Anastasia Valeeva: “I think the ever-moving classrooms and halls of the building echo the spirit of entrepreneurship, projects and student initiatives that are abundant”.

October 25, 2017

AUCA new faculty member - Anastasia Valeeva is data journalism lecturer and open data researcher. She has researched the use of open data in investigative data journalism as part of her fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford. She has taught data journalism at Data Bootcamps in Montenegro and Germany, Data Journalism Summer Institutes in Kyrgyzstan and Albania, at the Higher School of Economics. She tweets about open data and data journalism as @anastasiajourno.

 

 - Is it your first time in Kyrgyzstan? Do you like Bishkek?

 

I came to Kyrgyzstan for the first time this June, for a one-month summer school where I was a co-teacher, and I immediately liked Bishkek. One of the reasons, I guess, was that I came from Moscow, where we had no summer this year whatsoever, while here in Bishkek it was hot and sunny, with lots of fruits and berries real cheap. We were lucky to explore Kyrgyz nature on the weekends, and it left me very much impressed. People's hospitality was heart-warming. 

 

- How did you decide to move in Kyrgyzstan and start teaching in here?

 

The summer school took place in AUCA, because it was run in a partnership between the university and UNDP, so I also had a chance to fall in love with the building, too. After our Data Journalism Summer Institute, Elira Turdubaeva, head of the department of Journalism and Mass Communications, was keen to integrate the content into academic curriculum as early as this fall. This is why she offered me to come back by September as a lecturer in Data Journalism for bachelor and master students. I was happy to have the opportunity to get back both to Kyrgyzstan and AUCA.

 

- What are your impressions about AUCA?

 

At AUCA, it feels so much different from anything outside of these walls. I think the ever-moving classrooms and halls of the building echo the spirit of entrepreneurship, projects and student initiatives that are abundant. I hope it's a wonderful opportunity for many who study here to be exposed to the latest best practices in different fields, to the global discussions on hot topics, and to have their first own 'say' in it. 

 

- What is teaching for you?

 

I did not think a couple a years ago that it would take such an important place in my life. First, I was a journalist, then I was teaching myself new skills, and then I discovered that there is a need for trainers to teach those new skills. I think, it's a sign of our time: with that many new technologies and knowledge areas arising every month, life has truly turned into a learning process. For me personally, teaching has become a way to re-discover myself in the profession, and it gave me an opportunity to meet many new colleagues from various parts of the world and to guide them through their first data projects. This said, it's especially important for me to be now a lecturer at the university, where I can elaborate a course design, spread the content into steps, enhance them with exercises and topics of discussion. It's very rewarding to see students building up their knowledge literally step by step. And it's also a good challenge to myself, because students like to ask tricky questions! =) 

 

- You have huge experience, working on TV broadcasting field, would you like to start teaching students practically about broadcasting journalism?

 

To be honest, I am now much more an adept of data journalism, which is basically a method for a journalist to work with structured information looking for new insights on problems that touch the audience. The format you choose for publishing is another thing - it can well be a TV story, or a newspaper article, online blog or a radio podcast. I would be happy if I could gather a team of interested students and/or journalists and we could work on stories intended for publishing - with the idea that we can turn it into a TV report or an article later. I would be eager then to share my experience of working at the television.

 

- Would you like to conduct any projects related to journalism in Kyrgyzstan?

 

This is exactly kind of thing I want to do. I came here, knowing that I am a part-time lecturer, and in the rest of my time I am exploring the opportunities with local media and NGOs to work together on data stories. It would be wonderful to have both small and big scale projects, which could result in data-driven investigations, emerging data journalists in the region, and most importantly, community of data users. 

 

- What countries you would like to visit in future? Why?

 

Kyrgyzstan is the first country in Central Asia I've come to. Surely, I would love to explore the whole region, both as a tourist and as a professional. One reason for this is that for the last five years I've been working and studying in different countries in Western Europe, and I feel like my personal world is not wide enough. I would love to include Central Asia and its culture there. It's so much different from anything I've seen and experienced before. The other reason is that linguistically, it would be easier for me as a Russian speaker, to get to talk to many people which help to understand the local issues better. Although I've started learning Kyrgyz so I can make a small talk with locals in their own language =) 

 

- According to personal experience, what would you suggest to AUCA students?

 

I would suggest to be brave, follow your dreams, work hard to achieve them, and to get exposed to as many different opinions, people and cultures as possible. Doing exchange studies, participating in international projects and reading from various sources will make you an open-minded and intelligent person, which itself brings wonderful opportunities.

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