About Us
The Journalism Watchdogs were created by Dr. Brett Oppegaard of The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Spring semester of 2024 as a way to test the efficacy and usefulness of Large Language Models and AI interfaces in a context of Journalism education. They are intended to simulate the feedback a student might get from a professor, or a professional writing coach, about a specific aspect of a particular piece of journalistic writing. In other words, the humans still are in charge. People pick their story ideas. They choose how to report and write their pieces. A person must make a significant story draft to get any useful feedback from these 'Dogs. The 'Dogs are not intended as fix-alls. They are specialists, addressing common journalistic writing and reporting issues. They each focus on a specific area and aim to provide feedback to the journalist to help that writer to address that area of concern.
They were an extension of the UniD Guidedogs that Dr. Oppegaard created for The UniDescription Project a few months earlier, in February 2024, to help audio describers during Descriptathon 10, which is a hackathon-like workshop aimed at improving inclusiveness at public places, such as national parks, via Audio Description. They were a big hit with the writers in that context, who appreciated the immediacy and depth of the responses, and the opportunities to test their ideas before sharing them with human peers, editors, and audiences.
The need for immediate, in-depth, and thoughtful feedback transcends many writing contexts. Emerging LLMs could do this type of feedback loop well, so Dr. Oppegaard started to think of other applications of this same idea. He was the Program Director of the Journalism program at UH at the time, so serving similar needs of journalists made sense as a next step.
The Watchdogs were supported by a grant from UH Mānoa's School of Communication and Information, where Dr. Oppegaard serves as a tenured professor. The School's chair, Dr. Hye-ryeon Lee, saw the potential for the crossover project, supported Dr. Oppegaard's experimentation with it, and lobbied for funds for this initiative through the UH School.
These Watchdogs are still in the experimental stage. We have heavily tested the systems and feel confident that most of the feedback can be helpful. That said, the LLMs also sometimes return errant information or provide advice that human counterparts would not suggest. But overall, if the word of the 'Dog is not considered gospel but instead something for a writer to think about, we think the overall effect will be improved journalistic writing.'
What do you think? We encourage your feedback as a user of this system. How did it work for you? Please let us know, and we'll adjust our programming accordingly, in an effort to make the best-possible tool for journalists.
We have this unusual collection of LLM-powered 'Dogs, and you have questions about them (Good; you should!). Such as, who is behind this effort, and why? As educators by training, and at heart, we are open and transparent about what we are doing. Here are the basics:
- When was Journalism Watchdogs made? And who made it? This online tool was created during the Spring semester of 2024 and used internally as Beta testing until August 2024, when it was publicly released as a tool for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Journalism program, in the School of Communication and Information, in the College of Social Sciences. UH Professor Brett Oppegaard built it for our Journalism students, but it was so popular and well-received that we thought, why not share it with others, too?
- Is Journalism Watchdogs nonpartisan? This site has no ideological or political agenda. Our prime directive is to find ways — through emerging AI affordances — to help journalists do better work. Great Journalism helps the facts do the storytelling work. The intent here is to follow the facts to the stories, and then tell the whole truth in the stories.
- How does it work? Journalism Watchdogs uses customized programming and computational interactions with powerful transformer networks through Large Language Models to generate its suggestions. These LLMs are being trained by Journalism Watchdogs to do this type of analysis and response in alignment with professional Journalism standards.
- What happens to the data I put in? As a university-led and journalistic initiative, we fiercely guard and protect your data. We NEVER share it with others. And it will NOT be used as LLM training data, either. For further self-protection, also avoid submitting personally identifiable information (PII) to this or any other open online system.
- Will this tool write the story for me? Most importantly, from our perspective as educators, this tool will not work without you putting in the work first. In short, it requires the author to reflect upon the GenAI feedback provided by the 'Dogs and make human-powered choices. In other words, the 'Dogs aim to guide and support the journalist. They do not do the hard work of Journalism for anyone.
- Are these 'Dogs flawless in their results? Feedback from the 'Dogs is usually helpful. The 'Dogs are well-intentioned, fast and focused. They also are not perfect. So, as with any information you get, please use this feedback judiciously.
- What can you learn from the 'Dogs? The best way to know is to simply try it and find out.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa — the founding sponsor of the Journalism Watchdogs — is a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning intent on re-normalizing the use of ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i in the state. ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) is one of the two official state languages in Hawaiʻi (English is the other).
Hawaiʻi is one of only three states to support multiple official languages (with Alaska and South Dakota; four American territories — American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico — also have at least one official language beyond English). As an official state language, use of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is encouraged and supported in all of our UH classrooms and school-related activities.
The particulars of that language renormalizing process system-wide still are under development. But we have decided to be a leader in the pragmatics of this initiative, and, in turn, the School of Communication and Information adopted a formal policy in May 2024 that requires the proper use of the language’s two diacritical marks in all public-facing communication, including all published journalistic, marketing, and public relations content shared with the broader community.
Those key diacritical marks are the ‘okina, which looks like a backward and flipped apostrophe (‘ vs. ’) and indicates a glottal stop, and the kahakō, which looks like a long line over a vowel and indicates a long-vowel pronunciation. These marks are not punctuation. They are the representation of the intended character and sound, and leaving them out, technically, indicates a misspelling or misuse.
While fluency in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is not a requirement at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for graduation, cultural competency is an underlying subtext of the university’s General Education curriculum. In turn, SCI students should not only be aware that ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is an official language of the state. When using ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, they should model appropriate use, including the proper inclusion of the diacritics.
This ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi-focused Journalism Watchdog tool called "Poni" is a guide intended to help. The Watchdog will assist users in recognizing when an ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi word is being used in a text and how that word should be marked with diacritics. This AI Watchdog is good at this task but not infallible. So please take her recommendations and use those to develop your own understanding of how the ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi text is being used, in your particular case, and therefore how it should be punctuated.
After consulting with our Journalism Watchdog, here are other sources that also can be used to confirm and develop deeper understandings of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in practice:
"Students gathered for a beach clean-up at Wāwāmalu, or Sandy’s beach."
Such a technical editing process is common in all academic fields already. For example, in Journalism, this type of editing process is akin to using the Associated Press Stylebook to ensure professional alignment in written style with other journalists and then adding a “local style,” which most newsrooms do, for common words and terms used in a particular geographic area that are not addressed in the stylebook.
Some common words we use, for example, with the diacritical marks included, are:
ʻāina, Hawaiʻi, Hale Hālāwai, kamaʻāina, Liliʻuokalani, Mānoa, Mōʻiliʻili, Oʻahu, ʻŌlelo, Waikīkī, etc.
Some common words we use, for example, that do not include diacritical marks, are:
aloha, Hawaiian, Honolulu, hula, Lahaina, kapu, kuleana, lei, mahalo, mele, menehune, moana, etc.
These most-common uses can be memorized, but when in any doubt, check with the official sources above and, if needed, consult further with a fluent speaker of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
Additional resources include:
Hawaiʻi is one of only three states to support multiple official languages (with Alaska and South Dakota; four American territories — American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico — also have at least one official language beyond English). As an official state language, use of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is encouraged and supported in all of our UH classrooms and school-related activities.
The particulars of that language renormalizing process system-wide still are under development. But we have decided to be a leader in the pragmatics of this initiative, and, in turn, the School of Communication and Information adopted a formal policy in May 2024 that requires the proper use of the language’s two diacritical marks in all public-facing communication, including all published journalistic, marketing, and public relations content shared with the broader community.
Those key diacritical marks are the ‘okina, which looks like a backward and flipped apostrophe (‘ vs. ’) and indicates a glottal stop, and the kahakō, which looks like a long line over a vowel and indicates a long-vowel pronunciation. These marks are not punctuation. They are the representation of the intended character and sound, and leaving them out, technically, indicates a misspelling or misuse.
While fluency in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is not a requirement at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for graduation, cultural competency is an underlying subtext of the university’s General Education curriculum. In turn, SCI students should not only be aware that ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is an official language of the state. When using ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, they should model appropriate use, including the proper inclusion of the diacritics.
This ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi-focused Journalism Watchdog tool called "Poni" is a guide intended to help. The Watchdog will assist users in recognizing when an ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi word is being used in a text and how that word should be marked with diacritics. This AI Watchdog is good at this task but not infallible. So please take her recommendations and use those to develop your own understanding of how the ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi text is being used, in your particular case, and therefore how it should be punctuated.
After consulting with our Journalism Watchdog, here are other sources that also can be used to confirm and develop deeper understandings of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in practice:
- Wehewehe Wikiwiki (from UH Hilo)
- Nā Puke Wehewehe ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (check all of the toggles on, for the most feedback)
- Ulukau (specifically for place names)
"Students gathered for a beach clean-up at Wāwāmalu, or Sandy’s beach."
Such a technical editing process is common in all academic fields already. For example, in Journalism, this type of editing process is akin to using the Associated Press Stylebook to ensure professional alignment in written style with other journalists and then adding a “local style,” which most newsrooms do, for common words and terms used in a particular geographic area that are not addressed in the stylebook.
Some common words we use, for example, with the diacritical marks included, are:
ʻāina, Hawaiʻi, Hale Hālāwai, kamaʻāina, Liliʻuokalani, Mānoa, Mōʻiliʻili, Oʻahu, ʻŌlelo, Waikīkī, etc.
Some common words we use, for example, that do not include diacritical marks, are:
aloha, Hawaiian, Honolulu, hula, Lahaina, kapu, kuleana, lei, mahalo, mele, menehune, moana, etc.
These most-common uses can be memorized, but when in any doubt, check with the official sources above and, if needed, consult further with a fluent speaker of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
Additional resources include:
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiian Language Considerations