teaching.
“this a celly. that’s a tool.”
—childish gambino
In 2010, Allissa created the world’s first collegiate mobile journalism (MOJO) newsroom at Morgan State University. With a $25,000 seed grant from the Knight Foundation, The Morgan MOJO Lab trained students to report news using only smartphones and tablets. As the word spread about Allissa’s experimental news outlet, she and her students were invited around the world to share how they built it. In the decade that followed, she taught 10,000+ young people—in more than 50 cities—how to speak truth to power with their smartphones. The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is Dr. Richardson’s home base now, but she keeps in touch regularly with students around the globe. Here are some of her favorite moments with her MOJOs.
Johannesburg
Partner: GlobalGirl Media
No. of Students: 20
Type of Program: MOJO Workshop
Milan, Rome + Venice
Host: European Association of Social Anthropologists
No. of Attendees: 1,000+
Type of Program: Invited Lecture
Prague
Host: International Communication Association
No. of Attendees: 5,000+
Type of Program: Invited Lecture
National Football League
Partner: University of Southern California
No. of Attendees: 50
Type of Program: MOJO Workshop
Marrakesh, Safi + Tetuoan
Partner: GlobalGirl Media
No. of Students: 40
Type of program: MOJO Workshop
Berlin
Host: Apple, Inc.
No. of Attendees: 2,000+
Type of Program: Apple Distinguished Educator Lightning Talk
SXSW
Partner: Black Girls CODE
No. of Attendees: 10
Type of Program: MOJO Workshop
The White House
Partner: Newsroom U
No. of Attendees: 25
Type of program: MOJO Workshop
PAST KEYNOTES + WORKSHOPS
Apple Distinguished Educator Showcase / Austin, TX
Asian College of Journalism / Chennai, India
Broadcast Educators Association / Las Vegas, NV
Brooklyn Historical Society / Brooklyn, NY
Cornell University / Ithaca, NY
Data 4 Black Lives Convening / Irvine, CA
European Association of Social Anthropologists / Milan, Italy
Facebook Reality Labs + Oculus / Menlo Park, CA
Getty Research Center / Los Angeles, CA
Harvard University / Cambridge, MA
Ignite! Baltimore / Baltimore, MD
Int’l. Communication Association / Prague, Czech Republic
Int’l. Society of Technology Educators / San Antonio, TX
Int’l. Symposium of Online Journalism / Austin, TX
Journalism Interactive Conference / Gainesville, FL
LA County Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Comm. / Los Angeles, CA
LA Times Festival of Books / Los Angeles, CA
London School of Economics / London, UK
MacArthur Fdn. Digital Media + Learning Conference / Chicago, IL
Mobile Me + You / Lincoln, NE
Microsoft Executive Education / Los Angeles, CA
Museum of the Moving Image / Queens, NY
National Football League Executive Education / Los Angeles, CA
National Association of Black Journalists / San Diego, CA
National Association of Hispanic Journalists / Anaheim, CA
Northwestern University / Evanston, IL
Online EDUCA / Berlin, Germany
SnapChat HQ / Los Angeles, LA
Stanford University / Stanford, CA
SXSW / Austin, TX
The Washington Post / Washington, DC
The White House / Washington, DC
Yahoo HQ / Sunnyvale, CA