>, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/132220/requiem-border-wall">New Republic</a>, <a href="https://vimeo.com/176266154">SF Chronicle</a>, <a href="http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-21st-century-gold-rush-refugees/#/niger">Huffington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/your-money/pageant-glamour-for-those-who-have-reached-the-age-of-elegance.html">NYT</a></figcaption>
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<p>Bad internet is born out of lack of prioritization, collaboration and focus. It’s up to us to change that. </p> <p class="p--has-dropcap p-large-text" id="Gnm5ue">Last month <a href="http://robfinchphoto.com/portfolio/about/">Rob Finch</a>, <a href="http://www.data-visual.net/">Juan Thomassie</a>, and I judged <a href="https://nppa.org/content/2017-best-photojournalism-multimedia-winners">NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Multimedia Contest 2017</a>. The contest has been running since 2001 and celebrates the best of visual journalism, both domestic and international. Rob, Juan and I watched more than 380 multimedia entries. The entries ranged in length, size, scope, scale, and format. Formats varied from short videos to feature-length films to 360- degree video and web-native stories. They were all competing for our attention and empathy. The entries came from organizations like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">The New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/regional/?cache=false">The Washington Post</a>, <a href="http://nanook.lt/en/home/">Nanook</a>, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/">New Republic</a>, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/">CNN</a>, <a href="http://www.univision.com/">Univision</a>, <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/">The Seattle Times</a>, <a href="http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/">The Huffington Post</a>, independent journalists, etc. </p>
<p id="ghTsxC">I took four full days to watch all the entries, and that was before the two-day in-person judging at Ohio University. Watching the entries I laughed, cried, felt angry, helpless, hopeless, and frustrated (I know I’m corny af). But you have to remember, we were asked to relive 2016. </p>
<p id="LFUgXA">I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with contests — folks both say it’s not about the awards and then list what they’ve won on their bios (guilty as charged). I’m less interested in the awards and more interested in what they say about our industry and our storytelling.</p>
<p id="JYGK6t">I think we can do better. I think we can be kinder to our audiences. I think we can both inform and entertain. I think these six areas are where we need to start. Bad internet is born out of lack of prioritization, collaboration, and focus.</p>
<p id="gpAqbS">It’s up to us to change that. </p>
<h2 id="TxCD3m">Serve ads people love (or at least don’t hate)</h2>
<p id="uKoR7e">Advertising matters — we know this, most of can’t live without it. But we need to think about how advertising, design, and the user experience come together to impact our audience. After four days of being bombarded with online advertising, I wanted to throw my laptop out the window. Between pop-up ads, pre-roll, aggressive newsletter sign ups, auto playing video — my mood slowly shifted from mild discomfort to rage. There needs to be an honest and ongoing conversation between ad operations, product and editorial in service of the user. Ads <em>can</em> be seamlessly integrated into storytelling experiences. Megan Walton, Vox Media’s executive director of revenue product, has my favorite quote on this — <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/31/13479070/refreshing-the-verge-vox-media-hymnal-concert-revenue">“We set out to fix shitty advertising on the internet.</a> We care about the experience and our users, not just making money. We don’t want to serve ads people hate — we want to serve ads people are genuinely interested in.” Preach. </p>
<h2 id="IvbI2I">Design for your audience</h2>
<p id="yUATdz">You can tell when a newsroom doesn’t appreciate this by the product they provide. If you think design is picking the right typeface or “laying out the page,” consider having more conversations with folks that know this language. Designing digital stories is a mix of artistry, math, technology, and research. Design is the front lines in delivering your story to the audience. Design is about serving the audience, and if you don’t have that voice early on in the process, you risk failing them and the story. If your designers are working in a silo or are brought in to “make things look pretty and work,” then you may want to reconsider your workflow. </p>
<h2 id="XnEBBY">Integrate content</h2>
<p id="fJpebk">Audiences are more sophisticated, mobile and have more options. So this means creating a seamless experience from the first moment they see your headline and promotional image to the last sentence of the story (if they get there). How does this translate to making stories? Ensure the elements relate to each other, are essential to the story, and do not include content that is redundant. If you produce a large investigative package and leave it up to the user to choose whether to watch a 30-minute video, interact with a large dataset, and/or read a 5,000 word essay, you have not done your job as curators, editors and storytellers. Aim to give users less choices and a seamless experience. </p>
<h2 id="kdgOhi">Be mindful of your audience’s time</h2>
<p id="2Z9Fpq">Now is not the time to bury the lede, to expect your audience will stay for the big reveal two-thirds into your story. I’m not saying put all your goods in the first three paragraphs, but put enough there to convince folks to stay with you. You need to communicate why this story matters and, better yet, how much of their time it will take. If after watching the first minute of a video I don’t know where the story is going, I’m gone. If after three paragraphs I’m still confused as to what you are going to tell me, I’ll find the information elsewhere. If you bait and switch, if you promise something specific and deliver something else, I won’t come back (and believe me I will remember). </p>
<h2 id="ZpXfIO">Share your language in the newsroom</h2>
<p id="dua5xi">As storytellers we need to listen, read, watch and consume all types of media, and we should be able to seamlessly understand the different languages that reside in a newsroom. Writers should understand visual voice. Photographers need to understand narrative structures. Developers need to understand tone, pacing and how to emphasize a plot point. Editors should understand how to create different expressions of the same story on multiple platforms — which means they need to critically consume content on <em>all</em> these platforms. In my experience, when folks push back it’s because they are fearful of what they don’t know and what they can’t control. Demystifying <a href="https://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/8/26/12650512/making-good-internet#ihk9G5">our creative processes</a> and talents is key to healthy collaborations and better storytelling.</p>
<h2 id="ada5cY">Prioritize diversity</h2>
<p id="QRt7CM">Diversity is just as imperative to our credibility as accurate sourcing. Yet, many folks are left making the same case <a href="https://medium.com/@s_m_i/lessons-in-inclusive-hiring-what-ive-learnt-d8501d8925d5">over</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/17/public-editor/new-york-times-diversity-liz-spayd-public-editor.html">over</a> and <a href="http://www.poynter.org/2017/i-moment-i-knew-i-wasnt-going-to-be-a-conflict-photographer/452591/">over</a> again in different areas of the newsroom. Of the approximately 380 entries we spent time with, the vast majority of visual journalists behind the camera were men, mostly white men. As judges we try our best to award with impartiality, but we should all be critical of the diversity of voices that are being elevated. <a href="https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/who-is-telling-africas-stories/">And if they are skewed towards one gender, nationality or race — then we need to start asking why.</a> </p>
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<p id="5RbNRf">This year, the BOP award for <a href="https://nppa.org/content/2017-best-photojournalism-multimedia-winners">Best Use of Multimedia</a> went to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-gymnast-simone-biles.html?module=Article&region=TopBar&action=Click&pgtype=Multimedia">The Fine Line</a> by The New York Times. I remember when this dropped, our team collectively stopped and jumped into Slack <a href="https://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/12/16/13937058/best-stories-2016">raving about the storytelling</a>. While Steve Duenes, NYT assistant masthead editor, doesn’t get to oversee many stories these days, he did so in this case. He graciously agreed to answer a few questions, for all of us to learn what it takes to make stories like this one. </p>
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<cite><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-gymnast-simone-biles.html?_r=1">NYT</a></cite>
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<p id="wcrjdB">Q&A with Steve Duenes</p>
<p id="G0jq5B"><strong>First, let me say congratulations. The Fine Line won </strong><a href="https://nppa.org/content/2017-best-photojournalism-multimedia-winners"><strong>Best Use of Multimedia</strong></a><strong> beating out over 380 multimedia stories from news organizations around the world. I won’t speak for the other judges, but in my mind it was a clear winner because of its content, design, user experience</strong><strong>,</strong><strong> and impact. </strong></p>
<p id="1dsxAs"><em><strong>Can you walk us through the project from initial idea to the final product? There are over 25 folks credited on this piece. How did this village of talent come together to create this? </strong></em></p>
<p id="itVeqe">This piece was part of a series of four profiles:<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-gymnast-simone-biles.html"> Simone Biles</a>,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-swimmer-ryan-lochte.html"> Ryan Lochte</a>,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-high-jumper-derek-drouin.html"> Derek Drouin</a> and<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/05/sports/olympics-triple-jumper-christian-taylor.html"> Christian Taylor</a>, and these kinds of Olympics features have a little history at The Times. If you look back at the 2014 Olympics,<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2014/sochi-olympics/giant-slalom.html"> there was a similar series</a> examining the mechanics behind the athleticism, and there have been other comparable projects from<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/27/sports/olympics/dana-vollmer-100-meter-butterfly.html"> 2012</a> and even<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/sports/olympics/olympics-interactives.html#tab4%20"> 2010</a>.</p>
<p id="tJI0aI">It’s fairly obvious but on any project, we start with the reporting, and Joe Ward and Bedel Saget did the bulk of the reporting on this. Leslye Davis reported for the project as well, and she shot a lot of the video.</p>
<p id="rVL5Gw">Once we had a rough sense of the story outline, we started thinking about the structure of the piece, and how we might design and develop it. This project worked differently than some of the more-traditional written articles at The Times. Here, the way it looked and the way a reader interacted with it <em>was</em> the shape of the story. In this case, design was editing.</p>
<p id="UJlpaB">In 2014, we made<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2014/sochi-olympics/ski-jumping.html"> similar Olympics stories</a> into an experiment in scrolling video with short text blocks as transitions. But those stories were mostly video, so a reader’s progress through each piece was kind of uneven. They would read, then watch …. then read again, and watch …. and so on. This time we wanted less cumbersome switching between reading and watching. We wanted each “step” of the story to be a similar cognitive chunk for the reader. There are plenty of models for this kind of card-based structure, but we were looking to elevate the form somewhat so that we could tell a more complex story.</p>
<p id="ODSPIB">The four main contributors on the design were Alicia DeSantis, Alexandra Garcia, Joe Ward and Rodrigo De Benito Sanz, with Rodrigo as the principal designer. He gave the idea a real shape and a look, which helped the editing as it went forward.</p>
<p id="EdvySN">At the same time, there were other editors at work on video, audio effects, 3-D modeling and the motion capture data we gathered. When you watch the video of Simone Biles’s tumbling passes, you see a kind of “stream” effect, which is a visualization of that motion capture data.</p>
<p id="ASEwnT">As you point out, there were a lot of contributors on this story, but some people added smaller elements while the core team did the majority of the work. On many days, people would make progress, and then we’d assemble at the end of the day to see how things were coming together.</p>
<p id="vQEAM8"><em><strong>Talk to me about any difficulties during the collaboration? What were the major challenges? </strong></em></p>
<p id="XOgm6e">These are ambitious projects, and there are more contributors than other stories, so it’s a challenge to manage all the possible directions the piece can take and establish a consensus around a single approach. There’s a lot of discussion, but ultimately, we have to make decisions. I think we’re helped by our tight deadlines. Everyone understands that disputes can’t linger, and disagreements tend to fade quickly.</p>
<p id="hEqIlK"><em><strong>You cleverly integrated an Infiniti sponsorship and other advertisements into the project. Was that a conversation? What were the considerations for the audience? </strong></em></p>
<p id="EwsHv6">Our advertising colleagues sold a sponsorship, and there were some general requirements for ad placements, but we had flexibility for the execution within the package, so we tried to strike the right balance, making the advertising apparent but not a distraction. There was a healthy conversation, and our advertising department was supportive of our approach.</p>
<p id="VzqChP"><em><strong>How would you describe this type of storytelling?</strong></em></p>
<p id="6aln9E">There are lots of flavors of visual journalism, and this particular slice is built around video, but it isn’t a video. It would be great if readers didn’t think of this story as any particular type, but simply consumed it without considering anything other than the story itself.</p>
<p id="o76yGh"><em><strong>Any advice for smaller newsrooms that have big ambitions to create experiences like this for their audience? </strong></em></p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="uFLDG1">In the end, this piece is a step-by-step story with video, written passages and motion graphics. Any newsroom can create a comparable experience if they focus on reporting that includes gathering visual assets, and they keep the design simple. Lately, we’ve been building stories around <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/world/middleeast/mosul-iraq-front-line-battle.html">sequences of 10-12 photos</a>, but they aren’t slideshows. They’re narratives written to the visuals, and they’re compelling because of the quality of the pictures and the story. This sort of thing is well within reach of smaller teams.</p>
<p id="rPQkG4"><em>Special thanks to </em><a href="https://www.ohio.edu/viscom/"><em>Ohio University Viscom</em></a><em> faculty and student body for their hospitality during the BOP judging. And again, thank you Steve, for taking the time to share your knowledge. </em></p>
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https://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2017/4/11/15259674/judging-multimedia-stories-interview-steve-duenesKainaz Amaria2016-11-04T10:43:01-04:002016-11-04T10:43:01-04:00“Africa is not a country, ” and other notes from Media Party Africa
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<figcaption>Modeled after the original Media Party in Buenos Aires, Media Party Africa was held, for the first time, in Cape Town, South Africa. | Courtesy of Media Party Africa</figcaption>
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<p id="UeLA0J">Omar A. Mohammed, journalist and current International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) fellow, took the stage to share how communities in Africa were using WhatsApp as it relates to news. </p>
<p id="eE1xwc">“That’s data from Tanzania,” he said, standing in front of a slide showing how the messaging app is more popular than Facebook in his country, then deftly squeezing in a caveat. “Africa is not a country, by the way.”</p>
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<p id="43ih27">I met Omar last week at <a href="https://mediaparty.codeforafrica.org/">Media Party Africa</a>, a three-day event hosted by Code For Africa and Hacks/Hackers Africa. The event brought together over 300 journalists, civic technologists and social-justice watchdogs, from 36 cities around the world, to hang out, share ideas and riff on the state of our industry. </p>
<p id="kEL0TD">I’m not really a fan of conferences. They give me anxiety and mentally thrust me back to middle school where I was consumed with fitting in and always worried about not being cool enough. Attendees always clique up, there’s always someone left in the corner with no one to talk to — me. </p>
<p id="aR5Dll">But this one, being in Cape Town, I figured even if I was in a corner, it would be in a stunning city. </p>
<p id="wMO9G6">I think you know where I’m going with this — it was so worth it. This year’s theme was Disruption, Democracies and Digital Media, and included speakers from ProPublica, ESPN, Buzzfeed Labs, Quartz, Huffington Post, Zeit Investigativ, Google, Jigsaw, First Draft News, the Gates Foundation, the Mozilla OpenNews Fellowships - and myself, from Vox Media.</p>
<p id="mAhYrI">Storytellers were curious about new technologies such as drone journalism, 360˚ and VR journalism, and chat apps. One theme that kept repeating itself was data security and verification. And, it’s a journalism conference, so there had to be at least one panel on how we as an industry can survive financially. But the through line, that thing that got us all in a room, was <strong>how do we create, fund and disseminate stories that matter. </strong></p>
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<cite>Kainaz Amaria/Vox Media</cite>
<figcaption>Imagine how riveting of a speaker you have to be so folks stay focused on you and not this view. </figcaption>
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<p id="poA3I2">What set Media Party Africa apart from the journalism conferences I’ve attended back home was the feeling of cooperation, of truly sharing ideas without the subtext of competition, and the pace and speed of innovation. Toby Shapshak said it best: “Innovation is better in Africa because we have lots of problems and we have to find solutions.” </p>
<p id="KvUTK6">Here are some highlights and resources from the event. </p>
<h2 id="o71oRu">Five people I met at Media Party Africa who you should follow </h2>
<p id="h7eTcW"><a href="https://twitter.com/shurufu?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor"><strong>Omar A. Mohammed</strong></a>: A Tanzanian journalist based in Dar es Salaam. Omar will fight to the death about his country’s beauty and his capitol city’s splendor. He shared with us <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Hp8iSGhM5JGu8qIJtqulwqKIITpeVIDz9FUMyiOztl8/edit#slide=id.g179e7cea87_1_43">WhatsApp’s impact in Africa</a>. For example, WhatsApp was the primary platform for political trash talk during Tanzania’s last election campaign. <a href="https://twitter.com/tulanana">Tulanana Bohela</a>, a BBC Africa correspondent based in Tanazania, says the app is “our noticeboard, our pager. Any story we do, almost invariably, we would have heard of it first on WhatsApp in some group somewhere.” </p>
<p id="tAM3zS"><a href="https://twitter.com/chikaoduah"><strong>Chika Oduah</strong></a>: A journalist with a background in anthropology and film, Chika is based in Nigeria and shared her reporting on Boko Haram and the Chibok girls. “Boko harma is our greatest fear. It is [made of] young men who don’t believe they belong in secular society.” I learned more from her 10-minute talk about the issue than what I’ve gotten from most Western news outlets. </p>
<p id="AKbu3Q"><a href="https://twitter.com/nasrhadi"><strong>Nasr ul Hadi</strong></a>: As the ICFJ’s Knight Fellow in India, Nasr works at the intersection of news, technology, digital innovation and newsroom management. <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UATvkG8gjNqiMVCgG1YypF1Pwrw3awwk0IIFeuXH754/edit#slide=id.g17c1d29818_0_5">He got me when his first slide on shaping the future of journalism declared : Blasphemy Ahead.</a> His version of blasphemy is in fact what many newsroom leaders should be attempting. “There are too few publishers willing to burn down part of the newsroom and start from scratch,” he continued. “We need to build T-shaped professionals, folks that have a deep knowledge in one area but can work across many areas.” <a href="http://www.spadenewsroom.com/">PREACH</a>. </p>
<p id="5eb9Fl"><a href="https://twitter.com/deeshroom"><strong>Deshnee Subramany</strong></a>: A news editor at Huffington Post South Africa, Deshnee’s passion is South African politics and revolutions. Admittedly, I wasn’t present to hear her speak but I caught up on her talk through Twitter. Here are some gems Deshnee dropped:</p>
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<p id="MSiIu1">“We need black African women telling black African stories.”</p>
<p id="u6MCVs">“If you don’t associate with the people you write for [read:POC] you will not be relevant.”</p>
<p id="Hkz7K8">“The most underserved population in South Africa are poor black people.”</p>
<p id="xbGVqo">“STOP HIRING ONLY WHITE MEN TO TELL STORIES FROM PEOPLE OF COLOR.”</p>
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<p id="wysBpa">Again. <a href="http://mg.co.za/author/deshnee-subramany">PREACH</a>. </p>
<p id="wpCo3z"><a href="https://twitter.com/cgicheru1"><strong>Catherine Gicheru</strong></a>: An award-winning journalist, Catherine was the first woman editor- in-chief of a newspaper in Kenya. Yes, that is right, bow down. An ICFJ Fellow with Code for Kenya, Catherine supervises teams of data journalists in Kenya. And there’s more, Catherine is part of <a href="https://pesacheck.org/">PesaCheck</a>, a fact checking initiative to verify numbers quoted by public officials across East Africa. “I used to freeze at the sight of numbers, but now I see them as beautiful pictures,” she said. </p>
<h2 id="xEqeDc">Smart quotes from the event</h2>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Miguel Castro from <a href="https://twitter.com/gatesfoundation">@gatesfoundation</a> "No one cares about the industry, ppl care about the story." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a> <a href="https://t.co/XMDVg6uuWi">pic.twitter.com/XMDVg6uuWi</a></p>— African Geek Goddess (@RonellSharee) <a href="https://twitter.com/RonellSharee/status/789744847905230850">October 22, 2016</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/justinarenstein">@justinarenstein</a>: If news orgs want to stay relevant, they need to figure out the pain points in people's lives. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a></p>— Engage Me (@EngageME_News) <a href="https://twitter.com/EngageME_News/status/789387523654946816">October 21, 2016</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">"To really change, cannibalize traditional roles." - <a href="https://twitter.com/nasrhadi">@nasrhadi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a></p>— Latoya Peterson (@LatoyaPeterson) <a href="https://twitter.com/LatoyaPeterson/status/789757094639570944">October 22, 2016</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">'You want somebody in your newsroom who thinks differently about stories' <a href="https://twitter.com/LatoyaPeterson">@LatoyaPeterson</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mediapartyafrica?src=hash">#mediapartyafrica</a></p>— MediaPartyAfrica (@MediaPartyAfr) <a href="https://twitter.com/MediaPartyAfr/status/789382244267732993">October 21, 2016</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's not enough to just stick women into masculine systems. <a href="https://twitter.com/verashni">@verashni</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a></p>— Charne Simpson (@charne_CT) <a href="https://twitter.com/charne_CT/status/789850359128793088">October 22, 2016</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Apartheid may be gone but the boundary lines remain. Johnny Miller's <a href="https://twitter.com/UnequalScenes">@unequalscenes</a> documents that <a href="https://t.co/2Tw1mcuRaW">https://t.co/2Tw1mcuRaW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a> <a href="https://t.co/2XUM788kEC">pic.twitter.com/2XUM788kEC</a></p>— Alastair Reid (@ajreid) <a href="https://twitter.com/ajreid/status/789395040208506880">October 21, 2016</a>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">"Don't shower too aggressively" <br>—<a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisRoper">@ChrisRoper</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a> wristbands should last 3 days </p>— Livia Labate (@livlab) <a href="https://twitter.com/livlab/status/789367425011748865">October 21, 2016</a>
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<p id="koRYR0">More knowledge bits are on the #meidapartyafrica hashtag on Twitter. </p>
<p id="12oBbw">Lastly, here is a brilliant <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Xmkhz4kGlwYMcljqwRNH4aiPYoDwigdgaHpSrPouuCI/edit#gid=0">compilation of tools, tutorials and presentations</a> for your rabbit hole pleasure. </p>
<p id="EVrIpx"><em>Special thanks to </em><a href="https://twitter.com/laurenrabaino?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor"><em>Lauren Rabaino</em></a><em> who got me this invite and coached me through what to shar</em><em>e.</em><em> </em><em>H</em><em>ere’s a link to </em><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bb93ySdLygVdXbgalg0SlJAGlvCPGxLQs4iVtbYzHtg/edit"><em>my deck</em></a><em>, which was borrowed from her</em><em> slides.</em><em> </em><em>And to </em><a href="https://twitter.com/chrisroper?lang=en"><em>Chris Roper</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ashlinsimpson"><em>Ashlin Simpson</em></a><em>, whose kindness and hospitality won’t be forgotten - I’m coming back soon! </em></p>
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<p lang="und" dir="ltr">❤️ <a href="https://twitter.com/MediaPartyAfr">@MediaPartyAfr</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MediaPartyAfrica?src=hash">#MediaPartyAfrica</a> <br><br>(<a href="https://twitter.com/shurufu">@shurufu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LatoyaPeterson">@LatoyaPeterson</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nunovargas">@nunovargas</a> ) <a href="https://t.co/qXG3HXsvRz">pic.twitter.com/qXG3HXsvRz</a></p>— kainazamaria (@kainazamaria) <a href="https://twitter.com/kainazamaria/status/790112764664619008">October 23, 2016</a>
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<p id="jrrQpd">For the infinitely curious - Google bunny chow. </p>
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https://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/11/4/13510482/-africa-is-not-a-country-and-other-notes-from-media-party-africaKainaz Amaria2016-08-26T17:26:06-04:002016-08-26T17:26:06-04:00The case for making good internet, together
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2HFdf1CteXgPjlEiFtxE6FvrFaU=/0x0:2000x1500/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50542747/pic_20for_20kainaz_20.0.jpg" />
<figcaption><a href="http://www.racked.com/a/supreme">Supreme for Racked</a>, <a href="http://www.vox.com/a/hillary-clinton-interview/the-gap-listener-leadership-quality">HRC Interview for Vox.com</a>, <a href="http://www.vox.com/a/trump-tax">Trump Tax for Vox.com </a> | Vox Media</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="xMGig9"><em>If you know me at all you’re probably thinking</em><em>,</em><em> </em><em>“</em><em>Kainaz is the last person to write something like this.</em><em>”</em><em> Documentation was a four-letter word to me. It felt overly obsessive and impersonal. But, in the short time I’ve been at Vox Media, I can say, I’ve been converted. And not through persuasion or coercion but through experience. </em></p>
<p id="pjnceI"><em><a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/7/12/12148256/introducing-the-vox-media-storytelling-studio">We recently remixed our team, our team’s mission</a></em><a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/7/12/12148256/introducing-the-vox-media-storytelling-studio"><em>,</em></a><em><a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/7/12/12148256/introducing-the-vox-media-storytelling-studio"> and our team’s priorities</a></em><em>.</em><em> In doing so, we needed to communicate this change. And, as with so many things, it’s not until you have to make a case for something that you really start to understand your point of view. </em></p>
<p id="2PBNYl"><em>Which is why I’m sharing this with a wider audience, because I know there are folks out there making cases for good internet every</em><em> </em><em>day — perhaps there is something in here that might help you get that win.</em></p>
<p id="kZLO3Z"><em><strong>*This letter was addressed to all our Editors </strong></em><strong><em>i</em></strong><em><strong>n Chief at Vox Media, and then open</strong></em><strong><em>ed</em></strong><em><strong> to anyone interested in understanding the Storytelling Studio.</strong></em><em>* </em></p>
<h2 id="SA0y67"></h2>
<h2 id="ZybbQA"><strong>Our origin story</strong></h2>
<p id="0hyJSE">Hey, hi, hello, </p>
<p id="smPghd">I know what you are thinking, another remix of the same folks. This is just another reshuffle. But, no, wait, read on — this is different. I promise, so bear with me. </p>
<p id="DFiKHV">We were originally incubated within the product organizational structure, tasked with making features look good and building usable tools for our journalists, which worked and has served its purpose. But, there were always things we knew we could do that went beyond the scope we were working in. </p>
<p id="BbcSqg">Basically we needed to get closer to our stories in order to create <strong>high-impact journalism</strong>. </p>
<p id="LiPMXW">That’s why we are now on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/business/media/vox-media-names-melissa-bell-to-long-vacant-publishers-job.html?_r=0">Melissa Bell’s</a> Growth & Development team — tasked with finding new ways to blow up and rethink our storytelling. If that sounds vague, it is, because we know that <strong>there is no formula for what we do</strong>. Stories are like people. They each have individual needs. So think of this as a guideline on how we think about our work and how you can work with us. </p>
<p id="hpoyTU"><strong>TL;DR - we are not in the business of making bad internet. What do we mean by BAD INTERNET? It’s internet that doesn’t care about the audience AT ALL. So, two words you’ll hear us saying all the time</strong><strong>:</strong><strong> STORY & AUDIENCE. </strong></p>
<p id="85fCp0">We make things for our audience, not for ourselves. So we’ll be talking about our users and their needs. We can make anything on the internet, which is a blessing and a curse. The more focused we are, the more we’ll make something that matters.</p>
<p id="Bcx5VQ">That’s where the shift from the name Editorial Products Team to Storytelling Studio comes into play. Language is important and we’d love to be seen as <strong>equal collaborators in helping to create and craft the story</strong>. I know that’s a bit of a mental shift but we thrive on change, right? </p>
<h2 id="ihk9G5"><strong>Our priorities</strong></h2>
<p id="TxGZUd">I began this section by calling it, “What makes a story a good candidate for collaboration?” But after thinking about it, that framing felt like I was trying to create a template or checklist on what is good enough for the studio to work on. <strong>We do NOT want to make value judgements on your ideas or stories you feel are important. </strong></p>
<p id="K6wjqs">So, let’s flip it. Rather than telling you what to bring to us, I’ll tell you what we have to offer. Our talent. Our firepower.</p>
<p id="KqbxWF"><strong>TL;DR - We are a team of developers, engineers, data journalists, designers, UX experts, visual leaders, and ONE I</strong><strong>NCREDIBLY</strong><strong> badass project manager. </strong><a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/pages/team"><strong>You can see everyone’s expertise here.</strong></a></p>
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<img alt="The Storytelling Studio, Chicago, Illinois, July 2016." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/52EfIFbQJ2tOwGLEn91vZWnLiPc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7001257/team_storytelling.jpg">
<cite>Vox Media</cite>
<figcaption>The Storytelling Studio, Chicago, Illinois, July 2016.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="mDUcck">In the short time that I’ve been at Vox Media, I’ve had in-depth conversations about a wide range of topics with this team, including story narratives, user experience, accessibility, design, data, engagement, sharing, off-platform, on-platform, video, graphics, typefaces, load time, good bots, bad bots, APIs, user generated content, revenue, smart sponsorship, building for scale … I can go on and on. </p>
<p id="pBj2qa">This team is thoughtful in ways that humble me. <strong>They are artful journalists and storytellers. </strong></p>
<p id="JR6SPl">Here they are in their own words:</p>
<p id="gloxdb"><strong>Ryan Mark</strong> — (Well, okay, these aren’t his words as he’s on vacation, but Ryan is an amazing data/developer/collaborator/journalist/thinker.)</p>
<p id="mlZVin"><strong>Katie O’Dowd </strong> — I enjoy facilitating collaboration and trying new processes to help foster a happy team and make our work more efficient. I appreciate a good to-do list. </p>
<p id="etHdzN"><strong>Kelsey Scherer</strong> — I enjoy collaborating to identify and solve problems with clear and simple designs. I think about design beyond just colors and fonts. I will probably change process at least one time during a project to better fit the needs of a story.</p>
<p id="QeGbc6"><strong>Casey Miller</strong> — I love creating unique, polished, and enthralling experiences for users. If those experiences happen to have a data component to them (whether that means using a dataset we already have, pulling data from an API, or dealing with user-generated content) all the better. As an incredibly visual person myself, I enjoy finding elegant ways to display data and strive to engage the user as much as possible.</p>
<p id="gfuwWd"><strong>Kavya Sukumar </strong>— I love strong coffee, clean code, and rapid experimentation with new ways of telling stories. I enjoy finding stories in large and unwieldy datasets.</p>
<p id="VBHse5"><strong>Aidan Feay</strong> — When I’m not building Lego castles, I build immersive data and story-driven experiences. </p>
<p id="FoClje"><strong>Brittany Holloway-Brown</strong> — When I graduated from art school with a degree in illustration, the last place I saw myself was working as a designer for a newsroom, but the skills I learned in school inform my new role perfectly. Human connection is something I’ve always been interested in and I love creating beautiful stories and experiences. I always want to bring a human touch to the web. I’m a romantic.</p>
<p id="nmGibk"><strong>Tyson Whiting </strong>— I am a designer and artist who is usually getting my hands dirty, outside with grease and slime and inside with glue and paint. Art and journalism are two ends of a rope that I love to tie together because connections between readers and stories emotionally, visually, and logically is truly what makes the world go around. Making things beautiful and fun is all I ever want to do in life. </p>
<p id="ZcXxFx"><strong>Yuri Victor </strong>— I build stuff. (Okay, these are my words now, he’s a badass.)</p>
<p id="At4wM4"><strong>Lauren Rabaino </strong>— I help when we need to think about how our stories connect to all the other parts of our business: product, revenue, growth, brand development. I connect the dots to the rest of the company when it’s not clear how those dots should be connected, and am thinking longterm about the direction and strategy for the team. </p>
<p id="lL9zo8">(Take a break, breathe, I know it’s exciting and we want to work with you all. Even though we seem like a huge team there are a lot more of you than us.)</p>
<h2 id="DvpYOe"><strong>What types of stories should include the Storytelling Studio?</strong></h2>
<p id="udryAM">We add the most value when we look at our work as being at the intersection of <strong>content, design</strong><strong>,</strong><strong> and product.</strong> And that doesn’t mean we are only making blow-out-big-holy-shit pieces. </p>
<p id="ek5XmK"><strong>It means that we are leveraging our skill set with your editorial dreams to create something smart. Something that adds value to our audiences</strong><strong>’</strong><strong> lives. Something that isn’t derivative or redundant. </strong></p>
<p id="r3g5Pe">Again, sort of vague, I know, but I’m focused on the way we want everyone to think, not on a formula that we want to prescribe.</p>
<p id="1M318B">Here are some questions or situations that might bring you to us:</p>
<ul id="ANE7Vj">
<li>Do I have exclusive access to a person or story that no one else has?</li>
<li>I’ve got this absurd data set that I don’t know what to do with! HELP!</li>
<li>I want to create an amazing data set that I know can be done but I don’t know where to start.</li>
<li>Is this an original investigation?</li>
<li>Is this a story that only we can tell?</li>
<li>Is this something that will live beyond a news cycle? </li>
<li>Is there a way to include the audience in a new way? </li>
<li>Can we use technology to make the story easier to report or research? </li>
<li>Can we use data to tell stories that are different for each reader?</li>
<li>Can we tell this story with images and minimal text?</li>
<li>I’ve got a new audience I want to reach with this story. Can we make it just for them?</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="wcrsvW">I think I know your next question: At what stage in development should I bring a story to you? </h2>
<p id="xaHo1f">Our ideal state of talking about a story:</p>
<ul>
<li id="ud40YE">You have a clear idea or direction. </li>
<li id="xCmN66">You have a lead, but need help with data. </li>
<li id="h6Y2eJ">How and where you tell the story is ripe for exploration. </li>
</ul>
<p id="1jUaUu">Examples:</p>
<p id="96Atf2"><strong>X : </strong> “I have this interview with Hillary Clinton already written, can you help me make it look important?” </p>
<p id="72Hq02"><strong>✓ : </strong> “I have access to Hillary Clinton for a 45-minute interview and I don’t want to do what we did last time. How can we push this story?” </p>
<p id="Vebz6M"></p>
<p id="Oley6P"><strong>X : </strong> “We want to do a tour across the country that has videos, interactive maps, VR, and charts.”</p>
<p id="cyWG3i"><strong>✓ : </strong> “We want to tell the story of the common threads that tie Americans together, despite the surface-level differences city to city. We’ll focus on these unifying themes: suburbs vs. city, revitalization vs. gentrification, rising prices vs. low inventory, preservation vs. development. We’ve got writers, we can hire photographers, we are game for anything!”</p>
<p id="UbgqQ3"></p>
<p id="mJDFCL"><strong>X : </strong> “I want to do something amazing around the Olympics. What should I do?”</p>
<p id="mHmsjg"><strong>✓ : </strong> “I think there’s an opportunity to tell a story about how Olympians have evolved, and we have a data set going back to 1986. What can this be?”</p>
<p id="7Zr6Ex"></p>
<p id="vbDyM0"><strong>X : </strong> “We have to do this because we need to win an award and we do it every year.”</p>
<p id="nSGAVD"><strong>✓ : </strong><strong>“</strong>Our audiences expect us to do this every year because it matters to them. Here’s everything we’ve learned from previous iterations. How can we rethink this in a totally different way?”</p>
<p id="nYTp36"></p>
<h2 id="Lb9S6l"><strong>What is the Storytelling Studio collaboration process like?</strong></h2>
<p id="dbxF70">Collaborations are hard, especially with new teams, new languages, and new priorities. And we recognize that every project is different. Stories will come to us at different phases, but here’s our overall process for working on a collaboration.</p>
<h3 id="euz8w5"><strong>Brainstorm</strong></h3>
<ul id="XVDsrk">
<li>If the idea needs to be fleshed out we will have a project brainstorm — it’s a blue-sky, judgement-free zone where we go wild with possibilities.</li>
<li id="WHW6Dy">Okay, it’s not totally unguided — we will be asking three essential questions:</li>
</ul>
<ol id="pzTy9p">
<li>Who is our audience/user?</li>
<li>What are their needs? Why should they care about this?</li>
<li>What are we going to build to meet those needs? What do we want users to do?</li>
</ol>
<ul><li id="b2FUVW">The Studio’s involvement could end here if we define the story and realize you have everything you need to create this experience for your audience. Better to spot this early then go down the long road of making something our hearts aren’t in.</li></ul>
<h3 id="CL8u1N"><strong>Project Kickoff</strong></h3>
<ul>
<li id="2qA9VY">We define the story together and create <strong>shared expectations</strong>. This is really important for transparency and for fostering trust. </li>
<li id="lwJsp0">We will define <strong>roles and responsibilities</strong>. Everyone has a role in the room and everyone should know exactly what they are accountable for.</li>
<li id="g0DGE8">We will <strong>schedule weekly or daily check</strong><strong>-</strong><strong>ins</strong> depending on what works best for the project.</li>
<li id="gnp1K6">We may identify a <strong>specific question</strong> we want to test and actually test it. We want to learn from every story we produce, so this is very important to our team’s mission. (e.g. What’s the best placement for a newsletter sign-up? Where do people drop off in the story? Why?)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="q2yfnC">
<strong>Create</strong><strong>, </strong><strong>Report</strong><strong>, </strong><strong>Build The Story</strong>
</h3>
<ul>
<li id="bETcoG">Depending on the story this takes different forms, but some methods might include: </li>
<li id="VaDnzp">Define a visual style guide for photography, illustrations or video.</li>
<li id="M05Tej">Create wireframes/user flow.</li>
<li id="GFEi5c">Review written/visual content early and often.</li>
<li>Conduct user testing of the entire experience (including the editorial content).</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="C8fE45"><strong>Learn, Write, Share</strong></h3>
<ul>
<li id="6vO1Rf">We write about our collaborations. You can see some examples: <a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/7/19/12159680/behind-the-scenes-of-the-hillary-clinton-interview">here</a>, <a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/7/19/12213646/racked-reign-supreme">here</a> and <a href="http://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/8/19/12542076/vox-trump-tax-design-process">here</a>. </li>
<li id="73JSlh">We host a retrospective, asking what worked, what didn’t work, and what we can try differently next time. We want to learn from what we make and how we work and iterate from what we learn.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="TTiW7n"><strong>Other ways to work with the Storytelling Studio</strong></h2>
<p id="P50XQ9">While the Studio can’t collaborate with every brand on every story, we do not want to be siloed. Here are other ways to work with us. </p>
<h3 id="Fp50LQ">
<strong>1:1 Collaborations</strong> </h3>
<p id="FSVSlO">The best stories come from really simple beginnings and awesome mashups.</p>
<ul>
<li id="5vYbGx">A developer and a culture reporter riff on ideas.</li>
<li id="bq9bDx">A data journalist and a race/identities reporter dream of creating data.</li>
<li id="gU5y9W">An illustrator and tech reporter create a graphic approach to an in-depth profile.</li>
<li id="MNCVea">A video producer, a designer, and a developer … who knows what can happen! </li>
</ul>
<p id="Fu9CYq">In addition to larger projects, I want to encourage this type of cross-disciplinary collaboration. While we don’t have a great system for it, we are working on that, it’s important for us to create a culture of collaborative storytelling. So, yes we can and want to take on “smaller” stories that will have an impact. </p>
<h3 id="EgHxGJ"><strong>Visual Literacy Training</strong></h3>
<p id="ZEl3A0">In the coming months, the Studio will lead visual literacy, design, and data trainings tailored to each brand’s needs and goals. The idea is to share our expertise and to learn about your storytelling needs and workflow. </p>
<h3 id="vQrP65"><strong>#growthdev-storyhelp</strong></h3>
<p id="CxMtJf">We are going to try an experiment. In the past we’ve held office hours and had folks sign up to discuss things. Perhaps that was too formal of an approach. So we created a Slack channel. It’s called <strong>#growthdev-storyhelp</strong> and it’s a place to bring your daily visual, data, and design questions. <strong>This is not a place where we will do the work for you.</strong> It’s where you can ask us things like: </p>
<ul>
<li id="cp5Fwx">“My story draft is in Chorus but I could use guidance on picture editing the photos I have.”</li>
<li id="zLk0Vn">“Do you know a good photographer in Zimbabwe?”</li>
<li id="NEp8qn">“I have a dataset but I don’t know how to sort it.”</li>
<li id="T8Isbu">“What do you all think of the NYT piece on marbles? I liked it, but don’t know why.”</li>
<li>“Help! I have no good ideas for an image for this story and it needs to go up in two hours!” </li>
</ul>
<p id="f4sUII">That was a lot. If you read all this, <strong>I heart you.</strong> Thank you and let’s make <strong>GOOD INTERNET THAT MATTERS, TOGETHER.</strong></p>
https://storytelling.voxmedia.com/2016/8/26/12650512/making-good-internetKainaz Amaria