The Walkley Foundation presents an eight-part webinar series on AI and journalism, supported by the Walkley Public Fund.

Each session will provide an overview of a specific area of journalism, explore opportunities and risks, and provide a practical activity or question about implementation to try out as homework. Participants will be invited to post their work to a closed forum for feedback from your trainer. You can also provide constructive feedback to homework posted by others. All registrants will receive links to the recording for this session, a link to our homework portal, and be notified of session dates and times as they are confirmed.

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Join us for the fifth of our 8-part webinar series on AI and journalism, supported by the Walkley Public Fund.

This webinar will focus on the potential of AI for creating visualised data and web interactives. Participants will be shown how to use tools to generate visualisations, and discuss the opportunities and risks. You will be given homework activities and be able to post your work to a closed forum for feedback from your trainer and fellow learners.

Date: Thursday 16 May 2024
Time: 10.30am-12 noon AEST
Venue: Virtual
Tickets: Free, registration essential

Trainer: Yan Oak. Yan has spent the past decade as a passionate advocate for data journalism, civic tech, open data, and the power of new technologies to empower independent media and civil society. He is the founder of Thibi, a consultancy working in the space between data and design with organisations across Southeast Asia to help them build data literacy skills for decision making and storytelling. Yan is originally from Myanmar, but splits his time between Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore. He has worked as a trainer for a wide range of organisations including Reuters and WAN-IFRA.

Speaker: Dylan Salcedo. Dylan has been a data scientist for Rappler since September 2020. He currently works with the Digital Forensics Team, probing the digital media space and investigating disinformation trends. Before joining Rappler, he worked under a tech startup, giving him an immersion of current trends in the software industry. This also trained him in the value of making data-driven decisions, used in Rappler to guide journalists in making sense of their findings.

Full list of sessions:

1. Get your newsroom AI-Ready for 2024: December 4, 2023
2. Learn about AI for Text Journalists: February 12, 2024
3. AI and Investigative Journalism: 14 March 2024
4. AI for Photojournalists and Video Reporters: 9 April 2024
5. Using AI for Visualised Data and Web Interactives: 16 May 2024
6. AI and Audio Journalism: 6 June 2024
7. AI and Copyright, Media Law, Verification and Fact-Checking: 9 July 2024
8. AI and Newsroom Workflows: 8 August 2024

Session 1 – Get your newsroom AI-ready for 2024

• Trainer: Professor Charlie Beckett, director of the Polis/LSE JournalismAI project.
• Expert speaker: Saffron Howden, National Editorial Training Manager, Australian Community Media.
• Expert speaker: Gina McKeon, Editor, ABC Innovation Lab.
• Slide Deck and session readings — download here.
• Watch the webinar:

Session 2 – Learn about AI for Text Journalists

• Trainer: Dr James Meese, Senior Lecturer at RMIT University. James is part of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S), contributing to projects across the News and Media focus area.
• Expert speaker: Lisa Main, co-author of Gen AI and Journalism, a new report from the Centre for Media Transition at University of Technology Sydney. Lisa will discuss findings of the report, based on interviews with Australian newsroom leaders
• Expert speaker: Craig McCosker, Group Product Manager for Future Focus at ABC Digital Product. Craig will speak about AI initiatives at the ABC including projects for text reporting.
• Handout 1 – Accounts to set up – download here.
• Handout 2 – What is a Large Language Model? download here.
• Handout 3 – LLM Use Cases – examples of how newsrooms are using LLMs – download here.
• Handout 4 – Prompt Engineering – a guide to writing prompts for LLMs like ChatGPT – download here.
• Handout 5 – Homework for Session 1 – download here.
• Watch the webinar:

Session 3 – AI and Investigative Journalism

• Trainer: Josh Nicholas, Guardian Australia. Josh is a data journalist for Guardian Australia. He previously worked as a deputy business and economics editor at The Conversation, technology reporter at Business Insider, and was a host and producer on national and community radio.
• Expert speaker: Jaemark Tordecilla, Jaemark is studying AI at Harvard University – from its use to improve newsroom production processes to navigating the landmines of the nascent technology as it relates to journalism and the media industry. Prior to starting his Nieman Fellowship, he spent nearly a decade as editor-in-chief of GMA News Online in the Philippines.
• Full session slidedeck, and handout containing homework, case studies and resources – download here.
• Watch the webinar:

Session 4 – AI and Visual Multimedia

• Trainer: TJ Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication and Digital Media at RMIT and an affiliate of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. His research focuses largely on the visual aspects of news and journalism and on the concerns and processes relevant to those who make, edit, and present visual news.
• Expert speaker: Nicky Catley, Group Picture Editor, Australian Geographic. Nicky has worked in the media for more than 20 years, including as a staff Picture Editor and Shoot Producer commissioning visual content for major mastheads in the UK and Australia, such as the Telegraph UK’s weekend magazines, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Age and a host of street, fashion, travel and lifestyle magazines.
• Expert speaker: Dr Tim Kitchen, Senior Education Specialist, Adobe (APAC). An educator for over 30 years, Tim is a well-recognised education thought leader in Australia and a passionate advocate for creativity in education. Tim is an author and a regular presenter for national and international education events, and has served as Adobe’s Senior Education Specialist for Asia Pacific since 2013.
• Full session slidedeck, and handout containing homework, case studies and resources – download here.
• Watch the webinar: