Want to turn your data into sound, or transform your investigation into an interactive video game instead of a traditional video? This year’s iMEdD International Journalism Forum workshops provided a new set of tools and techniques to make your reporting more engaging and inventive.
This article is the second of our two-part series on the iMEdD International Journalism Forum 2025 workshops. You can revisit Part Ι here.
Gamifying investigations: Bringing journalism’s next level to life in the Metaverse and beyond
by Nelly Kalu and Folaranmi Folayan
Gamefication connects audiences emotionally with the story. In their workshop, Folaranmi Folayan, Communications & Partnership Manager at the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), and Nelly Kalu, Editorial Project & Product Manager, shared how the metaverse supports sustainable journalism, and explore future experiments using Augmented Reality (AR), to gamify journalistic investigations.
Click on the image to download the full presentation of the workshop.
Designing AI-powered news solutions with your audience in mind
by Ana Paula Valacco and Line Itani
As AI becomes more integrated into journalism, one key question remains: are we building tools that truly meet the needs of our audiences? Led by Ana Paula Valacco, Programme Manager & Engagement Lead at JournalismAI and Line Itani, Product & Development Manager of Raseef22 and lead of the “Ask Aunty” project, one of the grantees of JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, supported by the Google News Initiative, the session offered a practical introduction to tools of product thinking for AI in journalism, guiding participants to design solutions that prioritise impact, inclusion, and usability.
Ready to go beyond the “why” and experience the “how”? These are some no-code tools that unlock the power of immersive storytelling—no technical background required.
Start with people, not AI
- Avoid the “AI-first” trap. Begin with the audience’s problems, not the technology.
- Remember Maslow’s Hammer: if AI is your only tool, every problem looks like it needs AI. Often, a simpler fix works better.
- Key questions:
- What problem are we solving for the audience?
- How do they currently experience this?
- Would a non-AI option work better?
Fall in love with the problem
- Focus on what people struggle with, not what excites technologists.
- What people say and what they do may differ. Rely on data as well as interviews.
- Always map the audience’s needs before building.
Practical frameworks
- Task analysis: trace how people engage with your product. Where do they get stuck? What do they want to achieve?
- Jobs to Be Done (JTBD): think of what audiences “hire” your journalism for (clarity, empowerment, a quick update, in-depth learning)
- Gall’s Law: simple systems that work are the foundation of complex systems that work. Start small.
- 5 Whys: interrogate a problem until you uncover its root cause.
Personas and empathy work
- Create personas representing different communities, habits, and needs.
- Explore the gap between what they say and what they actually do.
- Test with real behaviours: reading on the phone while multitasking, listening instead of reading, etc.
- Use case studies from the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge for reference → See here: journalismai.info/programmes/innovation
Iterative process
- Work in cycles: ideate, test, measure, refine.
- Internal checkpoints: what worked, what didn’t, what needs adjusting.
- Map stakeholders early and ensure team alignment.
- Evaluate the gap between the identified need and the deployed solution.
Sustainability and ethics
- Ask how long your solution can realistically be maintained.
- Consider budgets, resources, and the risk of abandonment.
- Evaluate ethical implications: privacy, bias, inclusion, accessibility.
- Value proposition must be clear: whose pain are you solving?
Next steps for your newsroom
- Identify one audience challenge worth solving.
- Test assumptions with real data and behaviour, not only surveys.
- Prototype simply, measure impact, and refine.
Resources
- Task Analysis
- Christensen Institute: Jobs to Be Done Theory
- https://lawsofux.com/hicks-law
- Twipe Mobile: Analogies for AI in newsrooms
Takeaway: AI only makes sense when it makes journalism more useful, accessible, and impactful.
Making impact with immersive media
by Erin Reilly
Ready to go beyond the “why” and experience the “how”? This hands-on workshop introduces journalists to no-code tools that unlock the power of immersive storytelling—no technical background required.
Led by Erin Reilly, Founding Director of the Texas Immersive Institute & Professor of Practice at the Moody College of Communication, University of Texas, the session showcased simple platforms for creating AR scenes, explorable 3D spaces, and interactive 360° reports and invited participants to Dream Big with a preview of emerging tools and workflows that expand what’s possible as your immersive media appetite grows.
News You Can Play
- Try Now (hands-on):
- ThingLink – Add hotspots to 360° photos to create interactive mini-reports.
- Explore Later:
- CoSpaces Edu – Build explorable 3D scenes with drag-and-drop.
- Dream Big:
- AR games (e.g., SolAR Run concept) built with Unity or Snap AR.
News You Can Remember
- Try Now (hands-on demo):
- EyeJack – Scan an image and bring it to life with a video overlay.
- Explore Later:
- Kiwi – Upload photos to create 3D Gaussian splats of places.
- Dream Big:
- Anchored Memories (prototype) – VR + haptics for climate migration.
News You Can Personalize
- Try Now:
- (Skip here for time — introduce conceptually.)
- Explore Later:
- Mozilla Hubs – Customize an explorable space with assets.
- Dream Big:
- Inworld AI – Generative characters as sources/witnesses in journalism.
News You Can Navigate
- Try Now (hands-on demo):
- 360° YouTube video – Explore a scene freely on phone or Cardboard.
- Explore Later:
- Kiwi or CoSpaces – Walk through captured or recreated scenes.
- Dream Big:
- Frontline VR’s After Solitary – Navigate reconstructed environments in VR.
News You Can Feel
- Try Now:
- (Covered conceptually through discussion + VR demo station).
- Explore Later:
- Traveling While Black – VR story available on Oculus TV.
- Dream Big:
- Carne y Arena – Immersive installation blending VR + physical environment.
Narrative podcast production by Radio Workshop
by Lesedi Mogoatlhe and Dhashen Moodley
As the Forum unfolded, Radio Workshop’s Editorial Director, Lesedi Mogoatlhe, and Senior Producer, Dhashen Moodley, hosted audio clinics where they answered podcasting questions and tackled the challenges of working with sound. Here are some of the key pieces of advice that emerged from those sessions.
How to Tell a Good Audio Story
What is a good story — something that helps us make sense of ourselves and others,
introduces us to people and places that we otherwise wouldn’t know — connects us – at best
even changes us.
● We produce a podcast – released every month. We started in 2021, and along the
way won some international awards and had our episodes published on NPR. We
also use a model where we train as we produce a story with a journalist.
● For a documentary style podcast – make it cinematic, meaning it gives us a strong
sense of place through the use of scenes — we want to show, not tell.
● Character-driven – good talker, does something, because, but…
In a pitch, we want to know why we should care about the story
○ This is X, and it’s interesting because of Y (write this before you have a
character)
● We generally disqualify stories that are purely about a topic — and like to distinguish
between a topic and story vs topic
○ Eg. “Why Kenya’s Rangelands Are Pushing Back Against Carbon Credits”
This story/ episode will explore the growing skepticism, and in some cases
outright rejection, of carbon offset projects by pastoralist communities in
Kenya’s northern and southern rangelands, particularly in Isiolo, Marsabit,
and Kajiado. Once considered and pitched as climate finance goldmines,
these deals are now raising red flags around land rights, opaque contracts,
and unmet promises.
○ Eg. Nakuru county story: After US aid cuts, a young queer man who relied on
drop in centers had to go back to govt hospitals where he faces a lot of
discrimination to access HIV treatment. HIV treatment adherence is now at
risk and so is his mental health as his community disappears. How will he and
other queer folk survive? The story follows Brian, a 23-year-old queer man
navigating stigma, HIV treatment, and mental health struggles in the absence
of safe spaces.
● How do you know you have a story — it’s a series of events – this happens and then
this happens, and if you have a good character, you care about who it happens to.
● Narrative arc – beginning, middle and end. There has to be stakes, twists, surprises,
and suspense, and the turn of events that keeps people engaged and wanting to
hear more.
● Once a story is greenlit and goes past the pitching phase:
○ do a pre-interview (+/-30mins) where you are trying to create a bond but also
get the plot of the story.
○ Create a reporting plan – a summary of your research, what’s the story
question? What scenes/what will we see and how will you record it — a
production plan — where will you be and where, what do you need.
Good tool to use when you have a character and a way to think about the structure of your
story — keep going back to this, especially when you get lost in the weeds:
Somebody (a character in motion doing something) does something because (a motivation for doing that thing) but (a challenge to overcome).
Basic Interviewing Tips
Get the equipment together. Check your batteries. Microphone placement. Record
room tone. Monitor background noise.
Ask for the basics
○ Tell me your name, age, occupation etc
○ Can you sit closer to the mic?
○ Let’s wait for that plane to pass?
Story Questions
Big and open:
● “Tell me about the time…”
● “What was it like when…”
● “Paint me a picture of….”
Follow the story (a sequence of events):
● “What happened first? And then? And then?
● “What did you say? What did they say?” (Get dialogue!)
● “What were you thinking at that moment?” (Internal thoughts reveal character)
Being dumb:
● Help me understand?
● Explain it to a child?
● Use silence to get people to say more.
Getting the details to immerse us in the moment…
● What did it sound/smell/feel like?
● Who else was there?
● What was going through your head?
How to make data sound
by Christian Basl and Berit Kruse
Data Sonification is the presentation of data as sound: By transforming numbers and tables into informative sounds and exciting soundscapes, data sets become audible – for podcasts, media, or art projects. Christian Basl, journalist at WDR, and Berit Kruse, data journalist at Süddeutsche Zeitung, who, together, form the collective SoniFriday, presented the fundamentals of data sonification techniques and how participants can apply them to their stories.
You can find SoniFriday’s Github page here.
From chaos to clarity: Turning newsroom challenges into audience-centered product
by Felicitas Carrique
Felicitas Carrique, Executive Director of News Product Alliance (NPA) believes that there is no need to have “product” in your title to think like a product leader. In her session, she demystified product thinking and guided participants through the steps of turning a newsroom challenge into a tangible solution—using real audience needs as your starting point.
Remember: Product thinking = aligning audience needs with newsroom goals. Use these frameworks to bring clarity to chaos. By doing so, you’ll create news products that not only inform and delight your audience, but also sustain your organization.
Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) – Solve Real Audience “Jobs”
- What it is: A framework to uncover why people use a product – the underlying goal or task they “hire” it to do. Instead of demographics, focus on the job the user needs to accomplish.
- Recommended readings and resources:
- JTBD formula: When [situation], I want to [motivation], so that [expected outcome]. This sentence structure crystallizes the user’s goal in context. For example, “When I commute, I want to hear quick news updates so that I feel informed for the day.”
- Recommended reading from WhereBy.Us
Empathy Mapping – Know Your Audience Deeply
- What it is: A simple 4-quadrant visualization of your user’s perspective. An empathy map captures what a user Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels about an experience or problem. (Some versions include what they See and Hear as well.)
- Recommended readings and resources:
- Empathy Map Canvas (Dave Gray) – a free PDF worksheet for mapping user Says/Thinks/Does/Feels.
- Nielsen Norman Group’s guide on empathy mapping or IDEO’s Design Kit (human-centered design methods).
Product Lifecycle – From Idea to Implementation (and Beyond)
- What it is: A roadmap of stages that a product goes through, from initial concept to launch and maintenance. In news, applying a product mindset means systematically moving through each stage rather than jumping straight to solutions.
- Recommended readings and resources:
- Understanding the Product Development Lifecycle
Value Exchange – Align Audience Needs and Business Goals
- What it is: At its core, a product is a value exchange between your audience and your organization. The user gets value (information, convenience, insight) and in return the organization gains value (user attention, trust, engagement, or revenue). Focusing on value exchange ensures your product serves audience needs while furthering business objectives.
- Recommended readings and resources:
- Value proposition examples from successful publishers
- Value Proposition canvas
News Product Alliance (NPA)
- What is it: The NPA is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting news product professionals through community building, training, and capacity building. Our mission is to elevate the discipline of news product management and expand the diversity of news product thinkers in decision-making roles. Join our 3000+ Slack community and connect with the largest network of news product professionals to ask questions, share your experience, and learn more about news product.
Free Resources from NPA:
- NPA Product Kit: A rich library of guides for product strategy, user research, development, and more in news organizations. (Examples: Understanding the Product Development Lifecycle, Getting started with strategic planning and goal-setting, Teaching Product Methods in the Newsroom, etc.). These resources are tailored to newsroom contexts and can help you dive deeper into the frameworks above.
- Product Notes: The News Product Alliance’s biweekly newsletter is aimed at providing product-related news, guides, and templates on various product topics, best practices, community wisdom, and more (Examples: Shifting from product-supported to product-led: Indicators of healthy product operations, How AI can change your work as a news product manager, How Aftonbladet built Sweden’s first election AI chatbot).
- Get News PM Certified: Gain the product strategy, technical expertise, and change management skills necessary to lead news product innovation through uncertain and fast-paced contexts. Learn more about how to apply.
