Allissa Richardson
Born
Washington, DC
NationalityAmerican
Alma materXavier University of Louisiana
Northwestern University
University of Maryland
Occupation(s)Journalist, professor
Websitehttp://www.allissarichardson.com

Allissa V. Richardson is an American journalist and college professor. She is best known as a proponent of mobile journalism and citizen journalism. Richardson has trained students in the United States and Africa to report news using only smartphones, tablets and MP3 players. She is assistant professor of journalism in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Additionally, Richardson is a Nieman Foundation Visiting Journalism Fellow at Harvard University, the 2012 Educator of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists,[1] and a two-time Apple Distinguished Educator.[2]

Biography

Early life and education

Richardson holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Journalism Studies from the University of Maryland College Park. Her dissertation is titled, "Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest #Journalism." Richardson explored the lives of 15 mobile journalist-activists who documented the Black Lives Matter movement using only their smartphones and Twitter.

Richardson earned a Master of Science in journalism with a concentration in Magazine Publishing, Writing and Editing from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Xavier University of Louisiana.

Journalism career

Richardson began her journalism career in 2002 as a general assignment intern for the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York, after winning a Freedom Forum scholarship.[3] In 2003, Johnson Publishing Company selected her as its inaugural intern for Jet magazine. She was promoted to assistant editor of Jet at the end of her internship. Richardson chronicled what she described as a "once-in-a-lifetime experience" of working alongside Jet's founder, John H. Johnson, in a personal essay titled "Farewell and Thank You to John H. Johnson", after he died in 2005. She wrote: "When Mr. Johnson died Aug. 8 at the age of 87, I was torn between feeling selfishly saddened by his departure and enormously grateful for the inroads he made in American journalism".[4] Richardson has reported on Capitol Hill as an assistant editor of food policy for Food Chemical News. She also has written on health, technology and culture for O, The Oprah Magazine, The Baltimore Sun and the Chicago Tribune.

Academic career

At 25, Richardson joined the faculty of Morgan State University. She served as coordinator of its journalism program, and launched and directed the Morgan MOJO Lab in 2010.[5] Students enrolled in her MOJO Lab classes learned to report news using only iPod Touch devices.[6] Morgan State University became the first and only historically black college in the country to offer mobile journalism courses.[7] Richardson accepted a professorship at Bowie State University in Fall 2012. She relocated the MOJO Lab to its campus. She was a mobile media professor in the Emerging Media and Technology division until 2017.[8] After earning her doctorate, Richardson joined the journalism faculty at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She holds a dual appointment in both the journalism and communication departments within the Annenberg School. She studies black feminist media, communication and social justice, mobile journalism, networked journalism, race and the media, and visual communication theory.

Medical career

Richardson worked as a laboratory researcher for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration while studying biology at Xavier University of Louisiana. Her initial career goal was to become a clinical neonatologist who studied ways to decrease nosocomial infections in newborn babies. Her FDA research focus was antimicrobial resistance.[9] Richardson was accepted to the Howard University College of Medicine in 2002, but declined the offer to matriculate.[10] She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in biology, but decided to follow her passion for writing instead. She enrolled in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University that year and won its Weinstein-Luby Outstanding Young Journalist award.[11]

Lectures and media appearances

Richardson has given lectures on mobile journalism throughout Africa, Europe[12] and the United States.[13][14] She has appeared at Harvard University,[15] South by Southwest, Online EDUCA Berlin, the MacArthur Foundation-supported Digital Media and Learning Conference, and many colleges, universities, libraries and United States embassies. Richardson has appeared on NPR to discuss innovation in journalism and education.[16] Her company, MOJO MediaWorks, has been featured in Black Enterprise.

Awards and recognition

Activism

Richardson has called for state-level education reform that would mandate the integration of mobile devices in classrooms to create personal learning environments, which empower students to take ownership of their learning experiences.[20][21]

Richardson is the founder of MOJOPro (formerly known as MOJO MediaWorks). The company creates iPad/iPod storytelling workshops for youth, and mobile learning professional development workshops for educators.[22] In 2012, Richardson co-created the traveling iPod storytelling workshop for the nationally syndicated PBS film, Slavery by Another Name.[23] In 2013, The Washington Post invited her to create a monthly iPad journalism workshop series for journalists, teachers and students in the Washington-Metropolitan area.

Richardson has served as an advisory board member for Global Girl Media.[24] The organization trains girls to shoot and edit news using traditional cameras. Richardson created its first mobile journalism curriculum in 2011, and trained young women in South Africa and Morocco to report news using iPod Touch devices.[25]

Richardson also has served as an advisory board member for Black Girls Code (BGC). BGC trains girls of color to create websites, mobile applications and robot prototypes. In March 2013, Richardson created its first youth mobile journalism workshop that launched at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The project's novelty earned Richardson and her company national acclaim in Black Enterprise magazine as a technology firm on the rise.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "NABJ Honors Morgan State University's, Allissa Richardson as Journalism Educator of the Year - National Association of Black Journalists". www.nabj.org. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  2. ↑ "HBCU Review: Spelman College Named HBCU of the Year". BET.com. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  3. ↑ "Chipsters embrace new challenges" Archived 2012-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, Chips Quinn Diaries, May 25, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Farewell and Thank You to John H. Johnson" Archived 2014-12-10 at the Wayback Machine, Chips Quinn Diaries, August 15, 2005.
  5. ↑ Allissa Richardson Faculty Profile Archived 2013-02-17 at archive.today, Morgan State University.
  6. ↑ "The Morgan MOJO Lab" Archived 2013-01-09 at the Wayback Machine, Morgan State University.
  7. ↑ "Morgan State Launches Mobile Journalism Lab, Leading HBCU's in Worldwide New Media Network", HBCU Buzz, April 13, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Professor Teaches Digital Age Journalism" Archived 2013-02-17 at archive.today, Bowie State University Newsletter, September 12, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Windows to Research and Regulatory Science", Food and Drug Administration, December 1999.
  10. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions" Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today, Allissa Richardson – Official Site.
  11. ↑ "Meet Allissa Hosten" Archived 2013-02-17 at archive.today, Knight Digital Media Center.
  12. ↑ Speaker Profile, Online EDUCA Berlin, November 2012
  13. ↑ Widgets and Wikis for the Web 2.0 Journo, AEJMC
  14. ↑ Akilah Bolden-Monifa, "Public Relations and Journalism: The Intersecting Highway", CBS Diversity Blog, August 23, 2010.
  15. ↑ "2014 Christopher J. Georges Conference on College Journalism | Speaker Bios". nieman.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  16. ↑ "Morgan State finds its Mojo", Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast, June 23, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Reporting Projects Aim to Reach Minority Communities via Mobile Sites and Apps", Knight Foundation Blog, August 13, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Top 100 Digital Sisters of the Year", Digital Sisterhood Network, December 20, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Spencer Winners History" (PDF). gradschool.umd.edu. 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Mobile Journalism: A Model for the Future", Diverse Issues in Higher Education, June 29, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Teaching Kids Through Mobile Media", Open Society Institute, June 20, 2011.
  22. ↑ MOJO Workshops Archived 2013-04-05 at the Wayback Machine, MOJO MediaWorks – Official Site.
  23. ↑ Slavery by Another Name Education Credits, PBS.
  24. ↑ "Global Girl Media Launches South Africa News Bureau" Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine, Global Girl Media – Official Website.
  25. ↑ "September Spotlight: Allissa Richardson" Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, Black EOE Journal, September 14, 2011.
  26. ↑ Black Enterprise
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