About NewsQNewsQ is an initiative of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and supported by Hacks/Hackers. NewsQ seeks to elevate quality journalism when algorithms rank and recommend news articles online. We approach this problem by engaging in design thinking activities in collaboration with technology, journalism, academia and other communities.NewsQ grows out of the awareness that, in order to confront the challenge of supporting quality journalism amid decreasing revenues, shared definitions, data, and conversations are essential. Through our participatory approach, we hope to promote constructive steps towards solutions. And in this way, NewsQ hopes to contribute to efforts that drive financial support towards quality news and away from disinformation, and misinformation...NewsQ design thinking activities are focused on three main outcomes: (1) technical definitions, (2)“ideation” through data, and (3) creative prototypes. News Quality InitiativeNQI_0f24e07a-1601-11ea-bcfa-245af882ea00NewsQ Project FundersTow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial JournalismThe Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism serves as a catalyst for journalism innovation and sustainability by running education programs, events, and communities.This initiative was formerly known as the Quality News Project and for a brief period of time as the NewsQA project.Facebook Journalism ProjectSince 2018, NewsQ has received support from the Facebook Journalism Project and Civic, incubated at TED.CivicWikiCredThe KNoW Science Collaboration has also received support from WikiCred.Computing Community ConsortiumIt has also received an award from the Computing Community Consortium.NewsQ ContributorsA number of contributors make NewsQ possible, including data providers and advisers.NewsQ Data ProvidersBy providing information that enables exploration and discovery around quality news, contributing organizations and companies make insights possible... We thank these companies and organizations for their willingness to share data with the project. Our contributing organizations and companies include:FactmataHints.aiKinzenMarkkula Center for Applied Ethicsat Santa Clara UniversityNoBiasTrust MetricsNewsQ AdvisersCurrently, the following organizations have members who serve as advisers to the project:Civicincubated at TEDFacebook Journalism ProjectGoogle ResearchAlphabet JigsawMediaWellSocial Science Research CouncilNewsQ TeamAndrea BrásNewsQ Strategist -- Brás has a professional background in education, translation and editing. She has worked as an editorial lead with data journalism initiative NewsFrames and as an editor covering South Asia and Southeast Asia for citizen media outlet Global Voices. Before joining NewsQ, she was the Community Manager for Localization Lab and was responsible for coordinating a community of 6000+ translators working to make internet freedom technology available in underrepresented languages. Brás is co-chair of Credibility Coalition’s CredLiteracy working group, is a researcher for CredCo and Hacks/Hackers CredCatalog and served on the organizing committee of MisinfoCon 2019.Her research interests include news credibility, media literacy, online challenges for linguistically diverse communities, and alternative education methodology.Yemile BucayNewsQ Strategist -- Bucay received a B.A. in Humanities from Yale University, and a Masters in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School. Prior to joining the NewsQ project, Yemile Bucay managed NewsGuard’s editorial operations in France and Italy and edited reviews of sites in those markets. Earlier in her career, she was a reporting fellow at the Global Migration Project, a nonprofit effort that reports on immigration and gender, with a focus on law and policy. Bucay has worked as a journalist and documentary producer in Mexico and France, and has conducted research in those countries as well as in Syria and in Italy. Her work has appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, Broadly, Newsweek and the New Yorker.Bucay’s research interests include journalism ethics, the sociology of news, media criticism and diversity in the media.Kate HarloeNewsQ Strategist -- Harloe has worked for Wired magazine, San Francisco magazine, Crosscut Public Media, and NewsGuard. With the support of a national Foreign Language and Area Studies award, she earned a master’s in journalism from UC Berkeley. Harloe has also received a Society of Professional Journalists award and a Fellowship for the Study of Professional Ethics at Auschwitz, among other honors.Harloe’s research interests include journalism ethics, diversity in journalism, media criticism, and the history and sociology of journalism.A graduate of Hamilton College and University of California-Berkeley, Harloe recently served as senior editorial fellow at Mother Jones magazine, where she wrote about gender, politics and the federal judiciary.Connie Moon SehatDirector -- Connie has focused on the intersections of technology and democratic life for the past twenty years, whether dissertating in German history, developing International Space Station software, or directing projects like NewsFrames at Global Voices, the New Orleans Research Collaborative, and ELMO (election, human rights, and health monitoring at getelmo.org). She has most recently served as Research Community Lead of the Credibility Coalition and leads the NewsQ Initiative. Connie has also previously worked for The Carter Center, Emory University, and The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.The quality of journalism is elevated_f939c5b8-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea00To improve news ranking and recommendation systems_f939c680-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea00design thinking activities in collaboration with technology, journalism, academia and other communitiesTechnical DefinitionsClarify how news should be defined and framed for online realms_f939c770-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea001In our mission to improve news ranking and recommendation systems, NewsQ asks journalists, researchers and technologists to use journalistic standards and civic frameworks to clarify how news should be defined and framed for online realms.Since algorithms operate according to defined rules, NewsQ documents technical definitions around the principles and metrics of online news quality that can be more readily incorporated into algorithmic processing. Our current activities work on:MethodologyPropose methodological definitions and metrics_f939c824-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea001.1Methodological definitions and metrics -- Methodological definitions and metrics are proposed in essays and papers, ranging from short, reflective blog pieces that clarify the inquiry around news quality for machine purposes to structured research designs about metrics that can help determine how to assess the state of online news. As our activities help bring clarity to these terms, we’ll share those insights here. In addition, during 2020, our “project of the year” is to better define, or even attempt to quantify, news for online contexts.SignalsMaintain a database of potential news quality “signal” or indicator data definitions_f939c8ce-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea001.2Potential news quality “signal” or indicator data definitions -- As of 2020, the NewsQ Database contains over 100 units of information on over 12,000 news and information sites. Some of these units of information may be potential “signals” of quality journalism.Signals, or potential indicators of information quality or credibility, can include a number of content- and context-related information, such as:* the emotional valence of content, or* the author of an article. ^When taken in context in combination with other signals or information, these indicators may help point algorithms to higher quality journalism. For more thoughts about what a signal is, W3C Credible Web Community Group’s report Technological Approaches to Improving Credibility Assessment on the Web is a good place to start.Categories & ClassesCollect seven classes of signal information_f939c978-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea001.2.1Signal categories and classes. We strive to collect seven classes of signal information, which you can read more about here.DefinitionsDraft signal definitions_f939ca86-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea001.2.2Signal definitions. A partial draft of signal definitions, according to certain categories, can be found described here.IdeationUse data to foster new ideas that help clarify what constitutes quality in news ranking and recommendation_f939cb9e-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea002Ideation through Data -- At the same time, NewsQ uses our data collections to “ideate” or foster new ideas that help clarify what constitutes – and how to define – quality in news ranking and recommendation.We collect two types of data to create opportunities for insight: * A database, described above, of signal data across 12,000+ information outlets* Archived screen captures of news ranking and recommendations from various platforms and applications ^This data is used to foster new ideas through:DataPilot a NewsQ’s database of signal data_f939cc84-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea002.1ResearchersAnalystsResearch Insight -- A pilot of NewsQ’s database of signal data has been offered to invited researchers and analysts in order to inform their work on news quality; parameters for broader access are under development.DiscussionsDevelop practical guidelines for implementing quality news online in platform news products_f939cd4c-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea002.2JournalistsPanel Discussions among Journalists -- This series of activities brings together journalists to review the archived captures in order to develop practical guidelines for implementing quality news online in platform news products.PrototypesFacilitate solution prototypes to the news ranking and recommendation challenge_f939ce00-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea003Creative Prototypes -- NewsQ also facilitates solution prototypes to the news ranking and recommendation challenge among people with different interests and backgrounds. A final activity area for the project involves creating an ecosystem of cooperation that centers on advancing insights into available data. Examples of NewsQ creative prototyping activities include:GrantsOffer grants for data projects that may surface journalistic standards for news ranking and recommendation systems_f939cec8-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea003.1Seed Grants for Data Projects -- NewsQ has offered a few grants for data projects that may surface journalistic standards for news ranking and recommendation systems. These projects will also eventually give data back to the NewsQ Database. One example recipient is the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and their project on journalistic ethics and behavior:How Might We Detect Who Is and Who Is Not Doing Journalism Online?Grantees also participate in collaborative events where they share their progress and have the opportunity for critical feedback.HackathonsInvite students to offer creative approaches to building news ranking and recommendation systems_f939cf90-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea003.2“NewsRank for Social Good” Hackathons -- Building news ranking and recommendation systems can be tough. Their results make their way into a number of products, but are most easily seen in News tabs or applications such as Google News, Bing News, and Apple News and their lists of recommended news articles.What factors determine which articles get top billing? And how should social values be incorporated into the mix? Using a hackathon format, we are inviting students to offer their creative approaches to the problem.Collaborations_f939d04e-377f-11eb-a5ac-37120a83ea003.3KNoW Science Collaboration -- News is an important part of the record for references and histories. NewsQ Knowledge Networks on the Web (KNoW) Science activities are collaborations to understand the interaction between news and reliable science/health information, and to strengthen the profile of this information within online networks of knowledge worldwide. In partnership with the Vaccine Safety Net, an initiative of the World Health Organization, Wikimedia DC, the Stanford History Education Group, and others, KNoW Science activities will first focus on the issue of vaccine safety. Our initial efforts will support the availability of reliable, understandable, evidence-based vaccine safety information on Wikipedia, as well as through news and media literacy efforts. Our thanks to the WikiCred Initiative, which is supporting the creation of shared resources for this effort.Science & HealthUnderstand the interaction between news and reliable science/health information_f9902730-37db-11eb-ba27-424e1c83ea003.3.1Knowledge NetworksStrengthen the profile of this information within online networks of knowledge worldwide_f99028d4-37db-11eb-ba27-424e1c83ea003.3.2Knowledge Networks2020-12-06OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net