As a Research Fellow for the Google-funded DMINR project, I had a leading role in planning and conducting a full range of qualitative studies with journalists and editors, including interviews, observations, and workshops to investigate potential roles (and disruptions) of AI into their workflows. In particular, I focused on understanding how editorial decision-making is shaped by information and reflected on how these practices could be supported by AI.

I used the knowledge gathered during these qualitative studies to inform the development of the DMINR system, a fully functional AI-driven tool that is transparent, explainable, and fits wider organizational practices at newsrooms.

Project summary

In the DMINR project, we aim to create a free, open source system that blends journalistic expertise with AI to help with researching and verifying news stories. This tool will support journalists to process large amounts of information faster by combining multiple data sources, and to create opportunities for new insights by leveraging the data patterns suggested by AI. Our project is a joint collaboration between the Department of Journalism and the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design (HCID) at City, University of London.

Funded by: Google News Initiative

Read more at: https://blogs.city.ac.uk/dminr/

Access the DMINR system: https://dminr.city.ac.uk/

Key project outputs

A Question of Design: Strategies for Embedding AI-Driven Tools into Journalistic Work Routines. (2022). Gutierrez Lopez, M., Missaoui, S., Makri, S., MacFarlane, A., Porlezza, C., Cooper, G. Accepted for publication in Digital Journalism, special issue on Design + Journalism (Eds. T. Aitamurto; E. Borges-Rey; N. Diakopoulos).

AI should embody our values: Investigating journalistic values to inform AI technology design (2020) Komatsu, T., Gutierrez-Lopez, M., et al. 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction NordiCHI 20: 11:1-13.

DMINR at TREC News Track (2019) Missaoui, S., MacFarlane, A., Makri, S., Gutierrez Lopez M. Text Retrieval Conference TREC.

Journalists as Design Partners for AI (2019) Gutierrez Lopez, M., Missaoui, S., Makri, S., MacFarlane, A., Porlezza, C., Cooper, G. Workshop for accurate, impartial and transparent journalism: challenges and solutions. ACM CHI EA 2019. Glasgow, UK.