Last week, graduate journalism students graduating from our Professional and Media Innovation tracks presented on the work they’d done while at Northeastern. Spanning data visualization, photography, podcasting and documentary, the projects showcased the students’ abilities to merge shoe-leather reporting with the latest digital skills and storytelling formats. Below, a selection of the projects.
Adam Glanzman talked about a story he reported for The New York Times, where he shadowed a 75-year-old arm wrestler named Norm Devio (see cover image).
Shen Chen, using the Javascript library D3, is visualizing the impact and geography of terrorism in the United States. Chen also highlighted her data reporting for an in-depth article on black executives in technology for the Media Innovation program’s studio course.
Cody Mello-Klein spoke about how merging his passion for video games with journalism has helped him find a niche that allows him to explore and create. He highlighted a few stories he’d written while at Northeastern, including “The power of handcrafted visual design in video games,” “The rise of documentary video games that use journalism to tell stories” and “Steve Gaynor’s Gone Home Followup Tacoma Takes Off To Space.” Cody also mentioned the invaluable lessons he learned reporting abroad with a Northeastern course in Greece.
Sophia Fox-Sowell screened a powerful mini-documentary on a poet and longtime friend of murdered journalist James Foley.
Yan Wu showcased the large portfolio of stories she’s developed for The Boston Globe while working at the paper for a year during her time at Northeastern, including a piece on Donald Trump’s tweets and several graphic elements for the Globe’s Spotlight series on racism.
Andy Robinson is fond of the phrase “let them do the talking” as it sums up his approach to several of the projects he completed while at Northeastern. One of them, an oral history of every public editor at The New York Times, was published in the Columbia Journalism Review. Andy also spoke about developing his documentary skills for Mike Beaudet’s “Experimental Video Storytelling” course. Below: a screenshot from his short documentary on a Dorchester rollerskating rink.
Felippe Rodrigues talked about spending his time at Northeastern learning data wrangling and visualization. He’s amassed several portfolio pieces that showcase his dedication to data visualization and front-end web development for journalism, including pieces published in InsideClimate News and Smithsonian Magazine. Below, a screenshot from a new story he’s working on about rare events in baseball, like ‘complete games‘ in which the pitcher plays the whole game.