Knight Lab

Knight Lab
Name	Knight Lab
Founded	2011
Founder	Benson Interdisciplinary Programs
Location	Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University
Focus	Data visualization, storytelling, software tools

Knight Lab is a research and development group based at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University that builds open-source tools and experiments at the intersection of journalism and software development. The Lab is known for producing web-based projects that connect reporters, editors, designers and developers at institutions such as ProPublica, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Its work has been cited in coverage by outlets including The Guardian, The Atlantic, and Nieman Lab.

History

The Lab was established in 2011 within Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, emerging amid initiatives like the Knight Foundation’s funding programs and the broader movement represented by groups such as Poynter Institute and Revolutionary Media. Early influences and collaborators included teams at ProPublica, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News, and The Guardian. Over time the Lab’s staff and alumni have moved to or collaborated with institutions such as The Intercept, BuzzFeed News, Vox Media, Axios, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Reuters, Al Jazeera, NPR, PBS NewsHour, Frontline and ABC News. The Lab’s timeline intersects with conferences and organizations like SXSW, NICAR, OpenNews, Istanbul Biennial, and World Economic Forum events where project demos frequently appeared.

Mission and Research Focus

The Lab’s mission emphasizes practical tools for newsroom workflows, immersive storytelling and data-driven reporting. It operates at the intersection of practitioners from The New York Times, The Washington Post, ProPublica, The Guardian, BBC News and scholars from institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Michigan and Princeton University. Research themes include multimedia presentation used by programs such as Canvas projects, interactive storytelling akin to work by The New Yorker, and data visualization approaches deployed by teams at FiveThirtyEight, Tableau Software, Carto, and Mapbox. The Lab frequently engages with standards and communities including W3C, Mozilla Foundation, Creative Commons, OpenStreetMap, and GitHub.

Notable Projects and Tools

The Lab has released several widely adopted open-source tools and experiments that influenced many newsroom and academic projects. Prominent outputs include timeline and storytelling frameworks that echo approaches from Timeline JS-style products used by The New York Times, mapping integrations reminiscent of Leaflet (JavaScript library) and Mapbox GL JS, and presentation formats comparable to work by Bloomberg Businessweek and The Washington Post. Its software has been used alongside libraries and platforms such as D3.js, React, AngularJS, Node.js, Ruby on Rails, Python, R, and data tools like PostgreSQL, SQLite, and MongoDB. The Lab’s projects were demonstrated at venues including MIT Media Lab, SIGGRAPH, ICWSM, CHI, Design Indaba, Open Data Institute, and International Journalism Festival.

Collaborations and Partnerships

Collaboration is central to the Lab’s model: it partners with newsrooms, universities, foundations and technology firms. Notable collaborative partners and hosts have included The New York Times Company, Gannett, Knight Foundation, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft Research, Amazon Web Services, Mozilla Foundation, Esri, Tableau Software, Mapbox, Carto, GitHub, Digital Public Library of America, Internet Archive, Pew Research Center, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia Journalism School, MIT Media Lab, Harvard Kennedy School, OpenNews, Code for America, Sunlight Foundation and DataKind.

Funding and Organization

Funding sources have included grants and fellowships from philanthropic and corporate entities such as the Knight Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google News Initiative, Mozilla Open Source Support, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Knight Foundation News Challenge, Microsoft Philanthropies, Knight Prototype Fund, Open Society Foundations, Annenberg Foundation, and collaboration credits with companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Esri. Organizationally the Lab is embedded in Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, with staffing and alumni forming networks that extend to ProPublica, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, NPR, BBC News, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, Vox Media, Axios, The Atlantic, Slate, Wired, Mother Jones, Politico, Center for Investigative Reporting, and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Impact and Reception

The Lab’s tools and experiments have been adopted or adapted by many newsrooms, academic labs and civic projects, influencing workflows at outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, ProPublica, The Guardian, BBC News, NPR, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Bloomberg, FiveThirtyEight, Vox Media, BuzzFeed News, Gannett, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, Axios, Politico, The Intercept, Mother Jones, Slate, Wired, Nieman Lab, Harvard Kennedy School, Tow Center for Digital Journalism and Pew Research Center. Reviews and case studies have appeared in outlets and venues including Nieman Reports, Columbia Journalism Review, Digital Journalism, Journalism Studies, MIT Technology Review, Wired, The Guardian, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times', and presentations at conferences like SXSW, NICAR, Open Data Day, SIGGRAPH, and CHI. The Lab’s emphasis on open source and reproducible storytelling has influenced pedagogical programs at Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Southern California, New York University, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism, and CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Category:Research institutes in Illinois