How can you build connections that lead to great journalistic content? … Read More

Talking Politics: An Interview With Spaceship Media
How a small organization created positive dialog between voters in Alabama and California … Read More
![[IMAGE] A light-skinned woman who appears to be in her 20s, wearing a white sweater and bright red scarf, prepares crepes outside of Quasimodo Cafe on the Rue D'arc in Paris](jpg/crepe_woman-e14855238193595a42.jpg?w=915)
What Women Want in a Community
To increase the diversity of your community, you need to know the social rewards and cues that work for many women … Read More
![[IMAGE] A large crowd of people facing away from the camera. They are all wearing hats, mostly cowboy or straw hats. You cannot see anybody's faces.](jpg/hats-e14835418126635a42.jpg?w=915)
The Real Name Fallacy
Many say that horrible comments would vanish if people were forced to use their real names. Thirty years of research suggests otherwise. … Read More
![[IMAGE] A pair of white male hands holding a newspaper suggesting that someone out of shot is reading the newspaper](jpg/man-hands-reading-boy-e14824490908195a42.jpg?w=915)
Your Best Stories of 2017
If you’re planning a big story in 2017, you should take inspiration from some of 2016’s best journalism. … Read More
![[IMAGE] A woman is sitting at a white table, smiling, talking to another seated women whose back is facing the camera.](jpg/22506109386_e2d8c8a166_k5a42.jpg?w=915)
Time for Change
If we aren’t listening to people every day, why should they listen to us? … Read More
![[IMAGE] The back of a video camera. On the screen is a seated, young woman with brown skin, looking down.](jpg/17638135823_b57f41e5aa_k5a42.jpg?w=915)
What Do Frequent Commenters Want?
A detailed look at the habits and needs of 15 people who spend a lot of time in the comments … Read More
![[IMAGE] Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral. Visitors walking on an inlaid stone labyrinth](jpg/labyrinth_at_chartres_cathedral5a42.jpg?w=915)
Coding Away The Game
How Slashdot improved behavior using a secret piece of programming … Read More
![[IMAGE] An outlined map of the world on a dark background. Lines suggesting launches of something are shooting from various countries, with others marked like targets with concentric circles.](jpg/20772328793_14d458b92c_k5a42.jpg?w=915)
User-Submitted Malware: A Safety Guide For Journalists
When you ask people to send you images and documents, you are creating a potential risk for your newsroom … Read More
![[IMAGE] An animation of the Ask form builder in action, building a form](gif/asking5a42.gif?w=915)
It’s time for you to try Ask
Our first product, Ask, is available for you to download and use … Read More

When The Trolls Arrive
In the second part in our series on the creation of Slashdot, its co-founder reflects on the arrival of the trolls … Read More

Valuing The Public
“Conversation is everything. It challenges what the scope of a work really is.” – An interview with journalist Mónica Guzmán … Read More
![[IMAGE] A close-up of a loom with red, yellow, and white threads combining together.](jpg/17639-close-up-of-a-loom-or5a42.jpg?w=915)
How To Use Forms With Your Audience
If you don’t ask in the right way, you can alienate the readers with whom you’re trying to connect … Read More

New Community Tools: Hearken
An exciting tool that increases engagement and connections between newsrooms and the public … Read More
![[IMAGE] Close up of a polling card for the UK referendum on leaving the EU. In the foreground, it reads "Poll Card" in white letters on a black background.](jpg/pollcard25a42.jpg?w=915)
Brexit and the value of the comments
Over the past few days, a number of online comments about Brexit have gone viral. It’s a sign of what we need to do next … Read More

Can Design Make the Comments Nicer?
What does signing in to comments tell us about comment spaces? Caroline Sinders takes a look … Read More
![[IMAGE] A pale hand is in the foreground blocking an unidentified person's face](jpg/79949291_86a3b20e3a_o5a42.jpg?w=915)
How Can Newsrooms Not Be Creepy?
If journalists want readers to share personal information, they have to make them feel safe … Read More

Let’s Begin at the Beginning
Rob Malda, co-founder of Slashdot, starts a series on how he built the world-famous online community … Read More
![[IMAGE] A group of people, some sitting, some standing, inside a large room. Many are working on laptops. They look to be aged around 20-40 years old. There is a mix of men and women.](jpg/26298620983_8dd4df0022_o5a42.jpg?w=915)
Our First Hackathon
Earlier this month in Washington, DC, we held a collaborative event around data and visualization. Here’s what everyone made … Read More
![[IMAGE] A bizarre statue featuring a mythical creature reading a book while pouring a glass of liquid into its head. In the background is a large church.](jpg/9528448494_5b34a3b774_o5a42.jpg?w=915)
Three new users
We’ve added some new users to our personas list … Read More
![[IMAGE] The GroundSource logo: a conversation balloon composed of smaller multicolored balloons](png/1ttrad1_kcg5jqqyys73ghq9dfb.png?w=700)
New Community Tools : Groundsource
GroundSource increases audience engagement through the simplest of tech platforms … Read More
![[IMAGE] A long, covered walkway with arches opening into a green courtyard. One woman is walking away from the camera in the distance.](jpg/img_09315a42.jpg?w=915)
Coral Design Series: Introducing Emma
Emma Grdina shares questions she wants to answer with our design … Read More
![[IMAGE] Nighttime in a city, a digital camera in the foreground is on a tripod, with indistinct lights on its screen. In the background are city lights that are out of focus.](jpg/5666330071_c8a2a9ed00_o5a42.jpg?w=915)
A Change of Focus
Our Project Lead explains why we’ve altered our approach … Read More
![[IMAGE] The New York Public Library main branch reading room. People seated at large desks under a painted ceiling with window lined walls](jpg/nypl5a42.jpg?w=915)
Artificial Moderation: A Reading List
Current academic research in artificial moderation … Read More

How To Argue Successfully Online
If we can’t agree on basic reality or facts, how can we discuss what’s right and wrong? … Read More
![[IMAGE] A woman (Talia Stroud) with light skin and brown hair presents to the left of a blue text filled screen holding a clicker and wearing a lanyard.](jpg/knight-event-t-presentation5a42.jpg?w=915)
Where The Audience Is At
There are better ways to handle your comments, says The Engaging News Project’s Dr. Talia Stroud … Read More
![[IMAGE] Two people sat on a part bench reading newspapers. Their faces are obscured.](jpg/512309138_aef2793032_o5a42.jpg?w=915)
Finding Your Top Commenters
What the New York Times learned from talking to its top contributors … Read More
![[IMAGE] A grid of 12 images and accompanying text. The images are all of people, of varying ages and races. The texts are barely readable, and contain small biographical information and detail about each person's job and needs related to the work of The Coral Project.](png/screen-shot-2016-03-07-at-6.41.31-pm5a42.png?w=915)
Meet Our Users
We’ve created a fictional group of personas to help us build for real user needs. How can we improve them? … Read More
![[IMAGE] A paper prototype presentation from Beyond Comments at the MIT Media Lab. Three people stand in front of a table with the person in the center holding a large piece of paper containing rough sketches. Behind them are various presenters. The person on the left has a microphone.](jpg/presentation-picture5a42.jpg?w=915)
Beyond Comments: Our First Event
What would our software look like as a real-world experience? … Read More
12,000 people have something to say
We’ve just released a study of thousands of commenters, conducted with the Engaging News Project at the University of Texas-Austin … Read More