[At a launch event for the Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab at the University of Southern California on February 8, 2023 the Lab’s founding director Professor Allissa Richardson, unveiled the Lab’s first virtual human, Lora King. Professor Richardson’s Facebook post after the event (which includes nine more images) is below and provides some of the details about the project and a link to a website where you can “talk” to Lora King. For more information, see coverage from USC’s Daily Trojan, USC News, and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. –Matthew]
Today, Lora King and I debuted USC’s first Black “virtual human,” who has the ability to reply to any question you may ask of her. You can talk to her here: https://interviews.usc.edu/chat/lora-king.html
I am so excited about this next frontier in Black witnessing, and I hope you will read a little bit more about where I got the idea, and how our amazing team here (led by Myah Genung!) helped me actualize this vision.
During the racial reckonings of 2020, I kept wondering what I could do, as a journalism academic, to make sense of the moment. I watched as the largest social justice movement in the nation’s history rolled into the streets — because of a brave, teenaged girl’s tragic cellphone video. I wrote a lot about what we should do about these police brutality videos, and what we should not do.
What I also started to think about, however, was how we might best bring a measure of humanity to those who have their worst moments — or final moments of life — mediated across various screens. I started thinking about launching an academic center that would be dedicated to interrogating these questions. I also wanted a place to collect Black oral histories about social justice. That’s how the idea for the Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab was born. Today, we launched officially — just days after the release of Tyre Nichols video — and with Lora King as the first featured interviewee of what I am calling, “The Second Draft Project.”
Journalism likes to say that it is the “first draft of history.” But, what do we do when that first draft is incorrect? What do we do when our news coverages robs Black people of their humanity? All too often, news media move on, and Black families are left to contend with the fallout from a biased first draft. That’s why I am calling for a second draft.
My new Second Draft Project centers the loved ones of Black social justice figures, and attempts to correct an often skewed record. In instances where the media never came to talk to a family at all, we aim to lift their voices. Using AI technology, you can interview these loved ones, to ask what the media may have missed the first time around.
Lora King was phenomenal today at her virtual human’s debut. Her whole family came out to support! I hope you will take some time to test out her prototype: https://interviews.usc.edu/chat/lora-king.html