H/H @Stanford: Computational journalism with CIR, Vocativ and SmartNews

We’re heading to Stanford University for an event hosted in partnership with the new Stanford Computational Journalism Lab ( http://cjlab.stanford.edu/ ). Join us for free pizza and presentations from these data journalism professionals:

• Gerald Rich (http://www.vocativ.com/author/grich/), interactive producer at Vocativ and formerly at ProPublica, The Marshall Project, and Mapbox, will discuss how he uses GIS and online mapping tools for data visualizations and news projects.

• Naoki Orii, an engineer at SmartNews (https://www.smartnews.com/en/) will present the data science and machine learning used to analyze, categorize, and evaluate more than 10 million articles a day.

• Allison McCartney (https://www.revealnews.org/author/allisonmccartney/), a graduate of the Stanford Journalism program, and previously an editor at PBS NewsHour and data fellow at the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), and Magic Grant Recipient (http://brown.columbia.edu/magic/open_contractors_201516), will talk about her work in designing and building the interface for CIR’s The Lost & The Found (https://lostandfound.revealnews.org/) news application, which allows users to search cold case files of missing and unidentified deceased persons.

Pizza and refreshments will be provided.

To get there on the Stanford campus, go to 450 Serra Mall, McClatchy Hall (Building 120), Mendenhall Library (https://www.google.com/maps/place/450+Serra+Mall+McClatchy+Hall,+Stanford,+CA+94305/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x808fbb2a05267e79:0xfaa026e23f936efa?sa=X&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAGoVChMInczH5LzPyAIVSFGICh0uAQNM) on the first floor.

Parking is free after 4 p.m., and the closest parking is on the Stanford Oval. For public transit, exit the Palo Alto Stop via Caltrain.

Tentative schedule

6:30 - 7:00 - Casual networking, pizza

7:05 - 7:10 - A quick welcome from the Stanford Computational Journalism Lab, by Dan Nguyen (http://stanford.edu/~dun/), lecturer in the journalism program.

7:15 - 7:30 - The use of GIS and online mapping tools for data visualizations and news projects, presented by Gerald Rich, interactive producer at Vocativ

7:30 - 7:45 - How SmartNews uses machine learning and data science to filter and categorize millions of news stories, presented by Naoki Orii, software engineer at SmartNews.

7:45 - 8:00 - Designing the interface for a tool to help solve cold cases, as part of the The Lost & The Found investigative news project (https://lostandfound.revealnews.org/), presented by Allison McCartney, data fellow at CIR, Stanford journalism alum, and Magic Grant Recipient.

8:00 - 8:30 - More casual networking.