Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Robot Journalist Broke The Earthquake Story Before Everyone Else
(Photo by Cico/Shutterstock)
()
Prepare for your new robot journalist overlords: Los Angeles just got a taste of the future with a program designed to pump out a story immediately after an earthquake hits.
Los Angeles Times journalist Ken Schwencke's new program, QuakeBot, may be the most fascinating thing about yesterday's Shamrock Shake, even more so than the temblor itself. QuakeBot is programmed to gather information about an earthquake at a moment's notice, putting together all the important bits—magnitude, location, frequency of that kind of earthquake—and put it together to form a story, according to Slate. All Schwencke had to do was look over the story on his computer and publish it. The story was up three minutes after the quake happened, way before everyone else was able to scramble to their laptops.
Schwencke tells Poynter that he began working on QuakeBot in 2011, right after the devastating Japanese earthquake/tsunami. Realizing the possibility of a breaking news algorithm in seismic Southern California, Schwencke, "started playing with using the USGS data feeds,"
Here was the riveting yarn that resulted from QuakeBot's algorithms, courtesy of Slate:
Support for LAist comes from
A shallow magnitude 4.7 earthquake was reported Monday morning five miles from Westwood, California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 6:25 a.m. Pacific time at a depth of 5.0 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was six miles from Beverly Hills, California, seven miles from Universal City, California, seven miles from Santa Monica, California and 348 miles from Sacramento, California. In the past ten days, there have been no earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby.
This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm written by the author.
The algorithm's goal, Schwencke says, is not to write a compelling or insightful story. That's up to the LAT's human staff. Rather, it's to "get the basic information out" as quickly and accurately as possible. That way, "Everybody else can go out and find out: Was anybody hurt? Was anything damaged? What do the people at the USGS actually have to say?"
Still though, it's a little disconcerting that a hungry young journalist who is expected to work like a robot may one day be replaced by an actual robot. The future is here, everyone.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
The critical findings are part of long-awaited after-action report was released Thursday. It contains recommendations for increasing emergency staffing and updating old systems. -
Diving has changed, mountain biking has been added. Here's where to watch the Olympics in person in 2028. -
'A Great Day in the Stoke' is a free, daylong event in Orange County billed as 'the largest gathering of Black surfers in history.' The fourth annual festival is set for Saturday in Huntington Beach. -
Kimmel returned less than a week after ABC suspended his show over comments he made about the assassination of right wing activist Charlie Kirk. -
Southern California might see some light rain tonight into Wednesday morning. After that, cooler weather is on the way, but expect the humidity to remain. -
A gate tax at Disney? It's a possibility.
Best of LAist