jamimakan.com

SmartMoney

Some of my recent work for SmartMoney.com in NYC:

Vanmag/Anvil Island

During Summer 2009, I was Vancouver Magazine’s first-ever online intern. My responsibilities included updating Vanmag.com and researching and fact-checking stories for editors.

The highlight of this experience was a helicopter excursion to Anvil Island, located in Howe Sound just off the Sea to Sky Highway. It was for a story (”Wireless Wars”), which you can read here. The view from above, courtesy of photographer Mark Cohene:

View

Daily Nation/JS/Ushahidi

Between July 2008 and March 2009, I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to write for the Daily Nation, East Africa’s largest newspaper. Here are links to some of my final pieces:

When Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, won the White House, I wrote a cover story for Junior Scholastic about how young residents of Nairobi’s infamous Kibera slum reacted to the news. Some of them had been hurt, emotionally and physically, when violence erupted there after Kenya’s own presidential vote in December 2007:

JS Cover

The assignment I enjoyed most involved Ushahidi, a tool communities can use to create collaborative online maps during crises. It took off in Kenya during the post-election violence and was used during the recent general election in India. Click below to read my story in full:

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The Brooklyn Brewer

My final web project at Columbia’s School of Journalism, co-produced with Stokely Baksh. It was a bit more lighthearted, focusing on entrepreneur Steve Hindy and how his company helped revive New York City’s brewing tradition. Interesting fact: did you know that in 1612, North America’s first known brewery was established by Dutch explorers on the southern tip of New Amsterdam (present-day Manhattan)?

brewer

Here are the three videos from the site:

PART 1: Steve Hindy’s transition from journalist to entrepreneur

PART 2: All about Brooklyn Brewery, with guest Marty Markowitz

PART 3: Brooklyn Brewery fans, and small businesses in NYC

DredgingDeep

An interactive web feature I put together last year at Columbia about controversial dredging projects in the New York harbor. Co-produced with Matthias Bernold, it was part of a collection of “dirt”-themed projects. To access, go here and then click the tab on the top of the page that reads “Dredging Dirt.”

dredging

The fish police

The fish police. Seriously. They inspect fishing boats, fish markets and restaurants in NYC to enforce safety and environmental regulations.

I made the video with a fellow student, Elaine He, as part of our master’s project exploring the fast-globalizing fish trade. Our work also explored the importance of fish in the lives, and livelihoods, of various New Yorkers.

Fish Food

Flag pins and politics

During my year at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, I made a video with my friend Andrew Nusca asking fashion students in New York City whether politicians ought to wear American flag lapel pins. It was around the time when these tiny accessories became an issue in the 2008 presidential campaigns.

The piece was part of a larger class project at Columbia exploring the intersection of fashion and politics:

New Clothes