News & Updates

Veera Jussila

In spring 2019, I was awarded a grant by the C. V. Åkerlund Media Foundation to pursue a master’s degree in digital journalism in London. The grant amounted to €10,000.

At the time, I had already been working as a magazine journalist for several years, most recently at Suomen Kuvalehti. Previously, I had worked at Ylioppilaslehti and Helsingin Sanomat’s monthly supplement (Kuukausiliite). I was particularly interested in interactive storytelling, such as narrative journalism in mobile applications. I wanted to spend a year acquiring programming skills in order to understand what would even be possible in digital storytelling.

I ultimately enrolled in the MA Computational Arts programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. I had originally applied to Goldsmiths’ MA in Digital Journalism, but in discussions with the university it became clear that for someone already familiar with journalistic work, Computational Arts would be a better fit, as it involved much more intensive coding. The programme attracted creative professionals who wanted to add a new dimension to their work through programming. The change of programme was also well received by the C. V. Åkerlund Media Foundation.

The one-year master’s programme was very intensive. Compared to my earlier university studies, the learning experience was more school-like, with regular deadlines for coding assignments. One of the core courses focused on C++ programming using openFrameworks, a software framework often used to create real-time visual applications, for example those based on computer vision. I also studied MaxMSP, a tool well suited for audiovisual projects. Perhaps the most important course for me focused on artificial intelligence: I completed it using Python and deep learning methods, working on both text-based and visual experiments. Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT were not yet available at the time.

My studies in artificial intelligence resonated with me, perhaps because high-quality data is a decisive factor in determining outcomes both in AI and in journalism.

The programme culminated in a final degree exhibition, where I presented my AI-driven project Museum of Borderlands. The project invited visitors into a fictional small museum in which an AI model classified physical photographs using a camera. I was interested in the grey areas of artificial intelligence and in ambiguous classifications. The classification process also triggered short audio clips. At the end, visitors were asked to place the photographs into labelled boxes according to where they thought the images belonged (“threat”, “human”, etc.). In this way, the system could potentially receive a new, collectively produced classification in the future. I graduated in autumn 2020 with distinction.

The degree, together with my continued independent studies, led me into the technology sector. I applied for jobs both in Finland and internationally, and eventually found employment in my student city, London. I first worked in a technical role related to creative technology and artificial intelligence at the University of the Arts London, and later moved on to AI-related programming roles in companies. This was not something I would have anticipated before starting the degree. I continue to follow journalism with great interest, and my current skills would enable a wide range of technical projects related to journalistic research and news production. I can warmly recommend coding studies to journalists.

The grant from the C. V. Åkerlund Media Foundation, together with a grant from Jokes, enabled me to study full-time during my master’s year. This support was crucial, as I was learning entirely new skills without any prior technical background.