Applying Emerging Technologies In Service of Journalism at The New York Times

The Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech (ML@GT) and the University of California-Berkeley are thrilled to welcome a group of engineers, creatives, and journalists from The New York Times' Research and Development team to discuss how the NYT applies emerging technology in service of journalism.

Register: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/register/ppyhwquh

This event will take place on Friday, October 30 at 2 pm ET// 11 am PT.

Emerging technologies, particularly within computer vision, photogrammetry, and spatial computing, are unlocking new forms of storytelling for journalists to help people understand the world around them. In this talk, members of the R&D team at The New York Times talk about their process for researching and developing new capabilities built atop emerging research. In particular, hear how they are embracing photogrammetry and spatial computing to create new storytelling techniques that allow a reader to experience an event as close to reality as possible. Learn about the process of collecting photos, generating 3D models, editing, and technologies used to scale up to millions of readers. The team will also share their vision for these technologies and journalism, their ethical considerations along the way, and a research wishlist that would accelerate their work. 

In its 169 year history, The New York Times has evolved with new technologies, publishing its first photo in 1896 with the rise of cameras, introducing the world’s first computerized news retrieval system in 1972 with the rise of the computer, and launching a website in 1996 with the rise of the internet. Since then, the pace of innovation has accelerated alongside the rise of smartphones, cellular networks, and other new technologies. The Times now has the world’s most popular daily podcast, a new weekly video series, and award-winning interactive graphics storytelling. Join us for a discussion about how our embrace of emerging technologies is helping us push the boundaries of journalism in 2020 and beyond.

Speakers:

Members of The New York Times R&D Team, including:

• Marc Lavallee, Executive Director, R&D

• Or Fleisher, Sr. Engineer

• Mint Boonyapanachoti, Creative Technologist

• Lana Porter, Creative Director

• Mark McKeague, Technical Lead

Team Bio:

The New York Times Research and Development team applies emerging technologies in service of our company’s mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.

Using new technologies and formats, we develop technical capabilities for our newsroom and new forms of storytelling for our readers. As part of our method, we evaluate emerging trends in media and technology and forecast how they might play out over the next two to three years. Once we identify an opportunity, we dedicate a team to explore the space and develop products in collaboration with other parts of our organization.

We're a multidisciplinary team of journalists, creative technologists, designers, and engineers.