A Northwestern University joint initiative of Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science.
Northwestern University joint initiative of Medill & McCormick School of Engineering.
Storytelling tools
We build easy-to-use tools that help journalists tell better stories.
Our technology has been used by more than 300,000 storytellers around the world and has reached more 160 million readers.
Students and community
Knight Lab's community of students and professionals plays a critical role in making the Lab a vibrant place.
Students make key contributions to the Lab's technology, editorial coverage, and educational efforts. Student participation in the Lab is self directed and open to any Northwestern student interested in media and technology.
Students interested in Knight Lab are invited to two events each week: Open Lab Nights on Tuesdays from 6-10 p.m. and Brown Bag Lunch each Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Interested students should also sign up for the student Google Group.
Young journalists who have been Knight Lab fellows regularly go directly from academics to the world's leading newsrooms and technology companies, including NPR, Washington Post, Medium, Amazon, Los Angeles Times, and others.
Research
Experimental technology for reporters, consumers, and publishers.
Knight Lab's faculty members contribute experimental ideas and technology to the Lab. Sometimes these ideas are developed in undergraduate classes co-taught by computer science and journalism faculty; sometimes they are developed by Ph.D students exploring specific concepts. Research projects have done everything from help readers find new books to tell them which candidate they'd likely support in an election.
About the Lab
Advancing media innovation through exploration and experimentation.
We’ve got a team of six full-time staff members, who design and build technology, manage operations, and develop community. Not every idea grows in to a full-blown product and some are born, built, and die before being released to the public. Others move from a proof-of-concept built by students in a Northwestern classroom to the Lab for professional development and design.
We benefit from having the support of two schools at Northwestern — Medill School and the McCormick School of Engineering — and each school’s faculty members, including our four founders.
We're grateful to have Knight Foundation as our primary funder and additional support from National Science Foundation, McCormick Foundation, and Google.