On Wednesday, BuzzFeed announced a new project, “BuzzFeed Open Lab For Journalism Technology and the Arts.” The lab has been in development for the last six months and will be based in San Francisco, writes Mat Honan, BuzzFeed News’ San Francisco bureau chief:
When you think about media experiments, you probably think about advertising models or paywalls or, more recently, partnerships with companies like Facebook or Snapchat. But those kind of media experiments are deeply boring to pretty much everyone who doesn’t depend on ads for a paycheck. The logic of this new lab is: screw it, let’s fly drones. Drones with lasers. And more to the point: let’s build drones with lasers and show everyone how to make them too. We want to push the envelope. We want to get just on the edge of what’s possible, and what’s permissible. We want to break shit, and build it back better than it was before. And then we want to show you how to follow along, using the very same tech we developed. Basically, we want to teach everyone to fish. But with drones.
Jessi Hempel wrote about the project for Wired and described how people can get involved.
This summer, BuzzFeed will invite engineers, hackers, journalists and artists to submit proposals. The company will select four one-year fellows and one two-year senior fellow to come work in the lab. BuzzFeed has put together a killer advisory board he hopes fellows will look to for guidance. They include Peretti and the company’s publisher, Dao Nguyn; Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon; former Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, who is now CEO of drone startup 3D Robotics; and the artist-engineer Natalie Jeremijenko. Two of the fellows will be sponsored by GE and Eyebeam.
You can find full details on how to apply at the end of BuzzFeed’s announcement.
