Unboxing news automation
News automation is an emerging field within journalism, with the potential to transform newswork. Increasing access to data, combined with developing technology, will allow further inquiries into automated journalism. Producing news text using NLG (natural language generation) is currently largely u...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2019-06-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2019-0004 |
| _version_ | 1818047518593777664 |
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| author | Sirén-Heikel Stefanie Leppänen Leo Lindén Carl-Gustav Bäck Asta |
| author_facet | Sirén-Heikel Stefanie Leppänen Leo Lindén Carl-Gustav Bäck Asta |
| author_sort | Sirén-Heikel Stefanie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | News automation is an emerging field within journalism, with the potential to transform newswork. Increasing access to data, combined with developing technology, will allow further inquiries into automated journalism. Producing news text using NLG (natural language generation) is currently largely undertaken in specific, predictable news domains, such as sports or finance. This interdisciplinary study investigates how elite media representatives from Finland, Europe and the US imagine the affordances of this emerging technology for their organization. Our analysis shows how the affordances of news automation are imagined as providing efficiency, increasing output and aiding in reallocating resources to pursue quality journalism. The affordances are, however, constrained by such factors as access to structured data, the quality of automation and a lack of relevant skills. In its current form, automated text generation is seen as providing only limited benefits to news organizations that are already imagining further possibilities of automation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:07:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7394dcd99a104c1692074febbcd7a7be |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2003-184X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:07:04Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-7394dcd99a104c1692074febbcd7a7be2022-12-22T01:53:13ZengSciendoNordic Journal of Media Studies2003-184X2019-06-0111476610.2478/njms-2019-0004Unboxing news automationSirén-Heikel Stefanie0Leppänen Leo1Lindén Carl-Gustav2Bäck Asta3Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, HelsinkiFinlandDepartment of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, HelsinkiFinlandSwedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, HelsinkiFinlandVTT Technical Research Centre of Finland LtdEspooFinlandNews automation is an emerging field within journalism, with the potential to transform newswork. Increasing access to data, combined with developing technology, will allow further inquiries into automated journalism. Producing news text using NLG (natural language generation) is currently largely undertaken in specific, predictable news domains, such as sports or finance. This interdisciplinary study investigates how elite media representatives from Finland, Europe and the US imagine the affordances of this emerging technology for their organization. Our analysis shows how the affordances of news automation are imagined as providing efficiency, increasing output and aiding in reallocating resources to pursue quality journalism. The affordances are, however, constrained by such factors as access to structured data, the quality of automation and a lack of relevant skills. In its current form, automated text generation is seen as providing only limited benefits to news organizations that are already imagining further possibilities of automation.https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2019-0004automated journalismnews automationnewsworknlgimagined affordances |
| spellingShingle | Sirén-Heikel Stefanie Leppänen Leo Lindén Carl-Gustav Bäck Asta Unboxing news automation Nordic Journal of Media Studies automated journalism news automation newswork nlg imagined affordances |
| title | Unboxing news automation |
| title_full | Unboxing news automation |
| title_fullStr | Unboxing news automation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unboxing news automation |
| title_short | Unboxing news automation |
| title_sort | unboxing news automation |
| topic | automated journalism news automation newswork nlg imagined affordances |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2019-0004 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sirenheikelstefanie unboxingnewsautomation AT leppanenleo unboxingnewsautomation AT lindencarlgustav unboxingnewsautomation AT backasta unboxingnewsautomation |