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Call for Proposals: Data Journalism & Storytelling on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders //
18 Million Rising feed
Data-inspired journalism is seemingly everywhere these days, from recently-launched ventures like Vox, more established ventures like FiveThirtyEight, and even rapidly evolving sites linked with traditional media enterprises, such as The Atlantic Monthly’s TheAtlantic.com, TheAtlanticCities.com and Quartz (QZ.com) and the New York Times’s forthcoming section The Upshot.
These enterprises attempt to use quantitative data as a tool to explore society, policymaking and electoral politics. But even with data, context is everything. And as we’ve frequently seen, one of the most critical areas in which a lack of representative diversity can produce distorted or misleading results — or an absence of content at all — is in the coverage of race, culture and ethnicity. A particularly glaring omission across the data-inspired journalism landscape is contextually rich content that relates to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).
With Asian Pacific American Heritage Month approaching, we are proud to announce the launch of a new platform that will develop and feature data-inspired feature writing and provocative short pieces relating to AAPI communities and AAPI experiences. The goal is to harness both the power of compelling data and the storytelling talent of the vibrant AAPI journalist, blogger and academic communities, to inspire more news coverage and public understanding of key aspects and features of our rapidly growing and changing AAPI populations.
To this end, we are openly soliciting pitches for contributions on the following themes for APA Heritage Month in 2014. While the contributions we’re seeking should be anchored in data and explore trends, patterns, nuances or exceptions to conventional wisdom that these data reveal, the style in which the pieces are written can range from analytic to creative, and from sober to humorous, and can range from short pieces (300-500 words) to longer-form, feature-length articles (1000 words+). Whatever the style or format, storytelling counts: Above all, we want to these contributions to be compelling, inviting — and provocative.
Contributors will be paid at competitive online rates (see details below); stories will be published on AAPI Voices, a new and experimental platform developed jointly by AAPIdata.com and 18MR.org, and potentially via other partners and distribution channels as needed to maximize their exposure to both media and audiences at large. AAPI Voices will provide data analysis and visualization support as necessary for accepted pitches.
Our Schedule
May 1 to May 5: Are AAPIs "One, Two, or Many?” Stories that use data to explore and grapple with questions related to whether and when Asian America should be considered a collection of parallel ethnic worlds, a coalition of many cultural communities or a single emergent pan-ethnic “race” — and that touch on issues like evolving racial, ethnic and cultural categorizations (e.g., Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders; multiracial and multiethnic; transracially adopted and other emerging identities).
May 6 to May 12: Health: Stories that use data to explore health access, issues, outcomes, and policies, including mental health — including stories on the impact of ACA, on the intersection of culture and healthcare, and on the landscape of AAPI health practitioners.
May 13 to May 18: Immigration: Stories that use data to look at historical waves of migration and contemporary issues like temporary workers, undocumented AAPIs, the impact of AAPI immigration on changing demographics in different geographical locations, and topics related to immigration policy (H-1B visas and the digital economy, family reunification, LGBT marriage and immigration, visa backlogs, deportations, DREAMers, transnationals, students and parachute kids, etc.).
May 19 to May 25: Age and Generational Differences: Stories that use data to put a lens on issues related to youth, age and generational cohorts, including the growth of the AAPI senior population, cultural trends and preferences among 2nd generation AAPI youth, culture shock and language barriers, childhood and parenting.
May 26 to May 30: Education: Stories that use data to illustrate and explore disparities in educational attainment across national origins; Affirmative Action; language schools and other attempts to cope with loss of Asian language ability; the racial climate on college campuses, and curricular issues, bullying, segregation, the impact of testing and the effect of “specialized” and charter schools on AAPIs in the K-12 system.
In any of the topics above, dimensions of difference such as ethnicity, AA vs. NHPI, gender, LGBT identification, etc. may be considered as relevant and important.
Rates
- 300-500 words or 1 photo/image with accompanying text of approx 150 words: $75
- 800+ words or a series of multiple images with accompanying text of at least 500 words total: $150
- Submissions must be original pieces of content that are currently unpublished
- Selected writers will be compensated within 30 days of publishing date
Selection Process
- AAPIdata.com will manage the editorial assignment process.
- Proposal submission will be managed via Google Forms, link forthcoming.
- All submissions will receive a response (accepted or rejected)
Proposal Deadlines
- “One or Many”: Friday, April 18
- Health: Friday, April 18
- Immigration: Friday, April 25
- Age and Generational Differences: Friday, April 25
- Education: Friday, April 25
AAPIdata.com will select and inform writers within 3 days of each proposal deadline.
Editorial Process
After being accepted, contributors will receive relevant datasets/datapoints and accompanying basic analysis as appropriate for their particular week, including any data that will be turned into infographics for that particular week. Contributors may request more customized data, based on their proposals; these requests should be sent to the editor within 48 hours of receiving the initial data. Final drafts should be submitted to the editor on the following dates: April 27 for the first two themes, and May 5 for the last three themes.
Editors will work with contributors to provide editorial suggestions and/or copyedits, before approving them for publication.
Usage Rights
AAPI Voices retains a perpetual license to publish and feature the contribution across all platforms, with usage governed by Creative Commons standard licensing of attribution, non-commercial use, and “share alike.”
Submit a Proposal!
http://18millionrising.org/blog/2014/apr/16/call-proposals-data-journalism-storytelling-asian-/
