The world of news progresses at an unrelenting pace. For news organizations, the demand for constant, real-time news coverage has never been higher. Real-time coverage, however, is far more difficult than it sounds, especially from a news perspective. Most newsworthy happenings do not happen according to a tightly regulated schedule, making it challenging for news organizations to keep up with the pace of real life. The news industry is beginning to turn to technology to overcome this challenge, and many have begun focusing on augmented reality.
The majority of news coverage, including breaking news reports, happens after the fact, effectively putting such coverage in the “wrap-up” category. Such categorization can lead to what journalists refer to as interruptions – meaning that news coverage intrudes into people’s daily routines and can make them fall behind other events that are unfolding quickly. To make news more streamlined, journalists Mark Thompson and Robin Sloan have embarked on a new venture to make news more intuitive for consumers.
The duo is most known for their EPIC 2014 initiative, which painted a picture of the dystopian future of the news industry. Now the pair have launched “The Storm Collection,” which aims to keep consumers connected to news by making them a part of it. Through the Storm Collection, consumers will be able to share news as it happens to or around them. This is accomplished through the use of an augmented reality interface that connects users to an uninterruptable stream of news.
Thompson and Sloan hope to change the way people get news by making the industry more inclusive, but the success of that aim lies with consumers and whether they will want to participate in this form of crowd-sourced journalism.
