Glyn Mottershead

Glyn Mottershead

Founder

narrativeNexus

Biography

After 30 years in journalism and 22 of training the next generation, I’ve set up narrativeNexus as a way of supporting companies, charities and newsrooms to work with data and AI (both ML and GenerativeAI) tools as part of their work flow. The company also provides bespoke scraping and data visualisation services alongside freelance data journalism work.

I’m a former Senior Lecturer in Data Journalism at City, University of London.

Prior to that I was founding co-director of the MSc in Computational and Data Journalism, a joint honours course in journalism and computer science.

I’m also a co-founder of the European Data and Computational Journalism Conference. My interests include data journalism, journalism and software development, social media and production journalism.

Services

  • Consultancy
  • Bespoke Training
  • Data Journalism
  • Newsroom Innovation
  • Developer Journalism

Education

  • MSc Elearning Technologies, 2009

    University of Portsmouth

  • Certificate of Education (PCET), 2006

    University of Southampton

  • BScEcon Politics, 1993

    University College Swansea

Recent Posts

Coding for journalists - an evolving reading list

Investigative data journalist Leila Haddou joined us in #datalockdown to deliver a lecture to data and investigative journalism students from City, University of London, Birmingham City University, and De Montfort University on April 30.
Last updated on May 1, 2020 3 min read coding, beginners, Data Journalism

Covid-19 and the European Data and Computational Journalism Conference

You’ve probably seen the news by now that we’ve had to postpone the European Data and Computational Journalism Conference due to Covid-19. I would have posted earlier, but an upgrade and site rebuild means I haven’t done much posting here for a while.
Last updated on Apr 28, 2020 1 min read Data Journalism, Datajconf

Data Police location issues

I’ve just working on a couple of tutorials using data from data.police.uk - the first using the csv download method and the second using an API call using the httr package.
Last updated on Apr 27, 2020 4 min read open data, Data Journalism

Data Journalism in Malaga

A video of the conference
Last updated on Apr 15, 2020 1 min read Datajconf, Data Journalism

Skills

R Programming

Data Visualisation

Data Journalism

Journalism Education

Author

Commentator

Recent & Upcoming Talks

Bridging the Skills Gap: Innovation in Journalism Education

There’s a skills gap between traditional journalism education and training and the emerging requirements of the industry.
Jul 9, 2019 2:00 PM Paris, France

Data and Computational Journalism

Data, algorithms, chatbots and computational journalism impacting on newsrooms, are you ready?
Apr 4, 2019 1:30 PM Cardiff, United Kingdom

Recoding journalism education: mind the skills gap, please!

Fake news, open data, algorithms and news room experimentation mean there’s a need to train journalists beyond the basics.
Sep 2, 2017 12:00 AM Cardiff, United Kingdom

The First Commit of History: Visualising News on a Deadline

How do you deal with statistical uncertainty when you’re up against the clock?
Jul 12, 2017 12:00 AM Exeter, United Kingdom

Now we are three: A perspective on Computational and Data Journalism Education

Key findings from the process of designing a new joint-honours Master’s degree combining Computer Science and Journalism.
Jul 6, 2017 12:00 AM Dublin, Ireland
PDF

Featured Publications

December 2018 Nieman Lab

When a tech company pulls the plug on your story

Every time a free tool goes freemium or a platform closes because it can’t make money, we’ve got an issue. What’s going to happen to the stories that tool feeds?

Nieman Lab's Predictions For Journalism 2019

Recent Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.

When a tech company pulls the plug on your story

Every time a free tool goes freemium or a platform closes because it can’t make money, we’ve got an issue. What’s going to happen to …
Nieman Lab's Predictions For Journalism 2019

Are You Talking To Me?: An Analysis of Journalism Conversation on Social Media

This preliminary research aims to show how computational analysis allows us to investigate the means by which news stories are spread.
CRC Press

'Can I click it? Yes you can': Football journalism, Twitter and clickbait

Does the sports media just use clickbait to generate traffic, and is this is reducing the quality of football journalism?
PDF Ethical Space Journal

Are You Talking To Me?: An Analysis of Journalism Conversation on Social Media

This preliminary research aims to show how computational analysis allows us to investigate the means by which news stories are spread.
PDF DOI Journalism Practice

Subediting and production for journalists

Subediting and Production for Journalists is an introduction to the skills of subediting for newspapers, magazines and websites.
See all publications

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Senior Lecturer

City, University of London

Jun 2019 – Jul 2024 London, England

Responsibilities include:

  • Data journalism
  • Module and course development
  • Teaching data journalism at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels
  • Teaching online and social journalism
 
 
 
 
 

Senior Lecturer

Cardiff University

Nov 2006 – May 2019 Cardiff, Wales

Responsibilities include:

  • Co-director MSc Computational and Data Journalism
  • Senior Personal Tutor
  • Teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
  • Member of NCTJ Public Affairs Exam board (2006-2009)
  • External examiner at a number of UK universities
 
 
 
 
 

Lecturer

Highbury College, Portsmouth

Jun 2002 – Oct 2006 Portsmouth, England

Responsibilities included:

  • Course leader for Fast-track Postgraduate and Block Release NCTJ-accredited courses
  • Industry training
  • NCE trainer - working with professional journalists to prepare them for senior exams
 
 
 
 
 

Journalist

Newsquest

Oct 1997 – Feb 2002 Southampton, England

Responsibilities included:

  • Splash/production sub for daily paper
  • Chief Reporter/Deputy Editor for large weekly
  • Acting Editor for two weekly newspapers
  • Feature Journalism
  • Supplement development
 
 
 
 
 

Journalist

Guardian Media Group

Feb 1995 – Oct 1997 Manchester and Hampshire, UK

Responsibilities included:

  • Court and crime reporting
  • Education and Health Correspondent
  • General News reporting

Contact