Shattuck Stories

A Living Laboratory of Immersive Journalism

Site-based storytelling is a key component of the Experiential Journalism Lab. Launched through a grant from Agog, we offer internships through the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley Journalism, where we train students how to develop stories that both inform the public and invite them to engage with the material through real-world experiences. This approach teaches journalism students both traditional "gumshoe" and community-based reporting while also training them to use the latest augmented reality production software.

The stories result in site-based experiences that consist of a short audiowalk with phone-based augmented reality visualizations that offer context and create personal and embodied connection to the stories. Accompanying text or video stories will be produced in collaboration with local news outlets.

Students and directors of the Experiential Journalism Lab explore The University Lutheran Chapel with site administrator, Catherine McElaney.

The Lab has four stories in development: one on Berkeley’s history as a sanctuary city amid stepped-up immigration enforcement, another on the little-known legacy of the city’s co-ops, a story on the repatriation of Native American artifacts, and a story about the brain science behind grief. Some of these projects will become part of the Lab’s Shattuck Stories project, a series of student-designed, site-specific journalism stories set along Shattuck Avenue that have an online and an on-the-street component.

Shattuck Stories will bring the public into physical contact with the stories that matter most to them.

- Michael Epstein, Lab Co-Director

The long-term goal of the project is to create a rhythm of recognized and publicly-accessible stories and events along the length of Shattuck Avenue—from the Berkeley Hills to the Oakland flats—that tell diverse stories that inspire readers to engage with their communities and local history.