About

The news industry is in dire need of innovation.

As the news industry has shifted increasingly online, the traditional business models and revenue sources for news organizations — particularly advertising — have eroded in the past decade.

News organizations with subscription-based revenue models have struggled to justify charging for content in an online world where large competitors give away content for free.

This leaves the news industry in an almost impossible situation. Innovation requires an investment of both time and money, a daunting proposition for publishers that are often short on both.

Conversely, post-secondary institutions are frequently engaged in cutting-edge applied research and innovation, which in turn filters down to their curriculums.

Humber College’s StoryLab was created to bridge the innovation gap between education and industry in the fields of journalism, data science and storytelling writ large.

By collaborating with StoryLab, industry partners can workshop new and ambitious projects by working with Humber students specializing in the area of data-driven storytelling.

Interested in working with StoryLab? Contact us.

Meet the StoryLab Team

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  David Weisz

  Director, StoryLab, Humber College

  David Weisz is a data journalist and educator passionate about storytelling, spreadsheets and pandas (both furry and Python varieties). Creator of Data Driven, Canada's premier data journalism symposium. He is currently exploring new ways to collaborate on data-driven storytelling as a co-founder and director of Humber College's StoryLab.

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  Janice Saji

  Project Assistant, Humber College

  Janice Saji is project assistant with Humber College's StoryLab as well as Humber Press. She completed her postgraduate studies in Journalism from Humber College, Toronto. She previously worked as an intern-journalist at The Hindu in India, writing stories covering crime, art, and science. When she’s not busy chasing stories, you can find her stalking the neighbourhood cats and binge-watching stand-ups.

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  Mar Greig

  Project Coordinator, Humber College StoryLab

  Mar Greig is a Project Coordinator with Humber College's StoryLab and Humber Press. They joined Humber's Office of Research & Innovation in 2023.

  Mar previously worked with the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts providing technical support to Diploma and Post Graduate journalism students and faculty at Humber's North campus. They live in East York.

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  Barath Roy Michel

  Senior Project Manager, Humber College

  Barath Roy Michel is a Sr. Project Manager who is passionate about data analytics projects, numbers and stories. He knows his data and can visualize data using Excel, Tableau and Power BI . His passion has driven him to work on various data analytics projects, train students on data storytelling and also initiate Data Storytelling competitions at Humber College.

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  Camila Perez Pena

  Strategic Innovation Manager, Humber College

  Camila Perez Pena is a Strategic Innovation Manager for the Office of Research and Innovation. Passionate about human relations and sociocultural dynamics, she focuses her work on ethnographic research, Human-Centered Design, and Design Thinking to transform ideas into sustainable high-impact innovative projects and strategic initiatives.