X Snow
X Snow was an innovative partnership between WNYC/Gothamist and Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Their scientists were studying how warmer winter air is changing the way snowflakes form, and they needed way more data than they could collect on their own.
Rather than wallowing in sadness and nostalgia, we developed a snowflake photography and snowpack measurement kit that anyone could use to retrofit their smartphone to photograph snowflakes, collect data about snowpack, and contribute their data to the research project. Citizen scientists unite!
I served as editor, art director, and project manager. My reporter, Clarisa Diaz, and I worked with the Earth Institute to design the kits. We procured the tools, built the kits, wrote the training guide, distributed the kits, and built a website so people could upload their data to the project.
We also created a pilot project with two high schools in New York.
After the pilot, we made the kits available as gifts for people donating to WNYC during pledge drives. The first run sold out in less than an hour.
I presented this project at a workshop at the Society for News Design’s 2020 conference titled Screens Down, Eyes Up - Telling Stories Online That Engage Audiences Offline.
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