Click on the player above to listen to full audio of Alex’s interview
In the second of two guest posts for OJB (read the first part here), Alex Iacovangelo interviews Al Jazeera’s Juliana Ruhfus (full audio above) on the reasons why gamification has not been more widely used in journalism.
What is a game? Why audiences like games, and editors don’t
The word ‘game’ attracts new types of audiences, especially when so many are gamers, but within the news business it can have the opposite effect internally, especially when pitching.
“It was the word ‘game’ that put people off,” says Juliana.
“I’ve tried explaining what gamification is as a process and once you actually break down the mechanics people really get it, but it is the word – because games aren’t seen as serious.
“People raise their eyebrows and I was very careful when I pitched it.”
