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The StoryLab Academy brings together the best of Google, the World Bank, and Code for Africa’s data journalism resources and technology to support high-quality journalism in Africa.
For journalists, recent advances in digital technology present compelling new opportunities to discover, tell, and share stories. But learning how to use new digital tools for reporting can be daunting. This is particularly true in Africa where digital integration in news and storytelling often remains a challenge. Across the continent, few journalism institutions offer training programs in digital tools and news organization lack the capability to leverage new digital technologies in their reporting.
The StoryLab Academy offers journalists across Africa training in skills like mobile reporting, mapping, data visualization, verification, new forms of storytelling, and fact checking. In partnership with the World Bank, Code For Africa, and Google, the digital journalism initiative aims to train more than 6,000 journalists across the region before the end of 2017.
Over the next seven months, journalists in 11 major African cities: Abuja, Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Dakar, Freetown, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, and Yaounde will be trained on digital journalism skills. By providing the necessary instruction and support to better use digital tools available to them, we hope to empower journalists across the continent to produce innovative and compelling reporting.
Why you should attend the StoryLab Academy:
- Meet and learn from leading global innovators
- Learn how other industries approach innovation
- Discover and master design methodologies that solve everyday challenges
- Develop leadership skills to help you get things done in your team
- Get free resources to bring back to the newsroom
- Receive snapshots and tips from each Academy meeting throughout the year
Individuals who attend the StoryLab Academy will develop skills that accelerate innovation in any newsroom. How it benefits your organisation:
- Professional development motivates and retains staff
- Builds capacity in your organisation to test new ideas quickly
- Brings new critical perspectives for product development
- Creates innovation evangelists without needing to restructure
- “Levels-up” promising leaders without costing the earth
- Develops connections and business opportunities
The newsrooms in each city under the StoryLab Academy will have access to:
- Online, self-paced digital media courseware
- On-site hands-on workshops on how to apply design methodologies in the newsroom
- Ideation and prototyping sessions to define newsroom challenges and ideate solutions
- Fireside chats and ignite talks with top innovation leaders
The StoryLab Academy offers ongoing online self-paced digital media courseware, newsroom-based workshops, along with monthly meetups in partnership with local Hacks/Hackers chapters.
Participation is free-of-charge. All you need to do is commit to use your new skills to create awesome journalism!
If you would like to join the StoryLab Academy, apply here. The application will be open at the end of June 2017. Due to the limited number of spots, the applicant is asked to fill in an application form in order to be considered for the Academy. The organisers will select the participants on the basis of the application form, and the session focus of the Academy meeting according to the location.