KCUR, along with NPR and member stations, will leverage AI-supported tools to explore how Americans talk with one another and whether it’s possible, this election year, to bridge divides across communities. The goal is to explore a new model for technology-enhanced journalism and audience engagement.
The tools were created by Cortico — in collaboration with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication — and the platform and methods offer a new way to collect, understand, and share community voices.
KCUR's Zach Perez was selected to represent KCUR at a two-day MIT-based training. Participants learned how to design and make sense of conversations, using AI-assisted analysis tools along the way.
The project leads from 10 participating stations will collaborate to finalize scripts for a series of small listening sessions that will take place across the country in each stations' listening areas.
Highlights and insights gleaned from these conversations will be used to produce local and cross-project content. KCUR will receive a one-year license for Cortico's platform to support work within and beyond the project.
“This project is meant to help KCUR more easily listen to and understand the things people tell us," Perez said. "I’m excited for the potential it, and the technology it gives us access to, has to help KCUR’s Community Engagement Team shorten the time between our initial engagement actives in a community and when we are able to accurately represent them and their interests in our content.”
Conversation collection and analysis will take place from August through November, and content outputs are expected to occur by January 2025.
