John Mills
Reader (Associate Professor) in Emergent Technologies and Journalism Innovation
School of Arts and Media
Based at the Media Innovation Studio at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), John’s research interests span journalism, the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented paper, mobile journalism, wearables, human-centred design, drone journalism and innovation theory.
John’s research focusses broadly on journalism and spans how publishers innovate and incorporates action research projects exploring how the news media could harness Internet of Things and related platforms and experiences. This work includes the Google-funded NewsThings and SenseMaker projects, creating an IoT content management system and exploring how conductive ink and web-connected print could be used in editorial contexts. John is also a member of UCLan’s Civic Drone Centre team, which is exploring how next generation unmanned aerial vehicles can be used in a variety of contexts, including the media. It’s most recent project is the €1.4m Aerial Uptake project, funded by Interreg. John also teaches innovation and multimedia journalism techniques and theory at UCLan. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and collaborates and partners World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers’ Global Alliance for Media Innovation.
John has been involved in and led a wide spectrum of co-design and participatory design research and innovation projects. These span the EPSRC funded Bespoke and Interactive Newsprint projects, Google-funded NewsThings and SenseMaker and innovative projects around web-connected paper, which has been supported by the Higher Education Innoation fund. He has spoken and keynoted at a wide range of industry and academic conference. These include the World News Media Congress, Medientage München, Behind Local News, British Human Computer Interaction and Digital Media Europe. His research is conducted in collaboration with industry. Current and previous partners include Reach PLC, Penguin, Preston FM, Haymarket Media and JPI Media. He also works with design agencies, technology start-ups and cultural institutions such as Preston's Harris Museum. He has collaborated with a range of academic partners, including the University of Surrey, University of Dundee, University of Newcastle, Falmouth University, Lancaster University, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) in Brazil and University of Beira Interior (UBI) in Portugal. Since 2015, he has also advised and collaborated with the Global Alliance for Media Innovation, a project operated by the World Association of News Publishers.
- MA 19th Century English Literature and Culture, University of Sussex, 2003
- BA (Hons) English, University of Sussex, 2001
- Best Poster presentation – Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, 2015, Madeira, Portugal
- Best Poster Presentation – British Human Computer Interaction, 2015, Lincoln, UK
- Journalism Innovation
- Innovation
- Interaction Design
- Human-computer interaction
- Member European Media Management Association
- Member UK Association of Science Writers
- Task Force Member; Flying High Challenge
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
- Advisor to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers’ Global Alliance for Media Innovation (GAMI)
- Reviewer for: Media and Communications, KOME, Convergence, Journalism Practice, Designing Information Systems, Interactive Surfaces and Spaces and Journal of Media and Communication Studies
Use the links below to view their profiles:
- View their unique and persistent identifier on the ORCiD registry
- Full list of publications and articles on CLoK
- Google Scholar
- Media Innovation Studio
- Journalism Research Group
- A selection of research projects include:
- Journalism Innovation Processes 2019, European Media Management Association - Principle Investigator
- Innovating journalism structures and processes is investigating how journalists and journalism is innovating in Latin America and Europe. To do this, it is mapping innovation practices and processes within the news industry. We are looking to identify various strengths and limitations around innovation processes, and better understand key innovation approaches and what they offer to individuals and organisations. We hope to use the information to create insights for industry and academia and help us produce tools (such as innovation resources, guidance and examples of best practice) to support innovation in future. Project partners include UCLan, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) in Brazil and University of Beira Interior (UBI) in Portugal.
- SenseMaker (November 2018 to December 2019) – £48,000 Google Digital News Initiative – Principle Investigator The project brings together a range of journalism industry expertise, multidisciplinary academic partners spanning innovation, internet of things, journalism, engineering and autonomous systems with communities and public bodies. This group will identify key issues, and then develop specialist, bespoke sensor kits that respond to, or add value to, local issues via a co-creation methodology.
- NewsThings (November 1st 2016-ongoing) £43,000 awarded by the Google Digital News Initiative – Principle Investigator
- NewsThings combines news, information, ambient design approaches and the Internet of Things (IoT) to explore how people engage and interact with co-designed connected objects. Partners include the Media Innovation Studio, Trinity Mirror Regionals and Thomas Buchanan creative agency. The project places users at the centre of the innovation process and creates physical-digital prototypes that convey news and editorial content, which will be placed in people’s homes or public spaces.
- Media Innovation Mapping (2016 - present) - Principle Investigator
- Media organisations are searching for new ways to tell stories, reach their audiences, create new experiences and generate income. To do this, they’re creating new ways to innovate through novel structures, working practices, or creative collaborations. Increasingly, legacy media organisations are creating “Labs” to house this innovation work. Media Innovation Mapping aims to understand how media organisations, start-ups and technology firms work together to prompt innovation. The project will survey innovation labs globally to help gain a broader understanding of media ecosystems and how they create ‘innovation’.
- Glass Journalism (2014 to 2016) – Principle Investigator Bringing together newsrooms and editorial teams from England, Northern Ireland and Brazil, and covering locations as far afield as the Sahara, this project explored how Google Glass - a wearable device that offers an augmented reality overlay display and connects to the web - could be used for editorial purposes.
- Journalism Innovation Processes, European Media Management Association, €5,000
- AERIAL UPTAKE, €1.4m (£188,000 UCLan work package) Interreg, 2019
- SenseMaker, Google Digital News Initiative, £48,000
- NewsThings, Google Digital News Initiative, £43,000
- EKKO – Innovation and Enterprise Ideas Voucher, £43,000 (£23,000 match-funded from industry), 2015
- Interface of Things: A Content Management System for the Internet of Things, Innovation and Enterprise Ideas Voucher £20,000, 2015
- emmaTalks, 2020
- Behind Local News, 2020
- Journalism of Things (keynote), 2019
- Medientage Munchen (keynote), 2019
- ARD / ZDF Media Academy, 2019
- NxTMedia, 2019
- Association of British Science Writers, 2018
- International Symposium on Media Innovations, 2018
- British Human Computer Interaction, 2018
- Media Labs Day, 2018
- Twelfth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interactions 2018
- Google DNI Annual Summit, 2018
- International Journalism Festival, 2017
- World News Media Congress 2017
- The Guildford Institute, 2017
- Drone Journalism – BBC Academy, 2017
- NODA, 2016
- Digital Media Europe, 2016
- World News Congress, 2016
- ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, 2015
- Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction, 2015, London
- British HCI, 2015
- European Patent Office General Meeting, European Patent Office, 2015
- Future of Digital Conference, 2014
- MozFest, 2014
- Web2Day, 2014
- 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2014
- SXSW, 2013
- Ubitec, 2013
- III ICMC, 2012
- CHI Conference 2012
Telephone:+44 (0)1772 895797
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