WIRED offering non-journalists a residency program

April 8, 2021 9:02 AM

"Between a pandemic, climate change, and advances in technology that continue to reshape almost every way of life, the past year has been a bellwether for work in the US. At WIRED, we believe some of the people best situated to cover this rapid evolution—from growing pains to genius pivots and everything in between—are the people who know those industries from the inside. That’s why we’re launching a new program called the WIRED Resilience Residency." Last month Wired magazine announced that it is "looking for new voices to provide an insider perspective on rapidly changing industries."

"Geared toward professionals whose own careers have been upended by these forces, the Resilience Residency offers a unique opportunity for non-journalists to report powerful stories from their changing fields and start new conversations about the future. Over six months, beginning in June, residents will collaborate with WIRED’s award-winning editorial team on ambitious storytelling projects about their industries. An artist could report on how performers are reinventing theater, dance, and live music. An urban planner could explore how cities are actually changing as a result of the pandemic. These projects can take many forms, including written features, photo essays, data visualizations, podcasts, videos, social media experiments, and beyond."

Will this be a form of citizen journalism? Dunno. The publication will publish residents’ work on its channels and residents "will become well versed in WIRED’s reporting and editorial standards, receive feedback on their work, and work with experienced members of our staff." The deadline to submit materials for the program is 11:59 pm PST on May 16, 2021. Individuals from underrepresented communities, as well as from industries not covered regularly by the magazine are encouraged to apply.

Microsoft is bankrolling the effort, which will be editorially independent, according to the announcement. Those accepted into the program, which will be remote, will be treated as freelance contributors and paid a flat fee of $24,000. The program wants candidates who have experienced how technology and science are changing their industries, who have something to say about it, and who have worked in their specific industry for at least a few years.

Previously: Blog people, Wikinewsies, and other citizen journalists (from 2005)

posted by Bella Donna (13 comments total)

An artist could report on how performers are reinventing theater, dance, and live music.

Yes, but would that artist be allowed to write about how tech monopolies are destroying the ability of artists to make a living on their labor? Given Wired's bent and Microsoft's funding, I'm skeptical.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:36 AM on April 8, 2021 [5 favorites]

"How to commit career suicide in one easy, $24,000 step."
posted by warriorqueen at 9:48 AM on April 8, 2021 [6 favorites]

This is just so much like non-tech journalists asking gig economy workers "why is gig economy work so popular?" God damn it, gig work isn't "popular," it's that people don't have enough money to get by and so they give in so they at least have a little bit of money. How can you call something "popular" when the answer to the question of "why is it so popular" is "sheer desperation?"

So much of it is in the framing, notice the framing is about how performers are "reinventing theater, dance, and live music" not that they are "forced to reinvent theater, dance, and live music because corporate ownership has all but destroyed their ability to have a true artistic voice and has devalued their labor."

Notice they've stopped using the word "disrupting" and they've settled on "changing."

"to report powerful stories from their changing fields"

"who have experienced how technology and science are changing their industries"

Anyway, I don't know, I guess we'll see. I'd say it's within the realm of possibilities for WIRED to not fuck this up and actually produce good journalism, but I also will not be surprised if corporate editorial meddling made it toothless, in the end.
posted by deadaluspark at 9:49 AM on April 8, 2021 [6 favorites]

I remember in college seeing the first issue of Wired magazine and an article on cell phone hacking.
posted by mecran01 at 10:16 AM on April 8, 2021

Owned by Condé Nast
posted by kfholy at 10:18 AM on April 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

Reading Wired magazine from 1993-1995

This aspirational, tech-enabled life style was intended to galvanize what Wired’s 1992 media kit dubbed “the Digital Vanguard”: high-earning professionals, majority male, average age forty, who were, according to the kit, inclined to spend their disposable income on “six days of backpacking in the Grand Tetons,” “new libations, like Chilean wines,” and, of course, new technologies. But early Wired was also a geek magazine: when it covered digital subcultures—as in the 1994 series on Usenet, a sprawling warren of online bulletin boards—it was shining a light on its readers.

I miss the digital subcultures part of Wired. It was always about selling us a glorious, lucrative technotopia, but once in a while some weirdness would slip in the back door.
posted by mecran01 at 10:42 AM on April 8, 2021 [5 favorites]

Somewhere in my scary closet is the first issue of Wired. I threw out all the rest. I enjoyed it for a few years, but it slowly evolved into a libertarian screed and more look at how wonderful we are type magazine. More along the lines of Playboy than the usual Tech magazine like Byte.
posted by njohnson23 at 10:57 AM on April 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

I think this is an interesting idea and I, too, am skeptical that Wired can pull it off without hurting any contributors in the process. Still, I am hopeful (for no good reason) that this program may highlight some new BIPOC voices in an extremely white industry (tech publishing). Wired apparently has a new editor-in-chief. Maybe this is his (of course, his) way to try to make an impact early on.

Also, MF is filled with fascinating folks. Kind of hope a MeFite lands one of the spots. That would be, in theory at least, great.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:41 AM on April 8, 2021 [4 favorites]

will be treated as freelance contributors and paid a flat fee of $24,000.

So, not nearly enough to live on, way more than enough to fuck with your tax situation. Definitely enough to kick you off unemployment, which thanks to pandemic emergency measures many artistic folks are able to get for the first time in their lives.

Why am I not surprised.
posted by soundguy99 at 1:06 PM on April 8, 2021 [8 favorites]

maybe it would be more ethical to find people who have already been laid off and have less to lose?

although future employers will always be looking at leakers, it's almost like it will always be used against you if it's not made anonymous.

who speaks for the unemployed? it's dangerous. workers have unions....the unemployed got nothing.

I work in advocacy, i get calls from people working in industry often. there's a reason they call me, and not the press, even though they must know, that their voice will be more marginal coming from an advocate, rather than from the source
posted by eustatic at 3:57 PM on April 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

Conde Nasty get fucked. What about all the out-of-work journalists “whose own careers have been upended by these (industry) forces? I guess it’s easier to prey on a new group chumps.
posted by photoslob at 5:29 PM on April 8, 2021 [3 favorites]

Thanks for sharing. I'm probably one of Microsoft's biggest critics but I appreciate that they as company at least recognize the nice PR supporting a residency provides them. I look forward to reading the resulting articles.
posted by mundo at 7:56 PM on April 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

we invite and encourage candidates from underrepresented communities, as well as from industries that don’t regularly appear in our pages... Candidates must be eligible to work in the US

Wow, that sounds familiar!
posted by Meatbomb at 10:58 PM on April 8, 2021 [1 favorite]