Focus on open data, data journalism and visualizations

How does changing technology change the way that media companies and startups parse data from local, state and federal government? That will be the focus of the upcoming Collab/Space DC workshop on November 6, 2014. Sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri and hosted by The Washington Post, it will be an all-day, hands-on workshop focused on open data, politics and government 2.0 — a mix of startups and innovation projects at media companies and even advocacy and non-profits — in the DC area and beyond.

We’ll be selecting 8 innovative media startups and projects, which will present in lightning fashion, including questions from the audience. Later we’ll do collaborative exercises — using improv comedy techniques — to learn how to work better together, and break out into groups to help each project get past their challenges. But we’ll also be learning how to take those solutions back to our own workplaces. Plus, we’ll be collaborating with a diverse group of participants, including entrepreneurs, journalists, technologists, designers, marketers, investors and major players in the tech and media scene.

Register for the workshop now!

Collab/Space DC is a production of PBS MediaShift and sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and hosted by The Washington Post.

Key Speakers

Jacqueline Kazil is an innovation strategist, computational social scientist and general software architect/project lead with a passion for civic responsibility and engagement. She is currently innovation specialist at 18F, a digital services group within the General Services Administration of the federal government. She previously was a Presidential Innovation Fellow at FEMA and the GSA and taught programming classes as a visiting instructor at the University of Missouri. She’s also worked at the Library of Congress, Washington Post and Burlington Free Press. Follower her @JackieKazil on Twitter.

Alexander B. Howard is a writer and editor based in Washington, DC. Howard is a columnist at TechRepublic and founder of “E Pluribus Unum,” a blog focused on open government and technology. Previously, he was a fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, the Ash Center at Harvard University, the Washington Correspondent for O’Reilly Media, and an associate editor at SearchCompliance.com and WhatIs.com.

Josh Korr is a senior project manager at Viget, a digital agency in Falls Church, Va., where he specializes in custom (Ruby on Rails) development projects. His improv troupe, The Word of God, has performed throughout the D.C. area. In previous lives, Josh was a startup product manager and an award-winning journalist. You can follow on Twitter @joshkorr.

Presenting Data Projects

The following projects will be presenting at Collab/Space DC:

Code for America’s Streetmix
Development Seed/WHO’s Ebola Data Portal
FiscalNote
Gannett Digital’s Harvest of Change
MapStory
Sunlight Foundation’s Open Civic Data Project
Washington Post’s Crime
U.S. News & World Report’s Presidential Campaign Tracker

Read more about the presenting innovation projects here.

Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

RJI’s work crosses diverse specialties within journalism, including media convergence, editorial content and methods, the evolution of advertising, innovation in management and the impact of new technologies. It also includes varied fields on campus such as law, computer science, marketing, education and other disciplines. In 2012, the Foundation awarded RJI a $30.1 million endowment gift to guarantee permanent funding to pursue innovation, collaboration and research in media industries. Learn more about RJI here.

How It Will Work

We will choose 8 media-related startups or innovation projects at media companies or non-profits to present at the workshop. Their projects should be in the realm of open data, government data, data journalism or data visualizations. Startups will make brief presentations to the group and answer questions. We will list their 3 biggest challenges, whether that’s financial, technological, marketing, distribution or some other major challenge. Later in the day, we’ll divide into breakout groups around each project and develop solutions for their challenges. Solutions will be shared with the full group, and we’ll keep track of the projects and provide updates and share their progress in coverage on MediaShift.

The goal will be to collaborate to help those projects succeed in the long run, creating interest groups for them on the spot (and afterwards), while also networking between the tech, government and media communities. We’ll end the day with a mixer which is open to the community, to encourage further discussion and networking.

Registration

Early bird registration will cost $99 for participants and $49 for students — and ends on October 6, so register early.  Regular registration will be $129 for participants and $79 for students. We will invite key people in the media, government, advocacy and tech scenes both in DC and around the country.

Please go to this Eventbrite page to register!

Who?

You’ll get to hear from media innovators, and work with them on teams, too!  Also, we expect key people to attend from local media organizations, journalism and communication schools, technologists and those in the open data fields.

When?

Thursday, November 6, 2014
9 am to 5 pm for the workshop
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm for the mixer

Where?

Location: The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, NW, #4 
Washington, DC 20071
Google Map location

Agenda

> Targeted talks on collaboration and media innovation.

> Selected innovation projects and data startups present their work and list their challenges.

> Networking lunch

> Break out into teams for improv exercise

> Work collaboratively to help solve challenges for the startups, and present that to the group.

Go here for the entire agenda!

And a Mixer Too?

After the workshop we’ll invite our colleagues to join us for a MediaShift Mixer with drinks and snacks for all at the lounge area at Mio Restaurant a couple blocks away.  It will be a chance to share with we’ve learned with friends and colleagues. The first drink is on us!

Mio Restaurant (lounge area)
1110 Vermont Ave NW
Washington, DC 20005
Google Map location

Photo of Washington Post headquarters by Daniel X. O’Neil and used with Creative Commons license.