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Create A New Collection

Collections are versatile, powerful and simple to create. From a customized course reader to an action-guide for an upcoming service-learning trip, collections illuminate themes, guide inquiry, and provide context for how people around the worls are responding to social challenges.

  • Name and describe your collection

  • Add Stories

  • Add external links at any time

  • Add to your collection over time and share!

1. Name your collection

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2. Add Stories

Add stories to your collection from your list of Favorites below, or add stories directly to a collection from Search or Discovery. Anytime you see the collection icon you can add a story. Just click the icon and follow the instructions on your screen.

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Solutions Story Tracker®

Welcome to a curated database of rigorous reporting on responses to social problems.

15,700 stories produced by 8,900 journalists and 2,000 news outlets from 89 countries. The stories cover responses in 192 countries, in 17 languages. This resource is made possible because of a growing movement of journalists who use solutions journalism to illuminate both problems and evidence-based responses to them.

Learn more about the Solutions Story Tracker.


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  • Building for Real With Digital Blocks

    Tina Rosenberg
    2019-10-18 20:00:31 UTC
    1

    October 15, 2019 |

    The New York Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Sweden

    To get input on city design plans from citizens without any technical knowledge, some city planners are turning to Minecraft, an easy-to-use computer game that allows users to build in a three dimensional environment. Useful for planning public spaces (rather than designing a building), Minecraft has been adopted by UN Habitat to plan everything from soccer fields in Nairobi to a riverbank in Kosovo.

    Read More

    • 8310

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  • This app is designed to get millennials addicted to giving

    Ben Paynter
    2019-04-22 11:31:39 UTC
    1

    March 19, 2019 |

    FastCompany |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    A new charity app called Millie builds upon tested app dynamics like online payment services, gamification, and social networks to encourage millennials to give to charities and organizations of their choosing. Rather than the more typical one-off, peer-to-peer, reactive giving, Millie adds an element of matchmaking to philanthropy, similar to dating apps.

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    • 6693

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  • From video game to day job: How ‘SimCity' inspired a generation of city planners

    Jessica Roy
    2019-07-03 02:02:42 UTC
    0

    March 05, 2019 |

    Los Angeles Times |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

    SimCity, a popular simulation game created in 1989, inspired a generation of future city planners with its ability to make urban design accessible and fun, While the simulations have their inconsistencies with real life urban planning, designers and architects around the country based their foundational understanding of city planning in these simulation games and look to simulation as tools for future planning.

    Read More

    • 7303

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  • Smart Grid Experiment Saves Participants the Equivalent of One Electric Bill Per Year

    Lynne Peskoe-Yang
    2019-07-05 18:39:17 UTC
    0

    February 04, 2019 |

    IEEE Spectrum |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Turkey, Istanbul

    Gamifying energy-efficient behavior can help consumers adjust their habits. Project GresBAS (Grid Responsive Society through Building Automation Systems) incentivizes consumers by allowing them to compete against their own personal records, as well as their neighbors. The Project has piloted studies in Turkey and Portugal, signaling the broader possibilities of gamifying user interactions with smart grid technologies.

    Read More

    • 7326

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  • Newcastle's 'digital twin' to help city plan for disasters

    Tom White
    2019-03-28 20:11:30 UTC
    0

    December 30, 2018 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    Under 800 Words

    Response Location: England, Newcastle

    Thanks to technology used in "Formula One teams and engine manufacturers like Rolls Royce," Newcastle is digitally replicating the entire city in order to project potential natural disaster occurrence and population increases. In doing so, the city is able to prepare for ways to act should a disaster occur.

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  • Virtual Reality Helps Hospice Workers See Life And Death Through A Patient's Eyes

    Kathleen Burge
    2019-01-14 20:05:14 UTC
    1

    December 27, 2018 |

    NPR |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Biddeforde, Maine

    The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine is using virtual reality to help medical students empathize with patients who are at the end of their lives. The technology has also been used to create other simulations and help health-care workers in training better understand their patients, but critics say that, without careful supervision, these virtual realities can create and reinforce prejudice.

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    • 6082

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  • The city that gives you free beer for cycling

    Amelia Martyn-Hemphill, Nicola Kelly
    2018-11-10 18:54:47 UTC
    1

    October 23, 2018 |

    BBC |

    Broadcast TV News |

    Under 3 Minutes

    Response Location: Italy, Bologna

    A fun app called “Bella Mossa” has incentivized people to ditch their cars in Bologna. The anti-pollution effort gives users credits for biking, walking, and using public transport. Users can then swap their credits for rewards from local shopkeepers, such as free beer and ice cream.

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    • 5665

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  • "Integrity Idol"

    Roxanne Patel Shepelavy
    2018-10-14 20:51:51 UTC
    0

    October 02, 2018 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Nepal

    With support from Accountability Lab and Transparency International, seven countries have held “Integrity Idol” contests to recognize their most honest and helpful public servants. Winners have become people others want to emulate. The contests help fight corruption and inspire civic participation.

    Read More

    • 5478

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  • 'Magic table' helping dementia patients

    Nick Holland
    2018-10-15 03:44:37 UTC
    0

    September 25, 2018 |

    BBC |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United Kingdom, London

    A Tovertafel, or “Magic Table” in Dutch, uses a projector and sensors to create interactive games for people with dementia. From catching fish and popping bubbles to assembling puzzles, the games reduce apathy, improve emotional wellbeing, and encourage physical movement.

    Read More

    • 5487

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  • Smart Stimulation for People with Dementia

    Nick Holland, Tom Colls, Susila Silva, Claire Bates
    2018-12-29 01:32:10 UTC
    0

    September 25, 2018 |

    BBC |

    Radio |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: England

    Jelly drops, board games, and a box that projects interactive images and is sensitive to movement, are all examples if products being created to help people with dementia. “She enjoys that rather than being at home and watching T.V.” Some of them, like the “Tovertafel” or “Magic Table” have shown to decrease apathy levels in people that have dementia.

    Read More

    • 5994

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Please sign in via My Profile before submitting a story. This will allow you to view the status of your submission and get notified if the story is added to the Solutions Story Tracker®.
Filter your search by the language of the story. As the Solutions Story Tracker grows, we are working to include more stories in more languages. Your story submissions can help! Submit stories here.
These factors identify the ways communities overcome the big challenges and help you see the insights. Learn more about the Success Factors here.

Solutions Journalism Around the World

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Solutions In Focus

Discover curated content about themes that matter to you, exclusively from the Solutions Story Tracker. Explore collections, resources and more.

  • Climate Solutions

  • Advancing Democracy

  • Youth Mental Health


Go to All Solutions in Focus

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    Video Tutorials

    Learn how to find what you need in the Solutions Story Tracker in español and in français.

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    Submission Guidelines

    This database is powered by user submissions. Submit a story.

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    Custom Story Alerts

    Get notified when new stories match your interests by setting up custom story alerts in My Profile.

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Solutions Story Tracker® FAQ

  • Solutions journalism…
    • Describes a response to a problem and how it works.
    • Seeks to draw out insights that explain success or failure.
    • Presents the available evidence about the effectiveness of a response.
    • Explains the shortcomings or limitations of the response.
    Learn more.
  • The Solutions Story Tracker® is a curated, searchable database of solutions journalism stories — rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. We vet and tag every story in the Story Tracker, which offers an inspiring and useful collection of the thousands of ways people are working to solve problems around the world.

  • You can learn more about how we source, vet, and tag stories here, as well as how we share them. We also have video tutorials in Spanish and French that show how to use the Solutions Story Tracker to find what you need.

  • Story collections are curated by our staff or other partners to explore a theme, pattern, or trend via selected solutions stories and external resources. Some story collections focus on an in-depth exploration of a topic with solutions journalism; others highlight journalists and how they report on topics. Certain story collections include discussion questions and notes, so that educators and community discussion leaders can lead learners to fully engage with the stories.

  • The Solutions Story Tracker® is powered by user submissions. We encourage submissions from journalists, as well as from anyone who has an eye for solutions journalism. Click here to submit. (Why submit? So many reasons!)

  • You can submit a story directly on the Solutions Story Tracker®. You will be prompted to register or log into the Solutions Journalism Network website, if you are already logged in. (It is free to register!) Logging in allows you to track the status of your submissions under My Profile, as well as save your favorite stories, create story collections and story alerts, and access other helpful features of our website.

  • After you submit a story to us and assign it a topic, it is sent to one of our Solutions Story Tracker team members. Our team member evaluates the story for the four qualities of solutions journalism, and on the basics: The story must come from a news outlet and have a date and a byline. If the story meets our criteria, our team tags it accordingly and adds it to the database. If the story falls short of the mark, our team will include the reason why. We include stories in the Story Tracker that meet our standards of solutions journalism. Inclusion does not mean we support the initiatives, policies, organizations or approaches featured in those stories.

    Discover common reasons why a story may miss the mark for inclusion in the Solutions Story Tracker®.

    Learn more about the history of the database.

  • Solutions Journalism Network features these stories in the searchable database making them publicly accessible to anyone who wants to search for rigorous reporting on solutions to social problems. Any story that is added has the potential to make more impact than its original purpose. Added stories are used in journalism trainings, school curricula, research projects, and independent analysis on issue area trends. This now includes artificial intelligence tools, which are applied for educational value to find stories and support story vetting, as well as to extract insights from the stories. SJN has digital products and newsletters that give new life and exposure to the stories meeting people where they are at. Story data also is used to develop innovative tools to reach the general public with solutions journalism as well as some specific research projects requested by researchers. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of story data or added stories, please contact Lita Tirak.

  • News outlets determine whether all users can access their stories — and some limit the number of stories that anyone can view, or require a subscription. The majority of stories in the database can be accessed for free.

  • We work with journalists, academic researchers and others who feel that our database will support their research. We are especially interested in research that seeks to develop new insights about solutions journalism and its spread and its impact on social problems. Please complete all sections of the Data Request Form, and we will contact you to discuss your request in greater detail.

  • We do not fact-check the stories in the Solutions Story Tracker®. We do ensure that each story comes from a credible news source that has its own editorial infrastructure.

  • We worked with Tara Pixley and Jovelle Tamayo of the Authority Collective, who developed a guide for using equitable visuals. We follow this guide when choosing images for our website.

  • We welcome your feedback and additional questions. Please use this form to get in touch.

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