19 September 2011
DJCAD graduate in the frame for prestigious news-technology fellowship
A Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design graduate can win a year-long fellowship with one of the world's leading media organisations by proving he has what it takes to harness the power of technology to improve journalism.
Neil Dawson will next week travel to Berlin to take part in the final of the Knight-Mozilla Innovation Challenge 2011 along with another 19 participants hoping to win one of five fellowships available from the likes of the BBC, Guardian, Al-Jazeera, Boston Globe and Zeit Online.
Neil (22), originally from Kincardine, impressed representatives of internet giant Mozilla when he took part in an 'ideas jam' hosted by DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, in May. Mozilla and their partners, the Knight Foundation, have embarked upon a worldwide search for tech-savvy artists and designers with the desire and ability to change the world of news and journalism.
The Dundee workshop was one of several held across the world. Digital Interaction Design graduate Neil impressed with his project, The News Tree, which aims to bring increased efficiency to the newsroom by simplifying the process of tracking and checking sources of information.
Neil, who now works in London, worked as part of a group at the Dundee event, and he and teammate Shaun McWhinnie were identified as two of the 60 most promising participants from the original ideas jam events and was selected to go through to the next round.
After receiving tuition from some of the most influential figures in the digital and media industries, the 60 were asked to present their final product proposal, with the brief that it had to have the potential to redefine online journalism. Neil again impressed the judging panel, and he will now travel to Berlin for the ‘Hacktoberfest’ event from September 26th-30th.
'I really didn’t expect to get this far so I’m really looking forward to it,' he said. 'The reason I got involved was because I saw the opportunity to work with some creative people, which would help me develop as a designer.
'The original challenge was great fun and there were some fantastic ideas being created by the teams but I never thought beyond the fact it was a good experience so I was surprised to receive an email saying I’d been selected to go forward to the next round.
'I was one of 60 people from around the world to reach this stage, and we had four weeks of lectures from some of the most important people in journalism before we presented out final product proposal, which had to be something to redefine how journalism works online.
'A lot of people who took part in the challenge were journalists or hackers, but as a designer I was coming at things from a different perspective. In Berlin, I hope to move between different groups and join in their conversations. Some of the others in this round were tackling the same issues as me from different angles, and the thing I'm most looking forward to is putting my head together with them to see where our collected thoughts will take us.'
Representatives of Zeit Online, Al Jazeera, the Boston Globe, BBC and the Guardian will be in attendance at the Berlin event, and a 12-month fellowship at each of the organisations is up for grabs for the five finalists who demonstrate the most innovative approaches to maximising the impact of journalism in the digital age.
The Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership is a £1.5million project to develop digital innovation in news organisations.
The three-year scheme sets a series of innovation challenges for developers, designers and other web creatives and funds 15 fellowships in news organisations for developers and designers to build new experimental news applications based on open-source technology.
The Dundee workshop was hosted by the Product Design programme at DJCAD. Programme director Dr Jon Rogers said thousands of designers from around the world were desperate for an opportunity such as this, and congratulated Neil for getting this far.
'Ideas are what define the world, and Neil has shown he has the ideas to impress some of the world’s biggest companies and make a real difference,' he said.
'Without ideas everything would stay the same but Mozilla and the Knight-Foundation are on a mission to change the world of news and journalism through technology and we were delighted to be getting involved. We can put creative arts and design alongside the very best technologists and bring on some of the best ideas to be found around the world.
'Not many other places are doing the type of work we’re doing in Dundee or producing the quality of graduates that we are. That’s why top companies want to come to Dundee and see this for themselves. Neil was just one of the excellent students and graduates who took part in the ideas jam and I wish him all the best for the final session.'
Information about Neil’s project is available at www.neildawson.org/blog.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
