Narrative Science – Closer to a True Robot Reporter?
The New York Times recently published an in-depth article about Narrative Science, a fascinating startup founded by two computer scientists who are also journalism professors at Northwestern University, and a veteran executive from DoubleClick. Their product is a software engine that can, given a box score, a crime log, or a real estate transaction, generate a brief , well-written news article in the classic who-what-when-where-why canon. While not works of art, these articles are credible and often beat what human scribes have to offer…
Advice for Patch’s New Content Chief
If Patch can create an easy way for communities to report on sports events — with minimal or no effort — and then serve up that content in a relatively readable format, the upside would be huge. Also, get rid of your middle management layer. All of it. Hyperlocal works best in conditions of hyper-autonomy, without an overseer and a style enforcer…