follow the networks: open data and digital methods for journalism
TRANSCRIPT
Follow the Networks:Open Data and Digital Methods
for Journalism
21st April 2015, UC Berkeley Liliana Bounegru | lilianabounegru.org | @bb_liliana
Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org | @jwyg
1. Open Data2. Digital Methods3. Networks
1. Open Data
What is open data?
Open Government Data Principles (2007):https://public.resource.org/8_principles.html
Legal and technical re-usability of (government) information
What does this mean in practise?
Open data licenses / legal statements
UK Open Government Licence:https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
Machine readable formats
Data portals
data.gov.x
What kinds of data?
A selection of themes and topics from national(UK and US) and local (Glasgow) open data portals
CCTV Camera Locations - Runnymede Borough Councilhttp://data.gov.uk/dataset/cctv-camera-locations
Organogram and staff pay data for DEFRAhttp://data.gov.uk/dataset/staff-organograms-and-pay-defra/
CO2 emissions by different sub-groups in manufacturing sector, 2000 to 2008http://data.gov.uk/dataset/co2-emissions-by-different-sub-groups-in-manufacturing-sector-2000-to-2008/
Animals frozen, including type and quantityhttp://data.gov.uk/dataset/animals-frozen-including-type-and-quantity-pcc/
Who cares about open data?
From niche tech/legal circles to international political stage.
Open Government Advocates in Sebastopol, California (January 2009)
Government data shall be considered
open if it is made public in a way that complies with the
following principles…
President Obama’s Open Government Initiative (January 2009)
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of
openness in Government.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Transparency Revolution” (May 2010)
I want our government to be one of the most open and transparent in the world.
Open Government Partnership (September 2011)
We embrace principles of transparency and open
government with a view toward achieving greater prosperity, well-
being, and human dignity in our own countries and in an increasingly
interconnected world.
G8 Open Data Charter (June 2013)
Open data sit at the heart of a global movement to create
more accountable, efficient, responsive, and effective governments
and businesses, and to spur economic growth.
UN “Data Revolution” (August 2014)
Data are the lifeblood of decision-making and the raw
material for accountability.
Data for journalism?
Open Data
vs.
Freedom of Information?
Why does open data matter?
Engaging with open data initiatives.
For example, data about…
• Public finance • Contracts • Campaign finance • Elections • Companies • Lobbying • Pollution • Environment • Events and crises
Journalists can publish open data too.
New forms of journalistic collaboration around data?
2. Digital Methods
Repurposing online devices and platforms for social and political research.
Rogers, R. (2013) Digital Methods.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Winner of 2014 Outstanding Book Award given by the International Communication Association.
“The Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset(DMI-TCAT) captures tweets and allows for
multiple analyses (hashtags, mentions, users, search, ...).”
Borra, E. & Rieder, B. (2014) “Programmed method: developing a toolset for capturing and analyzing tweets”. Aslib Journal of Information Management. Vol. 66 No. 3: 262-278.
TCAT: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolDmiTcat
TCAT: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolDmiTcat
“Netvizz is a tool that extracts data from different sections of the Facebook platform
(personal profile, groups, pages) for research purposes.”
Rieder, B. (2013). Studying Facebook via data extraction: the Netvizz application. In WebSci '13 Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference (pp. 346-355). New York: ACM.
Netvizz: https://tools.digitalmethods.net/netvizz/facebook/netvizz/
The Issue Crawler: “A software tool that locates and visualizes networks on the web”
Issue Crawler: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolIssueCrawler
Issue Crawler: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolIssueCrawler
Issue Crawler: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolIssueCrawler
Issue Crawler: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolIssueCrawler
Issue Crawler: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolIssueCrawler
“Gephi is an interactive visualization and exploration platform for all kinds of networks
and complex systems, dynamic and hierarchical graphs.”
Three examples…
Mapping dominant topics and countries in UN climate negotiations
– Leo Hickman, “Can carbon offsetting ever be truly green?”,The Guardian, 3rd September 2008.
“In what seems like a flash, the climate-change debate has lurched from talk of mitigation to
one of adaptation.”
The Atlantic (2014) “The UN's New Focus: Surviving, Not Stopping, Climate Change”.Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/04/the-uns-new-focus-surviving-not-
stopping-climate-change/359929/
“Adaptation turn”
Can the shift from mitigation to adaptation be observed in the UNFCCC negotiations?
Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) “Three Maps and Three Misunderstandings : A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy.” Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/
Findings
Mitigation is more dominant - the majority of the clusters are about mitigation.
Mitigation is much more diverse and distributed.
Adaptation is a much more tightly clustered topic and highly connected to other topics.
Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) “Three Maps and Three Misunderstandings : A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy.” Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/
Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) “Three Maps and Three Misunderstandings : A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy.” Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/
Findings
Both adaptation and mitigation are highly visible in negotiations.
Adaptation financing has been central to
climate negotiations from the outset.
There is a noticeable shift towards adaptation during the period we examined.
Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) “Three Maps and Three Misunderstandings : A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy.” Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/
Which countries intervene most in UN climate negotiations and how do these interventions
evolve over time?
Graphing the number of interventions in the negotiations of the 21 most active countries based on daily summaries from the Earth
Negotiations Bulletin (ENB)
Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) “Three Maps and Three Misunderstandings : A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy.” Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/
Findings
Notable stability in presence and intervention of countries.
Notable exceptions include Bolivia and Philippines who are becoming more prominent
in recent negotiations.
Most active are China (representing G77), United States and Europe.
Countries tend to be more active when they host the negotiations.
Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) “Three Maps and Three Misunderstandings : A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy.” Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/
Wired Italia (2014) “Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze”. March 2014. No. 60.
Wired Italia (2014) “Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze”. March 2014. No. 60.
Wired Italia (2014) “Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze”. March 2014. No. 60.
Wired Italia (2014) “Beautiful Information, in mostra le migliori infografiche di Wired”.Available at: http://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2014/03/04/beautiful-information-infografiche-wired/
Wired Italia (2014) “Beautiful Information, in mostra le migliori infografiche di Wired”.Available at: http://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2014/03/04/beautiful-information-infografiche-wired/
Mapping the rise of the far right in Europe with the web and social media
The Guardian (2013) “The rise of far right parties across Europe is a chilling echo of the 1930s”.Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/15/far-right-threat-europe-integration
Huffington Post (2014) “Sudden Rise of Far Right Groups in EU Parliament Rings Alarm Bells Across Europe”. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elinadav-heymann/sudden-rise-of-far-right-
_b_5512961.html
New York Times (2014) “Populist Party Gaining Muscle to Push Britain to the Right”.Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/world/europe/populist-party-gaining-muscle-to-push-
britain-to-the-right.html
What are the recruitment methods of far right groups?
Are current recruitment counter-measures proving effective?
What kinds of issues are most active amongst far right groups?
How are far right extremist groups connected to populist right and other right wing groups?
Profiles for 13 European countries.
1. List of links per country
2. Analyse links between them
3. Study issues and actors
Findings
New issues (e.g. environment, anti-globalisation and rights), principles and
recruitment techniques.
Counter-measures are outdated.
Islamophobia is located primarily in the North.
Greece: blood and soil and organic markets
Rogers, R. et al (2013) “Right-Wing Formations in Europe and Their Counter-Measures: An Online Mapping”. Digital Methods Initiative. https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/RightWingPopulismStudy
Hungary: horse and yurt recruitment festivals
Rogers, R. et al (2013) “Right-Wing Formations in Europe and Their Counter-Measures: An Online Mapping”. Digital Methods Initiative. https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/RightWingPopulismStudy
Taking back the yurt?
Counter-Jihadist groups on social media
The Guardian (2012) “Far-right anti-Muslim network on rise globally as Breivik trial opens”. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/14/breivik-trial-norway-mass-murderer
Hope Not Hate (2012) “Counter-Jihad Report”.Available at: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/counter-jihad/
Are different Counter-Jihadist groups in Europe connected? If so how?
Digital Methods Initiative. “Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.”
Digital Methods Initiative. “Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.”
Findings
Facebook is an important medium for extremist groups.
Three main clusters based on geographical proximity.
European Counter-Jihadist groups are networked and transnational.
Digital Methods Initiative. “Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.”
Who are the new leaders?
Findings
Offline leaders are active on Facebook.
There are also new emerging online leaders.
New technique for identifying online leaders.
Mapping the influence ofclimate skeptics online
BBC News (2007) “BBC switches off climate special”. Available at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6979596.stm
– Richard Rogers, Digital Methods(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013), pp.7-8
“The skeptics were increasingly at the top of the news. […] Are the skeptics at the top of the
web too?”
Who talks about climate skeptics?
Climate Skeptics
S. Fred Singer Robert Balling Sallie Baliunas
Patrick Michaels Richard Lindzen
Steven Milloy Timothy Ball
Paul Driessen Willie Soon
Sherwood B. Idso Frederick Seitz
Climate Skeptic Organisations
American Enterprise Institute American Legislative Exchange Council
Center for Science and Public Policy Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
Competitive Enterprise Institute Frontiers of Freedom
Marshall Institute Heartland Institute
Tech Central Station
Google Scraper: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolGoogleScraper
Findings
Influence of climate skeptics in media is disproportionate given their relatively marginal
influence in key spaces.
Digital Methods Initiative (2007) “Climate Change Skeptics”.Available at: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ClimateChangeSkeptics
3. Networks
The rise of networks
Mark Lombardi’s “Narrative Structures” (1990-2000)
Josh On’s “They Rule” (2005)
Networks have yet to have their “breakthrough moment” in journalism
“Follow the Networks” project atTow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University.
How are networks concepts and analysis being used in journalism?
A proposed classification of narrative functions for networks in journalism
Five different ways in which networks have been used in journalism
1. Showing networks around a single actor
2. Revealing hubs or authorities (key actors)
New Scientist, “The Stem Cell Wars” (2010)
JoongAng Ilbo, “Park Young-joon at the Center ofPresident Lee Myung-bak’s Human Resources Network” (2002)
3. Showing scale, complexity and topology of a network
New York Times, “Among the Oscar Contenders, a Host of Connections” (2013)
4. Showing alliances and oppositions
Le Monde, "2007-2011 : la cartographie de la blogosphère politique" (2012)
Global News, “Visualizing the split on Toronto City Council” (2012)
5. Showing evolution of networks over time
Global News, “Visualizing the split on Toronto City Council” (2012)
How might networks concepts and analysis be used in journalism in the future?
Functions of network analysis in the newsroom
• Presentational or storytelling device • Story discovery • Exploratory analysis of complex networks
and big databases • Newsroom knowledge management • Internal reference resource
Opportunities
• New insights into large and complex systems
• More network analysis, rather than just network mapping
• New data and methods for tracing networks using social media and hyperlink analysis
• Identifying new sources for interviews • Researchers and journalists collaborating to
tell stories about complex topics
Challenges
• Lack of awareness • Lack of flagship projects • Time, resource and budget constraints • Lack of technical capacity and tooling • Speed of tools and methods • Lack vocabulary for talking about network
analysis
Thank You!Liliana Bounegru | lilianabounegru.org | @bb_liliana
Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org | @jwyg