Automation and News

What happens when we use automation in the news? Automation has been used to produce robot articles, but newsrooms are also using it to power parts of their newsgathering. Come listen to a journalist from the LATimes Data Desk and an engineer at Zapier talk about how automation can be used in reporting.

Interested in volunteering? Contact us by March 21.

Our Panelists:

Moderator: Marta Valier
Twitter: @smartix
Bio: An Italian journalist based in Los Angeles covering Arts & Culture for the Italian and Swiss press.

James Perez
Twitter: @jperezlatimes
Bio: James Perez is a Software Development Lead for The Los Angeles Times and tronc. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of North Texas. He initially joined the LA Times in 2015 as part of the publisher's special projects group, but he kindred spirits he found in the data desk journalists and web producers motivated him to move in with editorial. Frustration with legacy applications in the newsroom led James to help build a new generation of journalism tools: Simple News Assembly Platform (SNAP) and Quickpost. These apps have since been adopted in the rest of tronc's markets. As Development Lead, he continues to lead the development of SNAP and Quickpost while also overseeing the implementation of new technologies in newsrooms across tronc.

Juan Vazquez
Twitter: @JuanVme
Bio: Juan is a Software Engineer at Zapier, where he works on building and maintaining integrations to help people work more productively.

Follow the conversation at #ONALA and special thank to our sponsor, Industrious.

Where to meet: Industrious, 11th floor of 9255 W Sunset Blvd.

IMPORTANT: If you come after 7 p.m., you will need to tell the guard you are going to an ONA event at Industrious and the guard will let you up. If the guard is not there, please text Marta at 626-675-3572, and we'll come down to get you.

Parking: There may be some street parking but there is also garage parking off Sunset Blvd and Doheny Road. The rate is $2.20/15 mins, max of $22. You can reference this map for further detail on the garage's location: goo.gl/Ejfknv

Please take the garage elevator down to B2, follow the orange tape to another bank of elevators, which will take you to the 11th floor.