Following Dataharvest Digital 2020, during which we dedicated two weeks to topics related to climate and energy, we launched the Arena Climate Network – a community of investigative journalists and researchers covering climate change.
The Arena Climate Network aims to facilitate information flows between journalists (interested in) covering climate at the local, national and EU level, and give them an online space to share knowledge, opinions and data.
The network is comprised of several elements that cater to different needs of journalists and researchers:
An online meeting point for journalists/researchers/academics, a forum set up via the forum tool Discourse. It is a place you can share your work, relevant research, and important databases; get in touch with your peers, ask for help or find partners for your next cross-border investigation. There are several subtopics you can follow or engage in; you can also decide to mute the others you’re not interested in (and declutter your inbox a little).
We’ll soon add a feature that will allow you to search the users based on their skills and location (self-disclosed – don’t worry, we don’t gather any personal data!), which might come in handy if you’re looking to form a cross-border team or connect with a colleague in a specific country.
Sign in, take a look and join the conversation here: https://climate.journalismarena.eu/
Coming next:
The Climate Knowledge Base: an open-access library that is easily searchable and contains a list of “must-reads” for everyone researching/covering climate.
Secure leak infrastructure: Arena for Journalism in Europe is a recipient of the Digital Whistleblowing Fund grant, supporting grassroots organisations to integrate a secure leak infrastructure to their online platforms. This means that we will be able to confidentially and anonymously receive leaks and confidential documents via the Network. We are now finalising the tech side of the project, and the platform should be up and running by the end of February!
If you have any questions, doubts or ideas, you can get in touch with Jelena, the Network coordinator (jelena@journalismarena.eu). And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@Arena__Climate)!