WhichWayNC: A Model for Mobile Media Development.

Creating Mobile Media: A Common ChallengeIn mid-2014, NiemanLab's Joshua Benton declared that "engaging people on smartphones is the next big challenge to news." Just as newsrooms had grown more comfortable responding to the demands wrought by the introduction of Internet technology, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have introduced another disruptive factor into the content-production process. News product developers, such as Stacy-Marie Ishmael, editorial lead for BuzzFeed News, say, "Mobile is yet another way to get in front of sophisticated, interesting, demanding audiences . . . ." BuzzFeed News (O'Donovan, 2014), like other newsrooms, she notes, is trying to figure out how to create a "delightful news experience" for the modern, on-the-go audience.Engaging the Active AudienceNearly two thirds of U.S. adults own a smartphone (Pew Research Center, 2015a). Of that number, 68% use their smartphones to occasionally keep up with breaking news, and another 58% use it to keep up with community events or activities (Pew Research Center, 2015a). Leading the change in audience formation are Millennials, the segment of the U.S. population born between 1980 and 2000. Eighty-five percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 own a smartphone (Pew Research Center, 2015b). As more and more young people rely on their phones and other mobile devices to access news and entertainment content, newsrooms must adapt their production processes to provide content for mobile users.An Opportunity for DevelopmentWhile the literature is rich with studies of newsrooms making the transition to a digital-first mind-set, there is a dearth of contributions about a mobile-first orientation in the newsroom. Student newsrooms face a particular challenge in their task of preparing students for working in a newsroom setting far different from the ones that trained their professors. Recognizing this challenge, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used a US$4.1 million bequest left by an alumnus, Reese Felts, to create an experimental newsroom where students could develop the essential tools and skills required to emerge as competitors in the modern media environment. One of the first projects created in this space was WhichWayNC, a mobile-first reporting platform that covered politics in North Carolina during the summer before the 2012 election. Since that time, the experimentation model developed during that project has served as a frame of reference for news and information tools developed by students in the lab, including CapitolHound, an app that allows users to track the progress of bills being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly.This ethnographic research explores the emergent culture and practices of a digital student newsroom at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as its workers created a mobile-centric news platform. Operating from a theoretical framework of self-efficacy and a conceptual focus on reflexive pedagogy, this study used collaborative ethnographic methods, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, and sought to assess students' perceptions of their abilities to create a mobile news product. The students applied classroom knowledge, previous work experience, and willingness to fail in a non-threatening setting (i.e., no grades were assigned for their work). The research questions guiding this ethnography were as follows:Research Question 1: What values emerge from the cultural practice of content creation in the digital student newsroom?Research Question 2: What insights do the cultural habits and reflexive practices in this student newsroom offer for journalism instructors?Literature ReviewDigital Newsroom CultureIn the first decade of the 21st century, Internet technology changed media anthropology's scope by forcing a re-examination of the roles of news workers in a digitally connected world. Paterson and Domingo's 2008 and 2012 volumes on ethnographic examinations of digital news media present the most comprehensive works on the subject, covering topics including newsroom convergence, old and new work routines, the shift to participatory journalism, and the functions of blogging and social media in modern newsrooms. …