The fund will provide grants of $250 to $1,500 apiece to purchase software and hardware that has immediate application to school-related reporting projects and can also help foster longer-term innovation in the curriculum.
The J-School’s Technology & Library Committee approved the grant program on Apr. 3. The funds for the initiative are provided by the technology fee collected from students each term.
Effort Seeks Innovation from Ground Up
“The School has been looking for ways to identify new technologies that are promising for journalists, and we hope these grants will give us a ground-up way to find those tools,” said Prof. Adam Glenn, who chairs the Tech Committee.
The grants are available immediately, with the Technology Committee planning to review proposals on a rolling basis as they’re submitted.
Students applying for grants must have a faculty or staff sponsor to manage equipment and to help report back to the committee on possible curricular uses of any new tools.
The program is available not just to students, who could apply for grants to help explore new reporting or production tools for their capstones or other projects. The funds are also meant to help faculty or staff experiment with new techniques in the classroom or with J-School-wide editorial initiatives.
Initial Grant Goes for Panoramic Photo Gear
The program has already approved its first grant – a $900 award to purchase a hardware and software package of panoramic photo equipment. It will be used by the Craft II interactive students to create data interactives.
“There’s a growing need to allow our students to conceptualize and create data interactives that tap panoramic photography,” said Prof. Sandeep Junnarkar, newly appointed director of the School’s Interactive Journalism Program, who proposed the purchase.
Junnarkar said the Craft II class plans to test out the equipment on a multimedia project that explores changing neighborhoods. If successful, additional panoramic units may be purchased for broader use in the classroom.
For information about how to apply for grants from the new Emerging Technology Fund, contact Prof. Glenn at adam.glenn@cuny.journalism.edu.