Spark! Students, NAACP Tackle Bias with App 

For over a century, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has fought to ensure the end of race-based discrimination. Spark! students are now joining the NAACP in that ongoing fight by creating an app which media outlets can use to self-assess bias in their coverage. 

“The purpose of this application is not to replace the editorial process, rather the goal is to empower authors and journalists alike; enabling them to self assess and compare their work against historical data,” said Red Hat Senior User Experience Designer Kevin Hatchoua, who is mentoring the student team leading this project. “Users will not only be able to upload new documents, but also browse, review and share their work across their organization.” 

The app has a focus on Massachusetts, as efforts are currently directed towards reforming reporting on Black Americans in Boston. “News coverage of marginalized communities can often reinforce existing cultural biases toward those communities. Even the algorithms created to analyze news coverages often have biases baked into them, so creating a tool like this from the ground up with equity in mind is really important,” said project teammate, Jake Neenan (CAS ‘22).

Early in its design phase, Hatchoua is helping students gain a deep understanding of the design process, user needs and cross-functional collaboration.

“We are working closely with partners to get a better understanding of the information architecture and the type of data they need to inform decision making. Our goal by the end of the calendar year is to ship an MVP (minimum viable product) to our partners for feedback and further iteration,” said Hatchoua.

For Hatchoua, being able to mentor Spark! students on this project takes a deeper meaning. “I believe the fight for equality and human rights to be a social responsibility. I am incredibly grateful and fortunate to be able to rip the fruits of the hard labor of those that came before me. It is an honor to be able to contribute back to the community, by supporting initiatives such as these that aim at shining light on these important topics!”

As for the future of journalism, students say it’s even more promising with apps like this one. “Journalists are so much more able to hold institutions —including their own newsrooms — accountable when they can analyze large datasets effectively, and this is a great example of that,” said Neenan.