The document discusses whether robots can perform various journalism roles such as writing news, editing news, designing news layouts, and selling advertisements. It explores examples of companies using robots/algorithms to write news articles from data, curate content for a publication, design digital magazine layouts automatically, and sell 20% of digital ads through programmatic advertising. The presentation examines each journalism role in turn and provides real-world examples to illustrate the capabilities and limitations of robots.

1. GEN SUMMIT | Barcelona, 11th June 2014
Robot Journalism Bootcamp: Words without writers
A panoramic view through automated journalism:
writing, editing, designing, and selling news
WHAT CAN
ROBOTS DO?
David Sancha | @dsancha

2. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
WHAT
CAN
ROBOTS
DO? Can robots write news?
Can a robot be a news editor?
Can a robot be a news designer?
Can a robot sell ads?

3. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
1.
What can I help
you with?
CAN
ROBOTS
WRITE
NEWS?

4. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
1.
What can I help
you with?
CAN
ROBOTS
WRITE
NEWS?

5. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
1.
“I need to know if
robots can write news”
tap to edit
The answer could be
controversial. There are a
lot of journalists here…
“I need your help”
tap to edit
Ok. Larry Birbaum can help
you explain this case study:
Narrative science. Robots
can write news from
statistics automatically.
CAN
ROBOTS
WRITE
NEWS?

6. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
CAN
ROBOTS
WRITE
NEWS?
1.
Analyze Data Create Narrative Deliver Insight
•SPORTS
STATISTICS
•FINANCIAL
REPORTS
•SOCIAL
MEDIA
STRUCTURES
ANALYSES
INTERPRETS
ORGANIZES
GENERATES
NARRATIVE
SCIENCE
HTML
XML
PDF
API

7. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
CAN
ROBOTS
WRITE
NEWS?
1.
NARRATIVE
SCIENCE
Anticipated Earnings Increase for Pall
INVESTING 5/28/2014 @ 10:00AM 16 views
By Narrative Science
Optimism surrounds Pall, as it gets ready to report its third quarter results on
Thursday, May 29, 2014. Analysts are expecting the company to book a profit
of 83 cents a share, up from 74 cents a year ago.
!
The consensus estimate hasn’t changed over the past month, but it’s down
from three months ago when it was 85 cents. For the fiscal year, analysts are
expecting earnings of $3.41 per share. Revenue is projected to eclipse the
year-earlier total of $641.2 million by 6%, finishing at $679.8 million for the
quarter. For the year, revenue is expected to come in at $2.75 billion.
!
While the company has been profitable for the last eight quarters, income has
fallen year-over-year by an average of 18% over the past four quarters. The
company was hit the hardest in the first quarter as it saw profit drop by 79%.
!
Over the last four quarters, revenue rose 1% on average year-over-year. The
biggest boost came in the most recent quarter, when revenue increased 6%
from the year-ago quarter.
!
Other companies in the capital goods sector include: Nordson, Donaldson
Company and Flow International.

8. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
Can robots write news?
Can a robot be a news editor?
Can a robot be a news designer?
Can a robot sell ads?
CAN
ROBOTS
WRITE
NEWS?
1.
CHECKLIST
Can a robot be a news editor?

9. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
What can I help
you with?
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

10. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
What can I help
you with?
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

11. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
“Can a robot be
a news editor?”
tap to edit
We have a lot of human
editors here today. Why
do you need a robot?
“Just an example…”
tap to edit
Let's have a look
at #Open001, the
publication of The
Guardian made by
robots.
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

12. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION

13. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

14. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?
«You might not guess it, but this publication
was made entirely by robots. Well sort of.
!
More accurately #Open001 is the result of a
smart algorithmic tool that identifies the most
popular and interesting stories across the
Guardian by tracking our reader’s engagement
with our journalism».
‘Introduction’, Open #001 Carter Brokaw, Executive VP Sales
The Guardian

15. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

16. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

17. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

18. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

19. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

20. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

21. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

22. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
2.
#OPEN001,
AUTOMATIC
CONTENT
CURATION
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR?

23. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
CHECKLIST
2.
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
EDITOR? Can robots write news?
Can a robot be a news editor?
Can a robot be a news designer?
Can a robot sell ads?
Can a robot be a news designer?

24. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
What can I help
you with?
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

25. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
What can I help
you with?
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

26. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
“Can a robot be
a news designer?”
tap to edit
I was assembled in China,
but I was designed in
California by Apple.
“I know that, but
you’re not a designer
tap to edit
Here you have a good
example: Flipboard
creates automatic
layouts for millions of
digital magazines.
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

27. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
Different resolutions
Flipboard generates automatic
magazines for different screen
resolutions and devices.
!
More than 2,000 options
Each page feels hand-crafted,
but the process of layout
design is completely automatic
using an engine called Duplo.
Duplo selects the best layout
to fit the content from more
than 2,000 options.
AUTOMATIC
LAYOUT
DESIGN IN
FLIPBOARD
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

28. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
A subset of the 2,000+ candidate layouts for 3 column landscape page sizes.
AUTOMATIC
LAYOUT
DESIGN IN
FLIPBOARD
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

29. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
two-column article pieces one-column article pieces
1. Creating layouts
composition selected
AUTOMATIC
LAYOUT
DESIGN IN
FLIPBOARD
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

30. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
2. Selecting layouts and applying content
‣ Content match
Duplo compares the contents’
structure against the layout’s
content slots to see how closely it
matches.
‣ Slot selection
Duplo computes the best pairings
of content with slots by optimizing
a fitness function built on dozens
of individually-weighted heuristics.
Page flow: organic sense of variety to the types and number of items on a pageImage feature detection, aspect ratio, scale, crop: the photo fits the frame.
AUTOMATIC
LAYOUT
DESIGN IN
FLIPBOARD
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

31. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
3. Refining layouts
Text is aligned to the baseline grid. Image viewports are adjusted.
AUTOMATIC
LAYOUT
DESIGN IN
FLIPBOARD
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

32. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
4. Displaying layouts
Duplo uses a type scale to size headline text down according to a designer’s specifications—
lighter weights at large sizes and heavier weights at smaller sizes, all chosen by a designer to
work well together.
AUTOMATIC
LAYOUT
DESIGN IN
FLIPBOARD
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER?

33. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
3.
CHECKLIST
CAN A
ROBOT BE
A NEWS
DESIGNER? Can robots write news?
Can a robot be a news editor?
Can a robot be a news designer?
Can a robot sell ads?Can a robot sell ads?

34. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
4.
What can I help
you with?
WHAT
ABOUT
ROBOTS
AND ADS?

35. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
What can I help
you with?
4.
WHAT
ABOUT
ROBOTS
AND ADS?

36. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
“Siri, what about
robots and ads?
tap to edit
David, this is an
interesting point.
“Why?”
tap to edit
Because about 20%
of the overall digital-
ad market is sold by
robots. It’s called
programmatic
advertising.
4.
WHAT
ABOUT
ROBOTS
AND ADS?

37. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
REAL-TIME
BIDDING
4.
WHAT
ABOUT
ROBOTS
AND ADS?

38. GLOBAL
EDITORS
NETWORK
Barcelona
June, 2014
CHECKLIST
4.
WHAT
ABOUT
ROBOTS
AND ADS? Can robots write news?
Can a robot be a news editor?
Can a robot be a news designer?
Can a robot sell ads?

39. GEN SUMMIT | Barcelona, 11th June 2014
Robot Journalism Bootcamp: Words without writers
THANK
YOU.David Sancha | @dsancha
dsancha@xalok.com

40. GEN SUMMIT | Barcelona, 11th June 2014
Robot Journalism Bootcamp: Words without writers
THANK
YOU.David Sancha | @dsancha
dsancha@xalok.com
“Thank you”
tap to edit
Thanks, David.
And thanks to all. I
wish you a pleasant
stay in Barcelona.