Futures Lab #181: Journalism 360, an Immersive Storytelling Initiative

Journalism 360 is an initiative to help journalists experiment with immersive storytelling through events, training, grants, Medium posts and Google Hangouts. The effort aims to connect journalists and build a community around 360 video and augmented and virtual reality for news.

Reporting by Reuben Stern and Lindsey Miller

• Journalism 360 is a partnership among Google News Lab, Knight Foundation and the Online News Association launched in September 2016.
• The project will use a fund of $500,000 to award grants ranging from $5,000 to $35,000 for innovative projects. The grants will be announced in March, according to Erica Anderson, Google News Lab program manager.
• A collection of posts — on everything from lessons in VR, how to choose a 360 camera, a virtual reality glossary and so on — can be found on the Journalism 360 Medium page.
• To participate in Journalism 360 and receive email updates, you can sign up here.

Rachel Wise is an editor at the Futures Lab at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and co-producer of the weekly Futures Lab video update.

The Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Futures Lab video update features a roundup of fresh ideas, techniques and developments to help spark innovation and change in newsrooms across all media platforms. Visit the RJI website for the full archive of Futures Lab videos, or download the iPad app to watch the show wherever you go. You can also sign up to receive email notification of each new episode.