A “New Narratives” Approach to Investigations

This workshop provides participants with skills and methods to identify, investigate and tell social stories that are relevant to local communities in order to connect audiences to topics which affect them. It applies a “new narratives” approach to creating and telling stories, aiming to improve the social impact of investigations in terms of collaborative efforts, evidence shared and audience reached. The workshop is particularly recommended to NGO researchers, community members, activists and others who wish to conduct local investigations that meet journalistic standards.

Workshop Overview

Topic: Innovative ways to investigate and narrate social stories in local communities.

Aims:

  • To make participants aware of what a social story is, and how to reconnect audiences and communities to these kinds of stories.
  • To introduce participants to "new narrative" techniques that can improve the social impact of investigations in terms of collaborative efforts, evidence shared and audience reached.
  • To provide participants who are not specialised in journalistic investigation (such as NGO researchers and investigators, community members, graduate students, etc.) with the necessary knowledge and methodology to conduct research and investigations at journalistic standards.
  • To provide participants with skills to determine the best means of narrating, publishing and disseminating an investigation.
  • To introduce participants to a circular narrative methodology and show why it is important.
  • To demonstrate that investigations can be tools for social participation and inclusion.

General guidelines for trainers:

  • This workshop can be divided into sessions lasting 40-65 minutes each. Between sessions, a short break or a quick energizer activity can be added.
  • The workshop methodology encourages the active participation of each participant throughout the process. Ask a lot of questions to introduce the knowledge you want to share and engage participants in addressing them.
  • For group activities, participants can work in small teams (3-5 people each). Ideally, each team should share at least one common characteristic such as: interest in investigating and working on similar topics, same country or geographic region, similar professional or technical skills.
  • For a smoother collaboration during small group activities, you or the teams can assign roles such as: Facilitator, Recorder / Note-taker, Timekeeper, Presenter, Artist (whenever a visual presentation is required.)
  • For online workshops, we recommend sharing a timer on the screen during energizers and small group activities.
  • Given that this workshop focuses on social stories at a community level, it is particularly important to adapt any advice, examples and cases to the context of your participants.

Mode of delivery: online or in-person

Workshop duration (without breaks): 5 hours

Number of participants: 6 - 20

Related workshops: This workshop can be combined with "Communicating Investigations", "Evaluating Evidence and Information Sources", "The Human Element of Investigations: (1) Identifying and Reaching Out to Sources Safely"" and related modules (2,3,4), "Safety First: Basics of preventive digital safety", or other relevant workshops from our list.

Relevant articles and guides:

Workshop activities and templates to download:

Notes on using online tools for workshop activities:

  • When suggesting or providing an online tool for collaborative activities, note-taking or presentations by participants, please make sure that it is freely available and functional for multiple users at the same time, and that it does not require participants to create personal accounts for one-time use (for instance, you could allocate a visitor's access from one of the tools you already use).
  • Make sure that the tool / platform can be accessible to users with little or no technical experience. This will save time and ensure that each participant can comfortably contribute.
  • Inform participants in advance of the online tools you will use during the session, and allow them to become familiar by watching a tutorial if needed.

Learning Activities

Opening (15 minutes)

Workshop introduction

Read Watch Listen | 5 minutes

Instructions for trainer:

  • Grab attention by posing a question or commenting on a relevant topic, image, etc.
  • Introduce yourself and the goals of the workshop.
  • Introduce the source of the workshop material.
  • Inform participants of the workshop agenda and structure.
  • Introduce any materials that will be used during the workshop.
  • If conducting the workshop online, provide a brief overview of the shared spaces where participants will collaborate (e.g. digital whiteboard, shared cloud folder/file, etc.).
  • Suggest ground rules for the workshop, including but not limited to: respect, establishing a safe and trusted environment for sharing experiences and questions, confidentiality and equality principles. Emphasize that there is "no such thing as 'stupid' questions" and that "everyone is an expert in their own context."

    • Inform and remind participants not to share potentially harmful or graphic depictions or descriptions of events and material without the consent of the group. This is particularly important when discussing investigation cases and related evidence that may cause distress to some people.
    • Specific suggestions about setting up workshop ground rules are available in the ETI Facilitator's Guide, section on "Delivering the Workshops".
Participants’ introductions and icebreaker

Produce | 10 minutes

Instructions:

  • Make a quick round of introductions by asking participants to answer a couple of questions about themselves, their work, their workshop expectations, etc.
  • Alternatively, you can pick an icebreaker exercise that encourages participants to get creative by drawing answers or ideas on an online whiteboard or, if off-line, stand up and perform some tasks.

1. The question(s) (1 hour and 5 minutes)

Aim: this session will help participants identify a series of relevant questions for their community, and to prioritise the question(s) they want to answer through their research and investigation.

Opening: What is a social story?

Discuss | 5 minutes

Tools / Materials: none needed

Instructions

  • Start by asking participants, "What is a social story?" and invite them to share their answers and perspectives.

  • If needed, provide a brief description of "social story" as seen in this context:

    • A narrative exposing / presenting an issue that affects a specific community and that can directly impact the community in various areas from health, education, cultural diversity, to migration, environment, policy decisions, local politics, etc.
    • A social story (as considered in this workshop) has direct and tangible relevance to a defined region and its population. It can also be a national / global issue specifically approached from a local community perspective and impact.
What do we care about?

Produce | 10 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • For online workshops: participants need a personal device with internet connection (laptop, tablet)
  • For in-person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • Shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • [Optional] "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Individual activity / brainstorming: What do we care about?"

Instructions

  • Using a shared file / online whiteboard (if online) or large post-its on a board (offline), ask each participant to individually answer - in 2 minutes - the following questions using maximum 180 characters as specifically as possible:

      1. What is the most important / interesting / worrying social topic for you? (e.g.: water shortage, ageing population, inequality in schools, discrimination, etc.)
      1. Why is that topic important for you?
  • Based on potentially similar answers and topics of interest, create working teams with 3-5 participants per team.

  • Together with the trainer, each team agrees on one main topic of interest, which they will explore during the entire workshop

Team work: Following media reports and coverage

Collaborate | 20 minutes

NOTE: adapt the time of this exercise to the number of participants and working groups - for more than 12 participants (3 groups), we recommend allocating more than 20-30 minutes.

Tools / Materials:

  • Same as above
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Following media reports and coverage"

Instructions

[15 minutes] Team research task

  • Each team - as formed in the previous session - chooses five (online) newspapers / media websites relevant to the participants' local, national, regional or international context and their selected topic of interest, as defined in the previous exercise. You can help by providing some relevant examples, if needed.

  • From the five newspapers / media websites, teams identify specific media content (articles, reports, analyses) related to their topic of interest - ideally between 6 and 12 pieces in the time available.

  • Each team lists 6 - 10 questions already answered by the media articles/reports they have identified, and writes them down.

  • Each team finds at least one missing question or gap that has not been answered by the articles they have just identified and reviewed.

  • Divide the task among team members to ensure good use of the available time (e.g. each member reviews one media outlet.)

Note for the trainer: briefly join each team while they work on the task to provide assistance.

[5 minutes] Debriefing

  • At the end of the exercise, ask each team to share their non-answered question and help them to better define it if necessary.
Understanding media narratives

Read Watch Listen | 10 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • Presentation (slides or other materials) prepared in advance based on the content below.

Instructions

Give a short presentation focusing on the following points:

  • What is a narrative?: a narrative is a story; in journalism it is a way of telling the story about a topic, issue or event in various formats: article, video, photo reportage, podcast, etc.

  • What is a narrative framework?: a narrative framework is the general approach, attitude and storyline used to talk about a subject. In this context, the narrative is the story you tell within this framework. You can maintain a framework and modify what you place inside it, or you can try to change the whole framework where those stories are told. For instance, here are two narrative frameworks for the topic of migration that you may find in the media as well as within a community:

      1. migration is an unnatural phenomenon that happens in critical circumstances, such as war, natural disaster, poverty;
      1. migration is natural and inherent to human beings; people have been migrating since the beginning of human existence.
  • How narratives work in investigative journalism and in journalism overall.

  • Why it is important to use a narrative to expose and share findings for better reach and impact.

  • Share examples about how a narrative works and how it affects public opinion, choosing one or two cases that are relevant to the context (region and / or topics of interest) of your participants.

  • Emphasise the importance of researching and understanding existing and dominant narratives around a topic / problem as an essential starting point for anyone who intends to investigate that topic further.

  • Introduce tips on how to research a topic and related narrative framework(s) effectively by maximising internet searches, for instance by applying techniques such as searching internet archives and "dorking" - using various search engines to their full potential to unearth results that are not visible with a regular search.

  • You can showcase some examples of "dorking' by using search "operators" to refine your searches and dive deeper and with greater precision into available media reports. Use and adapt some search operators from the Exposing the Invisible Kit guide "Search Smarter by Dorking."

RESOURCES - to consult when preparing the session (these guides can be shared with participants for further reading after the workshop):

Team work: Narrative frameworks and gaps

Collaborate | 20 minutes

NOTE: adapt the time of this exercise to the number of participants and working groups - for more than 12 participants (3 groups), we recommend allocating more than 20-30 minutes.

Tools / Materials:

  • For online: personal devices with internet connection (laptop, tablet); shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • For in-person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Narrative frameworks and gaps"

Instructions

  • Ask participants to return to their previous teams with a set of instructions as listed below.

[15 minutes] Group task

  • Answer the following questions and write down the findings in a shared file / digital whiteboard (if online) or on sheets of paper / flipchart (if offline):

    • What is the main narrative framework currently about your topic?
    • What is the main angle from which the media presents this topic?
    • What are the top three questions that journalists / activists, etc. pay more attention to when addressing this topic?
    • What question(s) or angle(s) of the topic / problem are not addressed by the media? Where are the main gaps? (pick one or two)

Additional guidelines for teams:

As they identify the main gap(s) and unanswered question(s) about their topic, ask the groups to use some of the "dorking" (advanced search) techniques on browsers like Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo or Yahoo to verify / answer the following questions:

  • Has someone else already addressed the question / gap they initially identified? (e.g. an NGO in its reports, a politician in their speeches, an academic researcher, etc.)

  • Is this a public interest topic?

  • Where can you find more information? (e.g. social media, discussion forums)

[5 minutes] Debriefing:

  • Back in the main group / plenary space, review each team's answers and comment on their findings.

  • With your help and feedback, teams should decide on one big question to address (one that is the least covered by the media). This question is essential from now on as it will guide their work during the rest of the workshop.

Suggested 15-20 minute break - part of the break can also be used by groups to take a final decision about their guiding question.

2. The information sources (45 minutes)

Aim: this session will help participants identify the types of information they need for their research and the main sources of information (people, institutions) they can reach out to.

Opening: Where can we find information?

Discuss | 5 minutes

Tools / Materials: none needed

Instructions

  • Sum up key points from the previous session and invite participants to share their ideas responding to the following question:

    • Where can we find the information we need for our research?
  • Depending on the answers, give feedback and emphasize the following possible sources of information:

    • Create a new story / "new narrative" based on different pieces of information that have already been published and that can improve and strengthen our approach and arguments;
    • Seek new information or expand the existing story through innovative research.
  • Invite participants to share any additional expectations from this session and inform them of what will be achieved.

Finding sources of information

Read Watch Listen | 10 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • Presentation (slides or other visual materials) prepared in advance based on the content below, projector or shared screen for participants.

Instructions

Give a short presentation focusing on the most relevant steps, methods and resources. Use the resources listed below to include tips and examples in your presentation.

Basic elements and methods:

  • Types of sources of information: direct-indirect, human-physical-digital, online-offline, etc. (include definitions and tips from the "Evaluating Evidence and Sources" guide: https://kit.exposingtheinvisible.org/en/how/evaluate-evidence.html)

  • Obligations and rights of the investigator - e.g. the obligation to obtain informed consent from sources / interviewees, to protect their sources, etc.; the right to request information from public institutions, etc.

  • How to approach different kinds of sources - using clear examples relevant to the topics / questions selected by participants.

  • Useful methods and technologies - e.g. secure messaging apps to communicate with colleagues and sources, Wayback Machine to find historical information online, etc.

Data sources:

  • Where to find them:

    • invite participants to contribute ideas based on their selected working question.
  • How to create and structure a basic research database or repository, including all the information and sources you need for the investigation:

    • this is less about datasets and technical data processing skills and more about efficient planning - i.e. when you gather information you need to organize it in a logical flow, making sure to include all the information you collected as well as data you still need to find and how.
  • How to save, manage and protect the data (share some tips and resources from the "Safety First" guide: https://kit.exposingtheinvisible.org/en/safety.html and workshop: https://exposingtheinvisible.org/en/workshops/safety-first-workshop/)

  • How to maintain useful contact with human sources.

  • Example to mention - fundamental knowledge about how to request public information at a national and / or European level:

RESOURCES - to consult when preparing the session (these guides can be shared with participants for further reading after the workshop):

Team work: Information quest

Investigate | 30 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • For online: personal devices with internet connection (laptop, tablet); shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • For in-person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing trainer presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Information quest"

Instructions

  • Ask participants to return to their previous teams with a set of instructions as listed below.

[20 minutes] Group task:

  • Each team will research and collect information related to their investigation question** (as decided in the previous task) and add their findings to a shared file (online or offline), focusing on the following points:

    • identify three different data sources (they can be human sources, public institutions, etc.)
    • identify the key questions to ask public authorities and other relevant institutions
    • draft a public information request to a relevant institution

Remind teams to divide research tasks to save time, and to assign a note-taker and a presenter for their findings.

[10 minutes] Debriefing

  • In the plenary group / room, ask teams to share the files with their findings and invite volunteers from one or two teams to talk about their main findings and challenges - 1 minute each.

  • Briefly share feedback on all teams' results.

3. The (human) story at the centre (45 minutes)

Aim: to find a human and / or specific story that illustrates the issue and question we want to address, thus enforcing the "new narrative" to develop.

Opening: Who are the "faces"?

Discuss | 10 minutes

Tools / Materials: none needed

Instructions

[5 minutes] Brainstorming the "human story"

  • Invite participants to answer the following question:

    • What are (can be) the human faces of the information we have found?
  • Introduce the aims of this section and check on participants' pending questions and expectations.

[5 minutes] Awareness and preparation

  • Invite participants to respond to the following question:

    • How do we prepare before going out to meet sources and conduct any field research?
  • Add to the participants' answers by emphasising key aspects regarding ethics, safety, risk assessment and wellbeing when looking for the human story in any investigation:

    • Before you go to the ground (or start researching online): the importance of individual as well as joint team safety awareness and harm prevention.
    • Defining the ideal profiles we need for the human story: who do we want to focus on, and how?
    • Working with sensitive cases and vulnerable sources: the importance of empathy and protection.
    • Adopt a "holistic security" approach: focus not only on digital and physical safety but also on emotional support and wellbeing of the research team, sources and the main people at the centre of the narrative / story.
Reaching out and interviewing people

Read Watch Listen | 10 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • Presentation (slides or other materials) prepared in advance based on the content below.

Instructions

Give a brief presentation of the main steps involved in reaching out to human sources of an investigation:

  • How to identify and choose a source - finding the ideal profile based on needs.

  • How to prepare an interview - from understanding your source, preparing questions and testing them in advance to arranging the interview logistics.

  • How to conduct an interview - from obtaining consent to what to watch out for, how to handle challenges that may occur; the difference between different types of interviews (remote / face-to-face, etc.)

  • How to use the interview material - including recording, transcribing and using interview quotes / information in your story.

RESOURCES - to consult when preparing the session (these guides can be shared with participants for further reading after the workshop):

Team work: Reaching out and interviewing people

Produce | 25 minutes

NOTE: adapt the time of this exercise to the number of participants and working groups - for more than 12 participants (3 groups), we recommend allocating 30-35 minutes.

Tools / Materials:

  • For online: personal devices with internet connection (laptop, tablet); shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • For in-person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing trainer presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Reaching out and interviewing people"

Instructions

  • Ask participants to return to their previous teams with a set of instructions as listed below.

[15 minutes] Group task

  • Pick a profile of a source / interviewee relevant for the team's case study.

  • Prepare a maximum 7-question interview adapted to the source's profile and the information you need from them.

  • Assign a note-taker to document the process and a presenter for the debriefing.

[10 minutes] Debriefing

  • In the plenary room / group, invite each team to present their interviewee profile and the questions they developed - 2 minutes each.

  • If time allows, you can run a role-play with one of the groups to test the questions, where the trainer acts as the interviewee.

  • Provide feedback to teams and pick some examples of good questions as well as questions that need improvement.

4. The audience of the story (55 minutes)

Aim: to learn how to identify potential audience(s) for the investigative story and how to design a new narrative with that audience in mind.

Opening: Who are you addressing?

Discuss | 5 minutes

Tools / Materials: none needed

Instructions

  • Open this session with a brief brainstorming exercise, inviting participants to answer the questions:

    • Who do you think is your audience? Who may care about your story?
  • Introduce the aims of this section and check on participants' pending questions and expectations.

Defining the audiences

Read Watch Listen | 15 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • Presentation (slides or other materials) prepared in advance based on the content below.

Instructions

Give a brief presentation focusing on the following concepts and practices. Involve the participants by asking them to provide input based on their experience as audience and/or as investigators:

Audience-related aspects and definitions:

  • Obvious audience groups: age, gender, subject / topic interests.

  • Audiences by perception: lovers, haters, ambivalent.

  • How to analyse perception: quantitative, qualitative

    • For instance, it might be useful to create "audiences maps" combining available quantitative studies and statistics (at regional or local level) with qualitative analyses of audience interests and perceptions from interviews, focus groups, crowdsourced questionnaires on social media, etc. This may be possible from existing data/sources or developed specifically for an investigation, if time and resources allow it.

Re(connecting) audiences with social information

  • How our audiences feel about a topic.

  • What our audiences need or prefer when "consuming" a topic:

    • For instance: why does hate speech and / or sensationalism gain more impact with some audiences?
  • Love narratives for social storytelling, and how to fight hate speech (use the guides and resources below to inform this part of the presentation)

Changing the narrative

  • 7 "rules" to create a new narrative / storytelling for social information - use the "Rebranding migration" workshop and guide linked below to explain the rules:

    • Avoid reactive messages

    • Avoid "we" versus "they"

    • Speak about emotions and avoid (unexplained, non-essential) raw data

    • Substitutive speech

    • Local approach

    • Subconscious perception

    • The "Coca-Cola effect"

  • Other journalistic tools that can be applied in any informative product.

RESOURCES - to consult when preparing the session (the guides can be shared with participants for further reading after the workshop):

Team work: Creating the story for its audience

Produce | 35 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • For online: personal devices with internet connection (laptop, tablet); shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • For in-person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing trainer presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Creating the story for its audience"

Instructions

  • Ask participants to return to their previous teams with a set of instructions as listed below. Briefly join each group while they work on their task and provide help or feedback as needed.

[25 minutes] Group task

  • Create a story line applying the "7 rules" of new narratives.

  • Develop the story plan as you would prepare it for publication, including a title, main points you'd like to emphasize, the key messages and related format you plan to use in order to reach the intended audience.

  • Assign a note-taker for the storyline and a presenter for the debriefing session.

[10 minutes] Debriefing

  • Teams share the result of their work - 2 minutes each. Encourage other teams to share reactions and suggestions with each other after each presentation.

  • Wrap up by providing final remarks and feedback and checking for pending questions.

5. The channels of the story (40 minutes)

Aim: to learn how to create a plan for the publication and dissemination of a story by identifying the right channels, platforms and partners.

Opening: Where do we communicate?

Discuss | 5 minutes

Instructions

  • Open this session with a brief brainstorming exercise, inviting participants to answer the question:

    • What is your favourite communication channel / platform and why?
  • Introduce the aims of this section and check on participants' pending questions and expectations.

Communication channels and their audiences

Read Watch Listen | 10 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • Presentation (slides or other materials) prepared in advance based on the content below.

Instructions

  • Facilitate a brief brainstorming on means and platforms of communicating stories

  • Ask participants to share their ideas and preferences, including what the best platforms might be for their stories.

  • Make a summary of their ideas, and add additional suggestions, including:

    • written, audio, visual formats and platforms,

    • main journalistic platforms,

    • main new digital platforms.

  • The benefits and challenges of combining platforms - when is this effective and when not? (this can be trainer presentation or a facilitated discussion with participants if the group is comfortable)

  • How to contact media outlets and introduce your investigation: tips and advice on how to gain trust and nurture collaboration with the media, for instance:

    • when is a good idea to contact media from the early stage of preparing a story and when now;
    • how to "sell" a topic and a new narrative to the media, etc.
  • How to reach beyond the media - for example, collaborating with NGOs and universities for research, publication or taking the work further after publication.

RESOURCES - to consult when preparing the session (the guides can be shared with participants for further reading after the workshop):

Team work: Creating a publication plan

Produce | 25 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • For online: personal devices with internet connection (laptop, tablet); shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • For offline / in person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing trainer presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Creating a publication plan"

Instructions

  • Ask participants to return to their teams with a set of instructions as listed below. Briefly join each group while they work on their task and provide help or feedback as needed.

[15 minutes] Group task

  • Create a media publication and promotion plan for your story.

  • The plan should include:

    • main channels / platforms for communicating your story,
    • the media and other institutions you plan to partner with, and how you plan to bring them on board,
  • challenges you expect and how you will mitigate them.

[10 minutes] Debriefing

  • Teams share the result of their work - 1 minute each. Encourage other teams to share reactions and suggestions with each other after each presentation.

  • Wrap up by providing final remarks and feedback and checking for pending questions.

6. The never-ending story cycle (25 minutes)

Aim: to understand that any investigation opens the door to new questions and therefore, to new investigations.

Opening: What next?

Discuss | 5 minutes

Instructions

  • Open this session with a brief brainstorming exercise, inviting participants to answer the question:

    • Are we done once we publish the story?
  • Introduce the aims of this section and check on participants' pending questions and expectations.

Team work: Identifying a follow-up to the story

Practice | 20 minutes

Tools / Materials:

  • For online: personal devices with internet connection (laptop, tablet); shared online whiteboard such as Miro, Mural, or shared editable files in a cloud service for collaboration / team work.
  • For offline / in person workshops: a personal device with internet connection (tablet, laptop) - at least one available for each team; projector or big screen for sharing trainer presentations, whiteboard, flipchart paper, post-its, pens.
  • "Activity Templates - A 'New Narratives' Approach to Investigations" / section "Group activity: Identifying a follow-up"

Instructions

  • Ask participants to return to their previous teams with a set of instructions as listed below.

[15 minutes] Group task

  • List the possible follow-up questions and topics or "new narratives" you can develop after publishing your initial story.

  • Consider:

    • why these new questions can be relevant for the public,
    • what difference they can make for the initial story and why that matters.

[5 minutes] Debriefing

  • Teams share the result of their work - 1 minute each.

  • Wrap up by providing final remarks and checking for pending questions.

Closure (10 minutes)

Wrap-up Activity: Takeaway Poster

Produce | 5 minutes

Tools/Materials

  • Shared drawing pad / slide / whiteboard (online)
  • Whiteboard / flip-chart paper, post-its, markers (offline)

Instructions

  • Ask participants to create a takeaway poster by sharing their answers to the following question in the shared whiteboard / drawing board:

    • What are your main takeaways from today's workshop?
  • Give participants a few minutes to write and/or draw their thoughts and read the thoughts of others.

Debriefing

  • Review and highlight some of the points on the shared board.
Conclusion

Read Watch Listen | 5 minutes

Tools/Materials: No materials needed.

Instructions

  • Wrap up the workshop and sum up its contents.

  • Run a quick review of the session to gather participants' reactions. Each participant would say:

    • one thing they found very good about the session and
    • one thing they would improve for the next time
  • Encourage participants to ask questions or give some final tips.

  • Share contact information if relevant, and any follow-up details.

To keep participants informed about what is going on at all times, trainers can effectively sum up workshop contents following these steps:

    1. [in the introduction] tell participants what is going to happen;
    1. [during each part of the session / workshop] remind them what is happening;
    1. [at the end of the session/workshop] tell them what just happened. In addition, at the end, trainers need to make sure they point out which expectation have been addressed.

Contact Us

Please reach out to us at Exposing the Invisible if you:

  • have any questions about this workshop plan and facilitation guidelines,
  • use this workshop plan and want to share feedback and suggestions that can help to improve them,
  • adapt the workshop plan to a specific context and want to share the results with us,
  • want to suggest new activities, tips or examples that can be added to this workshop,
  • want to share your expertise and collaborate with us on developing and testing new workshops.

Contact: eti@tacticaltech.org (GPG Key / fingerprint: BD30 C622 D030 FCF1 38EC C26D DD04 627E 1411 0C02).

Credits and Licensing

CC BY-SA 4.0

This content is produced by Tactical Tech's Exposing the Invisible project, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license

  • Workshop authors: José Bautista, Lucila Rodríguez-Alarcón / porCausa Foundation
  • Instructional design: A. Hayder, Laura Ranca
  • Editorial and content: Christy Lange, Lieke Ploeger, Laura Ranca
  • Graphic design: Yiorgos Bagakis, Laura Ranca
  • Website development: Laurent Dellere, Saqib Sohail
  • Project coordination and supervision: Christy Lange, Laura Ranca, Lieke Ploeger, Marek Tuszynski, Safa Ghnaim, Wael Eskandar

This resource has been developed as part of the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI) co-funded by the European Commission under the Pilot Project: "Supporting investigative journalism and media freedom in the EU" (DG CONNECT).

This text reflects the author’s view and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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