Prof Pacheco Press

"Last year, I had the opportunity to take a course called "The Next News Startup," a class that was taught by Dan Pacheco, the Chair of Journalism Innovation at Newhouse. The class taught students how to think about the future of the news industry as well as work on our own media startups. Our goal was to reach readers/viewers over mobile phones, tablets, the web and various digital platforms; one student used 3D Printing to create fishing lures and another created a website to promote diversity in the workplace. Pacheco was ultimately running a 'mini accelerator.' While the course was challenging at times, it was one of my favorite college courses. I never felt as if I were in a real class, but instead I was a growing a business while pitching, getting feedback from other students, Skyping with experts, and learning the "ins and outs" of how to create a business concept."

The chairman of journalism innovation at Syracuse -- and a drone owner himself -- discusses the issues raised by the FAA's blanket ban on the commercial use of drones.

The chairman of journalism innovation at Syracuse -- and a drone owner himself -- discusses the issues raised by the FAA's blanket ban on the commercial use of drones.

Professor Pacheco was invited to speak on a panel about "Great Universities" in the future. You can see highlights from the panel on YouTube.

Dan Pacheco, a chair in journalism innovation in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, teaches a tech for new media course. He's working with students on using Arduino microcontrollers and sensors to "measure everything from air quality to temperature," he says. "When you connect the Arduino to the Internet, it can upload data to a database so that others can see it and compare to their own data. These citizen sensor networks provide an alternative to government-reported data sources," he says.

"Dan Pacheco, professor of journalism innovation - 'It's important for us to disrupt ourselves. If we don't do it, others will.' "

Newhouse site story about participation in Chancellor's inauguration panel on the future of the university.

4/5/2014 Time Warner Cable News interview about using the Oculus Rift for immersive journalism and storytelling.

This story about Kick it Up was published just as the first Newhouse-backed student Kickstarter campaign was funded.

The December issue of News Pro magazine (page 16 in print magazine) has a story about Horvitz Endowed Chair Dan Pacheco's Kick it Up crowdfunding program: Match Game: Syracuse University Initiative Supports Crowdfunding.

"It's easy to see how something like the Oculus Rift could transform the news-reading experience - not just for traditional news-gathering organizations like The Des Moines Register, but also for just about any Silicon Valley tech company that produces a newsfeed. The very way we think about 'news' could change."

"Pacheco sees this as one part of a growing field of what he calls Experiential Media. Over the next decade, media will increasingly move into our environment, and we will move into media, Pacheco says. Your body itself, rather than a mouse, computer or phone, will increasingly become the primary mode of navigation through content. Pacheco brought an Oculus Rift to Gannett and helped the company locate a 360-degree photo team and 3D modeler from the gaming industry. The process of building the virtual reality farm included 2D photos and videos, which were then superimposed onto Google maps to recreate the scene. Pacheco says, 'It was like watching a pop-up book come to life.' "

Syracuse.com asked Professor Pacheco for his predictions about future technologies over the next 5 to 20 years.

"Dan Pacheco compared the news industry to Hollywood. "In the golden age of movies, the studio controlled everything, hired all of the actors in a company-town model," said Pacheco, "Now everyone is a free agent." While the sources themselves remain a big deal (Time, WSJ, The New York Times), "the journalist is increasingly the brand," noted Pacheco.  Just look at the incredible following new personalities now have on Twitter, due to its uniquely popular open forum."

Pacheco has visions of how the Oculus could be used in the future. Maps could be interactive and 3D, said Pacheco. Pacheco also said natural disaster stories would be perfect for the Oculus Rift, especially when it comes to flooding. He envisions a project where "you can dial in a city, go to one of the coastal areas of that city, and see what the water level is like now and see what it's like in 10, 20, 30 years." "That would be pretty powerful, because instead of reading about the possible effects of climate change, you're going to be in it," he said.

Professor Dan Pacheco's class at Newhouse had some fun before winter break by 3D scanning and printing "exact replicas" of their heads; a technology, according to Isaac Budmen, SU grad and co-author of "The Book on 3D Printing," that will permeate most every aspect of American homelife in the next two to three decades.

'For a couple of days in journalism circles, "Harvest of Change" was the hot trending topic. Never before had you been able to virtually step inside a story and be enveloped by 360-degree video and hyper-realistic 3D renderings of a landscape you could move inside of. And while the full effect was achieved through the Oculus headset, there were also 2D versions made for desktop computers, which let more people experience the story. You can find it at desmoinesregister.com/pages/interactives/harvest-of-change. The seeds of this "harvest" were planted when Dan Pacheco, chair of journalism innovation at the S.I. Newhouse School at Syracuse University, met with Mitch Gelman, vice president of product at Gannett Digital. '