The Future of Journalism is Collaborative

Facet is an open source project to help newsrooms manage the multifaceted challenge of planning and executing collaborative projects across different platforms with partners of various sizes and resources.

But more than that, Facet is the needed connective tissue to help organizations, many of which were formed when the only way to operate in this industry was in competition or isolation, manage the logistical challenges of collaboration. We’re not doing our jobs in that same competitive world any more. We’re working in a world where the stories are often larger than anyone newsroom could do alone, where exposing audiences to stories and perspectives from other parts of the country and world is more important than ever, where a lack of diversity in our newsrooms is a serious problem and where our competition isn’t truly each other, but every organization, company, politician or government that now publishes on the same platforms we do but with none of journalism’s responsibility to the truth.

Our solutions to our problems will not come exclusively from technology, but we do need the right tools to address our challenges. Facet is a part of the solution, by providing the space and shared resources for collaborative work and helping organizations and individuals foster collaborative relationships and connections between people doing the work of journalism.

Facet’s potential is unlimited and I look forward to faceting new ways for the platform to serve newsrooms with the services and tools needed.

Heather Bryant
Founder / Director

We believe in journalism, collaboration and the power of human relationships.

Heather Bryant | Founder & Director

Heather Bryant is a journalist and software engineer fascinated by the intersection of journalism and technology.

She is particularly passionate about helping small, rural and local news organizations collaborate and share content. She previously was digital services editor at KTOO Public Media in Juneau, Alaska. Her experiences at KTOO sparked her interest in improving editorial processes and ultimately led her to begin Project Facet. Her work led her to a 2015 Knight Prototype Grant to support the user research and prototyping of Facet.

As a 2016-2017 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, she researched how to make collaboration easier and more effective for newsrooms. This year, she published the Collaborative Journalism Workbook and works with the Center for Cooperative Media to chronicle collaborative projects from around the world in the Collaborative Journalism Database. Her work includes managing the Collaborative Journalism Slack and doing trainings and workshops on effective, meaningful editorial collaboration.

Advisory Board
Stefanie Murray

Director, Center for Cooperative Media

Melody Joy Kramer

Media and Audience Strategist

Marcia Parker

CALmatters Publisher and Chief Operating Officer

Katherine Rowlands

2017 JSK Journalism Fellow at Stanford

Dustin Bleizeffer

Director, WestNext

Tim Olson

Assistant General Manager for News & Public Affairs at KTOO Public Media

About the Advisory Board

The advisory board is made up of people who have an interest in collaboration in journalism and building tools to help newsrooms do their work, no matter their size or resource level. The board’s role is to guide and advise the development of Facet as a platform and an organization, providing perspective and advice in decision-making.

Facet Supporters

Facet was awarded an innovation grant from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Facet was generously supported in it’s early development by a 2015 Knight Prototype Fund Grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.