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Google announced the winners of its second annual Google Journalism Fellowships, which are awarded to eligible college students who want to dive deeper into digital journalism.
In addition to the fellowships, Google also announced that it is collaborating with the European Journalism Centre to bring journalism education online through a free Web data journalism course that will provide real-world training to professional journalists who want to beef up their skills for creating richer stories by using data from a wide variety of sources.
The 11 student fellowship winners for the summer of 2014 were named in a March 21 post on the Google Official Blog, which detailed how the students will work on reporting and news gathering using data to help better interpret the news for readers and viewers.
The fellowship winners and the news organizations where they will work this summer are Emmanuel Martinez, University of Southern California and Suyeon Son, Northwestern University, who will work for the Center for Investigative Reporting; Rachael Levy, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, who will work for the Committee to Protect Journalists; Aram Chung, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, who will work for Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE); Liam Andrew, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will work for the Nieman Journalism Lab; and Alex T. Williams, University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication, who will work for the Pew Research Journalism Project. Also named as Fellows are Benjamin Mullin, California State University, Chico, who will work for the Poynter Institute; David Conrad, University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication, who will work for PRI.org; Yue Qiu, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, who will work for ProPublica; Stan Oklobdzija, University of California, San Diego, who will work for the Sunlight Foundation; and Jessica Hamel, University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism, who will work for the Texas Tribune.
The program was created by Google in 2013 to “help develop the next crop of reporters working to keep the world informed, educated and entertained,” according to the company. “As a company dedicated to making the world’s information easily accessible, Google recognizes that behind many blue links is a journalist and that quality journalism is a key ingredient of a vibrant and functioning society.”
The fellowships are offered to undergraduate, graduate and journalism students who are interested in using technology to tell stories in new and dynamic ways, according to Google. “The Fellows will get the opportunity to spend the summer contributing to a variety of organizations – from those that are steeped in investigative journalism to those working for press freedom around the world and to those that are helping the industry figure out its future in the digital age.”
The 10-week-long program will provide each winner with an $8,000 stipend and a $1,000 travel award. The Fellowships begin on June 9 at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters for the first week.
Online Journalism Data Course Slated
Before those fellowships get under way, Google’s data journalism online course for journalists will begin on May 19 with some 14,000 participants so far who have signed up for the “mass open online education course,” or MOOC.
The new first-time offering was unveiled by Simon Morrison, public policy manager for Google in Europe, in a March 28 post on the Google Policy Europe Blog. The free course, Doing Journalism with Data: First Steps, Skills and Tools, is being organized and conducted with the European Journalism Centre. It will run through July 31.
Google Names Student Journalism Fellows, Launches Data Course Online
“It is part of the European Journalism Centre’s Data Driven Journalism initiative, which aims to enable more journalists, editors, news developers and designers to make better use of data and incorporate it further into their work,” wrote Morrison. “Started in 2010, the initiative provides resources for journalists through DataDrivenJournalism.net, the School of Data Journalism, and the Data Journalism Handbook.”
The new online course will teach how journalists can use data to produce compelling stories under tight deadlines, he wrote. “The line-up of instructors and advisors hails from journalism schools and media outlets around the world.”
Google has long been involved in offering internships, fellowships and training for a wide variety of students and professionals.
In March 2014, Google began seeking college applicants for its seventh annual Google Policy Fellowships program, which offers students unique opportunities to work on Internet and technology policy matters in locations around the world while on summer break.
Applications for the Summer of Code 2014 program, in which college students learn about the world of open-source code development over the summer, opened in March 2014. The Summer of Code program began in 2005 and will celebrate its 10th year in 2014. So far, the program has involved some 8,500 college and university students from more than 100 countries who have created more than 50 million lines of code since the program’s start.