challenges in the field of Data Journalism

PAST PRESENT FUTURE

Grüezi mitenand!

•  Hille van der Kaa •  Twitter: @Hillevanderkaa

•  Researcher Data Journalism at Tilburg University

•  Professorship Media, an interdisciplinary institute of journalism, ICT, communication, arts & economics at Fontys University of Applied Sciences

what is data journalism?

Data journalism is a journalism specialty reflecting the increased role that numerical

data is used in the production and distribution of information in the digital era.

It reflects the increased interaction

between content producers and several other fields such as design, computer

science and statistics.

(Poynter institute, 2011)

 

computer assisted

reporting

past

big data driven

journalism

present

automated algorithmic storytelling

future

1952 The Univac was used by CBS to predict the result of the 1952 presidential election. With a sample of just 1% of the voting population it famously predicted an Eisenhower landslide while the conventional wisdom favored Stevenson.

Computer-assisted reporting describes the use of computers to gather and analyze the data necessary to write

news stories.

Collectively this has become known as computer-assisted reporting, or CAR.

 

1967

1992

entering the jungle of Big Data an ‘information explosion’ that

generates exabytes of data every year

for example: info generated by open data government policies, digital

archiving, and human interactions in social networks …

… all these data tell stories

velocity • data comes in

quickly through multiple sources (online systems, social media etc.)

volume •  from terabytes

to petabytes (and more) of information

variety • of data types

(structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data)

complexity • geographical

and multi-data center data distribution, cloud computing

data journalism

= the craft of finding stories

into complex datasets

computer assisted reporting

data-driven journalism

database journalism

automated journalism

data-driven journalism data-driven journalism is a process

whereby journalists build stories using numerical data or databases

as a primary material

 

database journalism database journalism or structured

journalism is a principle in information management whereby news content is organized around structured pieces of

data, as opposed to news stories

it focuses on the constitution and maintenance of the database

 challenge 1 the line between activism and journalism has become

even fuzzier in the digital age

growing interest in investigative news organisations that operate on a non-profit model

some new players are producing

to serve a particular agenda

 

 challenge 2 when does a study, or dataset, constitute as a reliable

source for a news story?

what does a journalist need besides the data to create a trustworthy story?

how to evaluate data?

as a news source… or?      

 

 challenge 3 how to analyze all these data?

data journalism = social science?

     

 

challenge

only skilled data analysts can bridge the gap between data and knowledge, and

find the stories underneath

a new set of skills:

advanced research methods + computational methods

(data mining, data processing)

ability to select data from a broad range of data sources

ability to analyze and abstract data from a scientific perspective

ability to explore and detect abnormity in data

familiarity with various data standards & the ability to convert

ability to visualize data in graphics and text

ability to transform data in a journalistic storyline

all journalists = data journalists

NO

But....

future journalist need to know

(at least a little bit…)

about data

and algorithms

computer assisted reporting

data-driven journalism

database journalism

automated journalism

all journalists = data journalists

NO

But....

journalism, as one of the key professions specialized in making information visible

and accessible to large audiences,

MUST BE

at the forefront of the ‘data revolution’

Widerluege!