I was invited to present at Journalism.co.uk's News Rewired conference on 1 December 2015. Here's my presentation in the 'How can robot journalists help the media' session.

1. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
Automated articles
Welcoming some automation into
the Newsroom, without losing your
job
Freeing yourself from dull reporting,
to carry out juicy investigations

2. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
Background to OnTheWight
10 years
25k+ articles
125k+ comments
Uniques peaking at 100k+/month
(Pop. 140k. 66k households)

3. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
Why we did it
Keep ourselves amused
Try automation
Eventual goal - freeing up time for
'proper' reporting

4. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
Approach to project
Simple, data set, not too frequent
(allow for development between),
formulaic articles
Start simple, increase complexity

5. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
The data
NOMIS Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)
Issued monthly. Fixed format and range

6. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
The approach
Dissect historic articles. Learn
structure
Language changes on size of change
Variation in phrasing used
Labelled as auto-assisted
Human reviewed

7. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
The results

8. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
Teething problem
Netflix 7:1 stock split - unusual event
Us - Incorrect report caused by stray variable
Cause
Disconnection between editorial and development
Editorial rush & assumed correct
Fixes
Version control, with sign off
Enhance internal error checking

9. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
The power & potential
Just as easy to create area-specific articles across UK
Platforms
Direct WordPress injection
Slack Bot
Potential
Considerable
Greatest efficiencies - multiple publications

10. @SimonPerry
Notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15
Thank you
OnTheWight
http://OnTheWight.com
Simon Perry
@SimonPerry
Supplementary notes
http://wig.ht/newsrewired15