Byline Overview

ByLine is the game technology used in the journalism games (science.net, Wisconsin Science Journal and Neighborhood News).

It helped journalism.net players produce each of these online newspapers:

– Science.net (Edition 2, summer 2006)
- Science.net (Edition 1, summer 2005)
- South Madison Times (Edition 1, summer 2004)
- Wisconsin Science Journal (Edition 2, summer 2004)
- Wisconsin Science Journal (Edition 1, spring 2004)

The software is custom-developed, drawing technically from sources in the Learning Sciences (Guzdial’s CoWeb) and from commercial software (WYSIWYG text editors and Knight Ridder’s Cofax publishing system). ByLine also draws from ethnographic studies of professional journalism learning environments, including capstone university courses and actual newspaper offices. As an epistemic game engine, ByLine is designed to make it easier for young people to participate in the professional activities of journalists while also helping those cub reporters learn to think more like professional reporters. As a research tool, ByLine is designed to help researchers better understand the ways young people develop a professional epistemology.