Life of a Fellow
Dispatches from current fellows about their Stanford experience.
How I won a hackathon and helped fight online hate
At one point during the process, I looked up at the other teams we were competing against, all of them as passionate and focused as we were — and I realized the importance of this mission.
An unexpected lesson: How I learned to receive praise
The more you resist a compliment, the less you believe in yourself. And if you can’t believe in yourself, what organization would put you in charge?
What a Stanford sociologist’s research on race can teach journalists
The concept of “racial mobility” can advance and enrich research on race and inequality — and I’m convinced awareness of this concept and others like it could do the same for journalism.
A visible lesson from Hacks/Hackers Connect in S.F.
At Hack/Hackers Connect San Francisco, JSK Fellow Subramaniam Vincent discovers that visuals are the key to defining startup goals.
JSK & d.school Fellows team up to teach food systems innovation
Our new team will be calling on readers to help answer some of the toughest questions about fixing both food and journalism.
Black Twitter and Beyond
Niche media geared to under-covered minority groups, such as Rebel Latinos and Black Twitter, are filling the gap left by mainstream media. Journalists discuss their role and their future.
How to get media innovation off the ground and soaring
In the Global South, societies and governments are just beginning to look closely at the dos and dont’s of the emerging digital media landscape. This may turn digital innovators into digital activists.
My partner got a fellowship at Stanford, and so did I
All the benefits that open to fellows are also open to us, their affiliates!
Fellow finds microfunding can have macro impact
Now that my JSK fellowship is almost over, the funder I’ll remember most is the first one I found. His check for $317.96 helped students attend the first production day for my project.
Using Data for the Culture Beat
Political, business, finance, health reporters and others use data for their beats, how can culture editors and reporters use data techniques to help us do our jobs better?
What I learned about digital news archives
I interviewed dozens of historians, archivists, librarians, journalists and executives, who care about preserving the news, but no one has it quite figured out.
Waiting for serendipity? As JSK Fellows, we look for it
Serendipity lead me to an unexpected new approach: to look at things differently. To search for collaboration with unimaginable partners. To think otherwise … work otherwise, talk to otherwise people. And it is marvelously unsettling.
5 Tools to make government (or any) data attractive and engaging
For my JSK Fellowship at Stanford I decided to work on a topic that has fascinated me for as long as I can remember: the future of cities.
Ads are killing the news industry; Facebook offers a way out
News organizations should take a long hard look in the mirror and realize that they need to get out of a fast commodifying business and into one that will grow with them for years to come.
What’s so special about walking meetings?
I stressed over that first walking meeting … stuffing my jacket pockets with small bottles of juice, unsure if I was supposed to bring one for my host as well.
Falling in love with writing — all over again
The data I have is worthless if I can’t tie it to human experience. Characters and narrative are as central to fiction writing as to journalistic writing.
International JSK Fellows share their experiences, hopes
The biggest challenge, I think, was the culture shock. Western culture is very different from Eastern culture. It took us time to understand some social conventions.
I learned how to embrace failure — as the surest path to success
“All these activities, feedback, suggestions and ideas opened a whole new world to me and helped me to pursue my challenge in a more effective way.”
Newspaper economics in the digital age
The ability of Apple and Google to collect unique information from their users — and keep it exclusively — gives them a great advertising advantage over smaller players in the market, like regional newspapers.
A case for constructive news: a passion finally defined
Lack of in-depth analysis means the media is inclined to go for confrontational journalism, which provides for great entertainment but adds little value to the lives of people and alienates many.
11 ways to cure bad meetings – and be more creative and productive
When I heard a piece on NPR about how bad meetings are taking up more of our workdays, I tweeted the story and learned that I’m not the only one in our field who feels this way.