Nieman Foundation at Harvard
The East Coast woke up this morning to news that an earthquake had hit Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, folks woke up to…an actual earthquake. But who broke that story?
All hail Ken Schwencke (@schwanksta) – our robonewsman overlord! pic.twitter.com/ND7yYWsbmQ
— Benny Spiewak (@BennySp) January 3, 2014
Indeed, Ken Schwencke, programmer and journalist at the Los Angeles Times, has been using a bot for more than a year to auto-report and publish newswire-type stories about earthquakes in California.
I wonder if @schwanksta even woke up to see his pet robot scoop y'all. http://t.co/NmDJ4CzvgV
— Ben Welsh (@palewire) March 17, 2014
@palewire Yes, yes I did.
— Ken Schwencke (@schwanksta) March 17, 2014
@palewire Woke up to set it live and see if my last patches worked.
— Ken Schwencke (@schwanksta) March 17, 2014
Schwenke continues to pursue the possibilities for robot reporting at the Times, even considering the possibility of having one bot talk to another.
@jeremybowers @palewire @harrisj A "los angeles quake response" bot would be amazing. "Ugh, a 5.0? Wake me up when my house pancakes."
— Ken Schwencke (@schwanksta) March 17, 2014
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