Justice Media co-Lab Covers Major Ground in First Semester of Interdisciplinary Course
While there is no universal way to measure the success of a pilot course, the work done in the inaugural semester of the Justice Media co-Lab speaks to all that is possible when data science meets journalism.
The co-Lab, launched in Spring 2021, is the curricular piece of a larger collaboration between the Boston University Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) and the Department of Journalism at the College of Communication (COM).
In HUB XCC 433 E1, teams comprised of at least three computer science, statistics, computer engineering, or data science students paired up with journalism students to develop investigative news stories with local media partners.
“Both CDS and COM share an ambition to improve the world through our disciplines in education and discovery. That makes the Justice Media co-Lab the perfect partnership,” Dean of the College of Communication, Mariette DiChristina, says.
This semester, making real-world impact looked like three published investigations in WGBH, CBS Boston, and NBC, with several more stories underway. During an eight to twelve week period, interdisciplinary student teams put in 60 to 100 hours of work into said projects, which “could not be told without this unique collaboration,” DiChristina adds.
Course instructors Brooke Williams (Associate Professor of Computational Journalism) and Osama Alshaykh (Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) guided students through the investigative and number-crunching process. Partner organizations dedicated about 45 minutes of time per week to meet with teams, in which Special Projects and Investigative Producer at WBZ-TV Boston, Elsie Nolan, describes the students as “terrific partners.”
“They were thorough in their data research and resourceful in their efforts to find people impacted by the information they uncovered,” Nolan says. “As a result of their work, we were able to air a compelling story on how many minority-owned small businesses were left out of the first round of paycheck protection loans.”
Students and reporters from the CBS Boston I-Team discovered that only 24 out of 2,029 certified minority owned businesses received COVID relief funds last spring, leading to a renewed effort to ensure equity in loan distribution.
The other investigations keep in line with the theme of ensuring equity (one of CDS’ strategic impact areas). NBC Boston aired the co-Lab and reporters’ findings of the stark racial disparities in arrests throughout the state of Massachusetts.
While simply being published by a major media entity can be considered a feat in itself, the cross-disciplinary efforts have also captured awards. The Color of Public Money series published by GBH recently won the Edward R. Murrow regional award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The piece, which dug into how black-owned businesses are contracted at a disproportionately low rate, was the first investigation to ever receive this award.
The work by the co-Lab will continue to grow with upcoming pieces to be published in the Bay State Banner, The Intercept, and The Boston Globe.
“We are emboldened by the work that has been produced in the first semester of the Justice Media co-Lab. Data and data science are often the purview of big tech, wall street, and lobbyists. The partnership between CDS and COM successfully leveled this playing field, empowering students with the data and tools necessary to build the evidence needed to create stories that shed light on important justice topics. By bringing together BU faculty, students, and external partners we were able to create real-world impact while training the next generation of computational investigative journalists,” Azer Bestavros, Associate Provost of Computing & Data Sciences, notes.