teaching data and computational journalism

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TableofContentsTeachingDataandComputationalJournalism

Preface

ExecutiveSummary

Introduction

Chapter1:DefiningtheFieldofStudy

What'sinaName?

FourKeyAreasofDataJournalism

ABriefHistoryofComputersandJournalists

TheTaskatHand:CausesforConcernandReasonsforHope

Chapter2:StateoftheField:OurQuantitativeData

TheScopeofOurStudy

OurFindings

TeachingDataFundamentals:RowsandColumns

TeachingAdvancedDataSkills:VisualizationandProgramming

AlternativeDataInstruction:TheStateofOnlineCourses

Textbooks:LittleConsensus

Chapter3:QualitativeFindings:InterviewsandObservations

IdentifyingWhattoTeach

TheCodingIssue

InstitutionalChallenges:Resources

InstitutionalChallenges:FacultyExpertise

InstitutionalChallenges:StudentEngagement

Chapter4:ModelCurriculainDataandComputation

IntroductionandSummaryofCurricularRecommendations

Model1:IntegratingDataasaCoreClass

Model2:IntegratingDataandComputationintoExistingCoursesandConcentrations

Model3:ConcentrationinData&Computation

Model4:AdvancedGraduateDegree:Expertise-DrivenReportingonData&Computation

TeachingDataandComputationalJournalism

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Model5:AdvancedGraduateDegree:EmergingJournalisticTechniquesandTechnologies

Chapter5:InstitutionalRecommendations

FacultyDevelopmentandRecruitment

TrainingsorModules

IncomingSkills,TechnicalLiteracies,andBootCamps

TechnologyInfrastructure

BenefitsofDistanceorOnlineLearning

FosteringCollaboration

NoteonSpecialistFacultyinDataandComputation

Appendix

Acknowledgments


3

Thiswork,acollaborationbetweenresearchersfromColumbiaJournalismSchoolandStanfordUniversity,wasmadepossiblebyagrantfromtheJohnS.andJamesL.KnightFoundation.

AprofessionallydesignedPDFisavailablehere:http://bit.ly/cjsteachdata


4TeachingDataandComputationalJournalism

http://bit.ly/cjsteachdata

PrefaceThedigitalrevolutionusheredinfundamentalchangesinhowinformationisstructured.Italsobroughtchangesinhowgovernmentsandcorporationsuseinformationtoexercisepower.Governmentsnowinfluencecommunitiesthroughthemanagementoflargedatasets,suchasintheallocationofservicesthroughpredictivepolicing.Theyholdexclusiveaccesstodatathatwouldhelpustounderstandwhichpoliciesareworking,orhowvulnerablepopulationsareaffectedbytheexerciseofpublicpolicy.Corporationswriteopaquealgorithmstodeterminewhogetsinsuranceatwhatprice.Thesedevelopmentschallengejournalismtomovewellbeyondadaptationtosocialmediaortheadoptionofnewtechnologiesforvisualization.Theyimplicatejournalism’spublicpurpose.Encouragingly,anewfacetofjournalisticpracticeisemerging,adaptingtechnologytoreportinginthepublicinterest.

Thisisanimportantreasonwhywemustteachjournaliststoworkwithdata:Therearevitalquestionstobeaskedthatrequirenumeracy,andtherearebigstoriestofindandtellinnewways.Theintellectualhistoryofjournalismrevealsacontinuousinterrogationofemergingtechnologiesfortheirrelevancetotheprofession’spublicpurposeandconcerns.Weneedjournaliststobepositionedtoassesstechniqueslikenaturallanguageprocessingandfacialrecognitionfortheirrelevanceandpromiseastoolsofreporting,aswellasfortheirethicaldangers.

Thisiswherejournalismeducationmayplayaleadershiprole.Integratingcomputation,datascience,andotheremergingtechnologiesintopublic-spiritedreportingisanidealmissionforjournalism.Theseschoolscanaccessthefullresourcesofauniversity.Themissionalsorelievesjournalismeducatorsoftheriskofteachingperishabledigitalskillsandperishableplatforms.Datajournalismcurricularespondtoobjectivechangeinthesheeramountofinformationthatisstoreddigitallytoday–informationthatrequirescomputationtoaccessandinterrogate.Teachingjournaliststobeliterateaboutthesechangesandsometobespecialistsrequirescommittingourselvestousingdata,computation,andemergingtechnologiesasessentialtoolsofourprofession.

SteveColl

Dean&HenryR.LuceProfessor

ColumbiaJournalismSchool


5Preface

ExecutiveSummaryOverthepastcentury,journalismschoolshavedevelopedsolidfoundationsforteachingshoe-leatherreportingtechniques.Hundredsofuniversitiesteachhowtointerview,howtodevelopsources,howtocoverabeat,andhowtowriteabreakingnewsstory,afeature,asportsdispatch,oraninvestigativepiece.

Butthepracticeofdatajournalismhasbeenlargelyleftoutofthemainstreamofjournalismeducation,evenasthefield’srelativelysmallcoreofdevoteeshashoneditintoapowerfulanddynamicareaofpractice.Fordecades,datajournalistshavecompetedfortheprofession’shighestprizesandsecuredpositionsofdistinctionwithinthemostcompetitivenewsorganizations,yetourresearchhasfoundthatrelativelyfewjournalismschoolsoffercoursesinthisarea,letaloneaconcentration,evenastheseschoolshaveexpandedinstructioninpresentation-focuseddigitalskills.

Theauthorsofthisreportbelievethatalljournalismschoolsmustbroadentheircurriculatoemphasizedataandcomputationalpracticesasfoundationalskills.Toplacedatajournalisminthecoreofjournalismeducationwillmarkacrucialadvanceinwhatschoolscanoffertheirstudents.Journalistswhounderstanddataandcomputationcanmoreeffectivelydotheirjobsinaworldevermorereliantoncomplicatedstreamsofinformation.

Beyondteaching,toofewjournalismschoolssupportfacultyresearchintotoolsandtechniquesofdata-drivenreporting,despiterichopportunitiesfordevelopingtheoriesandapplicationsthatmaychangejournalisticpractice.Journalismschoolsthatembraceresearchintheirmissionscantransformthemselvesintoinnovationhubs,introducingnewtoolsandtechniquestotheprofessionandacrosstheiruniversities,insteadofmerelypreparingstudentstoenterthefield.

ThisreportoffersasnapshotofthestateofdatajournalismeducationintheUnitedStatesandoutlinesmodelsforbothintegratingtheuseofdatajournalismintoexistingacademicprogramsandestablishingnewdegreesthatspecializeindata-drivenandcomputationalreportingpractices.Whilewefocusonthestateofeducationinonecountry,wehopethattheresultsmayalsobeusefulinternationally.

Butfirst,adefinition.Whenwesay“datajournalism,”wemeanusingdataforthejournalisticpurposeoffindingandtellingstoriesinthepublicinterest.Thismaytakemanyforms:toanalyzedataandconveythatanalysisinwrittenform,toverifydatafoundinreports,tovisualizedata,ortobuildnewsappsthathelpreaderstoexploredatathemselves.Thisfieldalsoencompassestheuseofcomputation—algorithms,machinelearning,andemerging


6ExecutiveSummary

technologies—tomoreeffectivelyminebothstructuredandunstructuredinformationtofindandtellstories.Theabilitytouse,understand,andcritiquedataamountstoacrucialliteracythatmaybeappliedinnearlyeveryareaofjournalisticpractice.

Weinterviewedmorethan50journalists,educators,andstudents,andweevaluatedmorethan100journalismprogramsacrossthenation.Thisreportfeaturesachapterdetailingquantitativefindings,suchasthenumberofU.S.journalismprogramsofferingclassesindata,computation,andrelatedtechskills.Wealsoincludeachapterofqualitativefindingsinwhichourinterviewsandclassroomobservationsoffersomecolorandtexturetothispictureofthepresentstateofdatajournalismeducationanditspotential.

Amongourfindings:

Manyjournalismprogramsofferfewcoursesindatajournalism,andnearlyhalfoffernoclassesatall.Theclassesofferedarelargelyintroductory,andtheneedisstilllargelyforthebasics,suchasknowinghowtouseaspreadsheet,understanddescriptivestatistics,negotiatefordata,andcleanamessydatasetandthen“interview”ittofindastory.Thefieldoffersafewfoundationaltextbooks,butbeyondthatlacksabroadandstrongcoreofliteraturetohelpteachboththehistoryandpracticeofdatajournalism.Manyjournalismprogramsdonothaveafacultymemberskilledindatajournalism.Hiringprofessionaljournalistsasadjunctsmayposemanychallenges,oneofwhichisthatjobopeningsoutnumberqualifiedapplicants.Graduateswithdatajournalismskillsarebetterequippedtosucceed,ourinterviewsshow.Facedwithadecisiontohireanentry-levelreporterwithnodataskillsoronewhoknowshowtouseaspreadsheetorqueryadatabase,thedataskillsprovideakeyedge.

Amongourrecommendations:

Journalismschoolscancollaborateacrosstheuniversitytomeettheburgeoningneedforinstructionindataandcomputationbutshouldbewaryoftryingtooutsourcetoomuch—whileunderstandinghowtodomath,statistics,orcomputerprogrammingisanimportantcomponent,datajournalismismuchmorethanthat.Journalismprogramscanintegratealternativeteachingmethodstohelpfillthegapsintheirownfaculty.Examplesincludecooperativeteachingamongdifferentuniversitydepartments,onlinecourses,andindependenttutorialpacks.Journalismprogramscanchooseamongseveralmodelsofinstruction,allofwhichbeginwithakeycomponent:atleastonerequiredclassinanalyzingdataforstories—whathistoricallyhasbeentermedcomputer-assistedreporting(CAR).Journalismschoolsthatembracebothteachingandresearchintodatajournalism


7ExecutiveSummary

methodswillbepoisedtofundamentallyimprovethewayfuturejournalistswillinquireintomattersofpublicinterestandcommunicatewiththeiraudiences.

Followingourfindings,thisreportoutlinesseveralmodelcurriculaandgeneralrecommendations.Weofferamodelforacore,requiredcourseindatajournalism.ThenwesuggestwaysofintroducingdataandcomputationintoexistingjournalismclassessuchasEthicsandGlobalReporting.Nextcomesasetoffullmodelcurriculafordegreesandconcentrationsindataandcomputationaljournalism.Finally,weaddressarangeofinstitutionalconcernsonmattersrangingfromfindingteacherstoprovidingtechnologicalinfrastructure.

Ourobjectiveisnottoreplaceordiminishshoe-leatherreportinginjournalisminstruction,buttoaugmentitwithdata-drivenandcomputationaltechniques.Thisreportismeanttodescribethestateofdatajournalismeducation,tounderlinetheurgencyofincorporatingtheseskillstoequipthenextgenerationofreporters,andtoofferguidelinesformovingjournalismschoolsinthisdirection.


8ExecutiveSummary

IntroductionJournalismschoolshavealonghistoryofavoidingthecallforinstructioninquantitativeskills.Alittleoveracenturyago,whentheideaofteachingjournalismatthecollegelevelwaspracticallyunthinkable,JosephPulitzerwroteanessayarguingforthepotentialandcivicimportanceofjournalismeducation—allasaresponsetoseveraluniversitiesrefusingthemoneyhehadhopedtodonateinordertoestablishsuchaschool.Inthis1904essayintheNorthAmericanReview,Pulitzeroutlinedtheskillshethoughtjournalistswouldneedinordertoservethisloftycivicrole.Itwasanambitiouslist,highlightinglawandethics,historyandliterature,truthandaccuracy,aswellasarangeofmathematicalandscientificdisciplines.Amongthese,Pulitzerspecificallyinsistedoneducatingjournalistsinstatistics.

Everybodysaysthatstatisticsshouldbetaught.Buthow?Statisticsarenotsimplyfigures.Itissaidthatnothinglieslikefigures—exceptfacts.Youwantstatisticstotellyouthetruth.Youcanfindtruththereifyouknowhowtogetatit,andromance,humaninterest,humorandfascinatingrevelations,aswell.Thejournalistmustknowhowto

findallthesethings—truth,ofcourse,first.1

Thisproposalforastatisticscurriculumwaslargelyleftbehindinthewaveofjournalismprogramsthatwereestablishedinthetwentiethcentury,includingatColumbia,theschoolthatbearsPulitzer’sname.Corereportingclasseshavetaughtstudentstogather,analyze,andpresentinformation,mostlythroughshoe-leatherreportingandwritingskills.

Datajournalismandotherquantitativereportingmethods,ontheotherhand,havebeendevelopedlargelyinthefield.Workingjournalistsweretheoneswhofirstsawthepotentialofanalyzingandpresentingdata,andofadoptingtoolssuchasspreadsheetsanddatabasesforstories,visualizations,andapps.Muchoftheinstructionhascomethroughprofessionalworkshops,notinclassrooms.

Tobesure,journalismprogramshaveofferedclassesinresearchmethodology,descriptivestatistics,andbasicnumeracy.TheAccreditingCouncilonEducationinJournalismandMassCommunications(ACEJMC),whichaccreditsroughlyafourthofthejournalismprogramsinthenation,liststheabilityto“applybasicnumericalandstatisticalconcepts”amongthecorecompetenciesitexpectsitsaccreditedschoolstoteach.Thisaccreditationprocessisdesignedtobeavoluntaryprocessthathelpsschoolsmaintainqualitybymeetingasetofnationalstandards.Benchmarkssuchasstatisticalconceptsareuseful,buttheydon’tgettotheheartofwhatitmeanstoteachdatajournalism.


9Introduction

Manyofthestatisticsandnumeracycoursesrequiredforjournalismmajorsaretheoreticalinnature,ratherthanjournalistic.Despitetheinclusionofbasicstatisticsinschoolsofjournalismandcommunications,theuseofdataandcomputationasappliedtojournalismhasremainedasetofnichepractices,oftenomittedfromjournalismprograms,ouranalysisshows.

Someoftheearlyquantitativereportingmethodsthatmadethejumpfrompracticetotheclassroomcamewiththemoveofkeydatajournaliststoacademia.Overtime,videoandweb-basedmultimedia,suchasslideshowsortimelines,wereintegratedintojournalisminstruction.Webandmultimediaskillsinstructionnowseemstooutnumberdatajournalisminstruction.

Togetabettersenseofwhatisbeingtaught,wecollectedinformationonthecourseofferingsof113programslocatedwithintheUnitedStates,includingPuertoRico.FouroftheprogramsheldaprovisionalaccreditationandtheremainderwerefullyaccreditedwithACEJMC.Chapter2ofthisreportincludesalongerdiscussionofourfindings,whilefulltablesofourdatacanbefoundintheappendix.

Ofthe113programs,93offermultimediainstruction—howtodesignawebsite,launchablog,orshootvideofortheWeb.Theaveragenumberofmultimediaclasseswas3.Farfewerjournalismprogramsofferdataanalysisorvisualization.Alittlemorethanhalfoftheseuniversities,59ofthe113schoolswereviewed,regularlyofferoneormoredatajournalismclasses.Amongthe59thatteachdatajournalism,theaveragenumberofdatajournalismclassesofferedwas2.8,withamedianof2.Theaverageacrossall113schoolsinourstudywas1.4datajournalismclasseseach.

Wedefinedadatajournalismclassasbeingfocusedontheintersectionofdataandjournalism,andusingspreadsheets,statisticalsoftware,relationaldatabases,orprogrammingtowardthatend.Weexcludedcoursesinnumeracy,researchmethodologies,andstatisticsunlesstheyincludedanexplicitfocusondatajournalism.

The59programsweidentifiedasofferingdatajournalismincludedawiderangeofcourses.Ataminimum,programsofferedcoursesthattaughtstudentstousespreadsheetstoanalyzedataforjournalisticpurpose.Attheotherendofthespectrum,someschoolsprovidedthatbasicdatajournalisminstructionandfarmore,teachingmultipleclassesinprogrammingskills,suchasscrapingtheWeb,buildingnewsapps,orcreatingadvanceddatavisualizations.

Butthosemoreadvancedprogramswererare.Ofthe59programsweidentifiedthatteachatleastonedatajournalismclass,27oftheschoolsofferedjustonecourse,usuallyfoundational.Fourteenjournalismprogramsofferedtwoclasses.Just18ofthe59schoolsofferedthreeormoreclasses.


10Introduction

Forthosestudentswholearndatajournalism,arobustjobmarketawaits.Butwhenitcomestoteachingdatajournalism,it’sdifficulttofindjournaliststodoitfulltime.Manyworkasadjuncts,butthepayislow.Additionally,evenassomeuniversitiesaddclassesinwebdevelopmentandcoding,theyhavenotkeptpacewithofferingcoursesincomputer-assistedreportingskillslikelearninghowtoanalyzeandunderstanddata.

Foradvancedpositionsindatajournalism—jobsthatdealwithstatisticsandmapping,novelformsofdatavisualization,richonlinedatabases,andmachinelearning—littleisavailableinthewayofdatajournalismeducationpreparation.Studentswhostudybothcomputerscienceanddatajournalismarewellpositionedtomoveintosomeofthesemorechallengingjobs,butthereisadearthofsuchjobcandidates,saydatajournalists.

Thispaperwilldelveintothestateofdatajournalismeducationtodayandpresentthelessonslearnedfromthosewhohavetaught,studied,andpracticeddatajournalism—whatdoesn’tworkandshouldbeabandoned,andwhatworksandhowitcanbemorewidelyadopted.

Inthehopeofprovidingpracticalguidancefromleadersinthedatajournalismworld,wewilloffermodelcurriculadesignedtoreachabroadswathofeducationalinstitutions,frompublicland-grantuniversitiestoprivateinstitutions,forbothundergraduateprogramsandgraduate-levelstudy,aswellaspossibleconcentrationsandspecializedeffortsingraduateprograms.

Thegoalthroughoutistohelpjournalismeducationmovetowardamorecohesiveandthoughtfulvision,onethatwillhelptoeducatejournalistswhounderstandandusedataasamatterofcourse—andasaresult,producejournalismthatmayhavemoreauthority,yieldstoriesthatmaynothavebeentoldbefore,anddevelopnewformsofjournalisticstorytelling.

Thisvisionofbringingdatajournalismintothemainstreamofjournalismeducationhasyetonemore,broadermission:improvingthefutureofjournalismeducationprogramsfromaresearchperspective.Thepracticeofdatajournalism—analyzing,sifting,andtellingstoriesfrominformation—willincreasethecontributionofjournalismschoolstotherangeofdata-centeredfieldsemergingacrossuniversitycampuses.

Datajournalism“alsocanbeabridgetootherpartsoftheuniversity,”saidJamesT.Hamilton,aneconomistanddirectorofthejournalismprogramatStanfordUniversity,whichin2015launchedtheStanfordComputationalJournalismLab.Hepointedtopossiblecollaborationswithsocialscientistsasjustoneexample.

Theauthorsandacommitteeofprofessorsandprofessionaldatajournalistsagreethatifjournalistsandjournalismeducatorswanttoinnovate,thenequippingourstudentswithpracticaldataskillsand,moreimportantly,adataframeofmind,isavitalpartofthepathforwardforthestudents,faculty,andadministrators.


11Introduction

1.Pulitzer,“PlanningaSchoolofJournalism,”p.53.↩


12Introduction

Chapter1:DefiningtheFieldofStudy


13Chapter1:DefiningtheFieldofStudy

What'sinaName?Inourview,datajournalismasafieldencompassesasuiteofpracticesforcollecting,analyzing,visualizing,andpublishingdataforjournalisticpurposes.Thisdefinitionmaywellbedebated.Thehistoryofdatajournalismisfullofargumentsaboutwhatitshouldbecalledandwhatitincludes.

Infact,datajournalismhasbeenevolvingeversinceCBSusedacomputertosuccessfullypredicttheoutcomeofthepresidentialelectionin1952.Astechnologyhasadvanced,sohastheabilityofjournaliststotapthattechnologyanduseitforimportantstorytelling.

Onekeydefinitionofdatajournalismcanbefoundina2014reportbyAlexanderHowardfortheTowCenterforDigitalJournalismandKnightFoundation.Datajournalismis“gathering,cleaning,organizing,analyzing,visualizing,andpublishingdatatosupportthecreationofactsofjournalism,”Howardwrote.“Amoresuccinctdefinitionmightbesimplytheapplicationofdatasciencetojournalism,wheredatascienceisdefinedasthestudyofthe

extractionofknowledgefromdata.”1

Butnewsgames,dronejournalism,andvirtualreality—approachesthatsomemaynotconsidermainstreamdatajournalismtoday—mayrepresentamuchmoredominantpresencetomorrow.Ordatajournalismmayevolveinyetanotherdirection,perhapsintocommonapplicationsformachinelearningandalgorithms.Datajournalistsarealreadyworkingmorewithunstructuredinformation(text,video,audio)asopposedtothehistoricalelementsofdatajournalism(spreadsheetsanddatabasesfullofrowsandcolumnsofnumbers).

“Ithinktheonegoodthingaboutthenamediscussionisthatpeoplearerealizingtherearedifferentkindsofapproachestodataforjournalism,”saidBrantHouston,theKnightChairinInvestigativeandEnterpriseReportingattheUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-ChampaignandaformerexecutivedirectorofInvestigativeReportersandEditors(IRE).

Theever-evolvingpracticeofdatajournalismhasatheartrepresentedwhatjournalistsdobest—pushagainsttheboundariesofwhatisexpected.Editorsusedtoarguethatreaderswouldn’tunderstandascatterplotpublishedinthenewspaper.Today,theNewYorkTimes’sUpshot,Fivethirtyeight.com,andothersregularlyprovideinformativedatagraphicsandvisualizations.

Atthesametime,eachgenerationofdatajournalistshasinformedthenextandbalancedthedesiretotrynewmethodswithfoundationalethicsandtransparency.


14What'sinaName?

Ourstudyaimstoprovideabroadevaluationofmanyareasofjournalisticpracticeinvolvingdataandtoidentifybestpracticesforteachingtheseskillsandthe“dataframeofmind”thatgoeswiththem.Indoingsowelookedatmultipleformsofdatajournalismanddefinedthemasbestwecouldtoensureclearcommunication.

1.Howard,“TheArtandScienceofData-DrivenJournalism,”p.4.↩


15What'sinaName?

FourKeyAreasofDataJournalismForthisreport,wewilldividedatajournalismintofourcategories,acknowledgingthatoverlapisinevitableinpractice.Examplesofjournalismthatfallundereachoftheseheadingscanbefoundintheappendix.

DataReportingDefinition:Obtaining,cleaning,andanalyzingdataforuseintellingjournalisticstories.

Includes:

Deployingcomputer-assistedreportingoranalysisforwritingjournalisticstoriesPracticingprecisionjournalism,asintroducedbyPhilipMeyer,includingtheuseofsocialscienceresearchmethodsintheinterestofjournalismVisualizingdata—mappingandcharting—foruseinexplorationandanalysisProgrammingtoobtainandanalyzedataforwritingjournalisticstories

TechniquesandTechnologies:

InvokingpublicrecordslawtonegotiatefordataUsingwebscrapingtoolsandtechniques(rangesfromtoolstoknowledgeofPythonprogramminglanguage)Usingrelationaldatabasesoftware(canrangefromMicrosoftAccesstoMySQL)Understandingstatisticalconceptsandsoftwareorprogramminglanguageswithstatisticalpackages(SPSSorRamongothers)Usingmappingandvisualizationtoolsandsoftware(Tableau,Esrimappingsoftware,QGIS,GoogleFusion)

DataVisualizationandInteractivesDefinition:Usingcodefordigitalpublishing(HTML/CSS/JavaScript/jQuery)aswellasprogramminganddatabasemanagementtobuildinteractivejournalisticwork.Thisoverlapswithdesignwork,whichfallsoutsideoftraditionaldefinitionsofdatajournalism.Butvisualizationsandappsalsocanbeintegraltothestorytellingprocess.

Includes:

Visualizationsdevelopedanddesignedasinteractivechartsandgraphicsforpresentation,includingtheuseofcode


16FourKeyAreasofDataJournalism

Interactiveapplications,includingsearchabledatabasesandgamesthathelpreadersexploreandunderstandanewsstory;theseapplicationscanbeakeypartoftheutilityofadatajournalismproject

TechniquesandTechnologies:

Theuseofcode,whichisdefinedasHTMLandCSSandalsocouldincludeJavaScriptTheuseofvisualizationsoftwareorprograms,rangingfromTableauvisualizationstotheD3JavaScriptLibraryDatabasemanagementandprogramming,includingPython,webframeworkssuchDjango,FlaskandRubyonRails,andmoreMappingapplications,includingQGIS,CartoDB,Esri,TileMill,GeoDjango,andmoreServerknowledgeandtheuseofGitHub,versioning,andAgilesoftwaredevelopmenttechniques

EmergingJournalisticTechnologiesDefinition:Newdevelopmentsusingdataandtechnology.

DroneJournalismSensorJournalismVirtualandAugmentedRealityJournalism

DroneTechnologies:

“Dronejournalismisgenerallydefinedastheuseofunmannedaerialsystemstogatherphotos,videoanddatafornews.WhatseparatesDroneJournalismfromdronephotographyistheapplicationofjournalisticethicsandconsiderationofthepublicinterestwhenusing[drones].”—MattWaite,aprofessorofpracticeattheUniversityofNebraskaandfounderoftheDroneJournalismLab

Dronetechnologiescanincludeanairframe,definedbyconfiguration(suchasfixedwingormultirotor);anautopilotofvaryingcapabilities(fullautomation,minorstabilityassistance,return-to-homefail-safefunctionality);acontrolsystem(manualcontrolthroughradiosignals,automatedflightthroughsoftwareandBluetoothwirelessconnection);andasensor(camera,videocamera,multispectralcamera,otherphysicalsensor).

SensorTechnologies:

Sensortechnologiesincludeawiderangeofsoftwareandhardwaretomeasurephysicalconditionslikeairquality,motion,ornoiselevels.Thesecanbeusedtogatherdatawithasmall,portablecomputerormicrocontroller.TheRaspberryPiisalow-cost,creditcard–sizedcomputerthathasavarietyofinput/outputpinsformountingdeviceslikesensors.



Similarly,Arduinoisanopen-sourcemicrocontrollerplatformthatiswidelyusedforprototypingwithelectroniccomponentslikesensors.Someuniversitieshavealreadybegunteachingsensorjournalismwithspecificproject-basedclasses,suchastotestenvironmentalconditionslikeairandwaterquality.

VirtualandAugmentedRealityTechnologies:Virtualreality(VR),longheraldedasanemergingdigitaltechnology,finallyappearspoisedtoenterthebroadconsumermarket.Samsung,Oculus,andGooglehavedevelopedconsumerVRheadsetsalongwithcontrollerstofacilitateinteractivityusingyourhandsandfeet.Fromaproductionstandpoint,panoramicimagesandvideosmaybestitchedtogetherfromanarrayofcameras,whilethecompanyJauntisdevelopingastandalonecameratocapture3Dvideoin360-degree,immersiveformat.Yetquestionsofnarrative,audienceinteraction,andjournalisticvalueshaveyettobesettledwiththesetechnologies,evenastheNewYorkTimes,LosAngelesTimes,andPBS“Frontline”havelaunchedexploratoryventurestouseVR.Journalismschoolsneedtonotonlyprovideexposureandinstructioninthisemergingtechnology,butalsotoinquireintovaluesandbestpractices.

ComputationalJournalismDefinition:Theuseofalgorithms,machinelearning,andothernewmethodstoaccomplishjournalisticgoals.Thisareaoverlapswithdatareportingandemergingtechnologies.

Includes:

AlgorithmsthathelpjournalistsmineunstructureddatainnewwaysNewdigitalplatformstobettermanagedocumentsanddata

Technologies:

ProgramminglanguageslikePython,Ruby,andRFrameworksandapplicationslikeJupyterthatenablejournaliststomixcodeandproseastheyperformanalysisandshowthestepsintheirworkPlatformslikeOverviewthatfacilitatetheuseofcomplicatedcomputationalprocesseslikenaturallanguageprocessingandtopicmodeling



ABriefHistoryofComputersandJournalistsIn1967,PhilipMeyerhadjustreturnedtoKnightRidder’sWashingtonBureaufromaNiemanFellowshipatHarvardUniversity,wherehehaddelvedintoadifferentareaofcomputationalmethods:socialscience.Socialsciencemethodologies,includingstatisticaltestsandsurveys,hadrecentlybeenusedbyacademicstodetailthereasonsbehindthe1965WattsriotsinLosAngeles.Meyerbelievedsimilarmethodologiescouldhavegreatimpactinjournalism.Hewasn’tbackatworkforlongwhenhewasabletoputthatbeliefintopractice.

InJuly1967,anearlymorningraidofanunlicensedbarinDetroitresultedinrioting.Crowdsofpeopleranthroughthestreets,burning,looting,andshooting.Theoriesaboundedastowhytheriotinghadoccurred.Someexpertsthoughtitwasdonebythose“onthebottomrungofsociety”withnomoneyoreducation.AsecondtheorywasthatitwascausedbytransplantedandunassimilatedSoutherners.

Meyer,onloantoKnightRidder’sDetroitFreePress,reachedouttofriendswhoweresocialscientiststodeviseasurvey,cobbletogetherfunding,andtraininterviewers.Inthesurvey,respondents,whowereguaranteedanonymity,wereaskedtoassesstheirownlevelofparticipationintheriots.Theywerealsoaskedtoindicatewhethertheyconsideredriotingacrime,whethertheysupportedfinesorjailforthelooters,andwhethertheyconsideredAfricanAmericansinDetroittobebetteroffthanthoseelsewhere.

Thesurveyresultscontradictedtheearliertheoriesandpointedtoadifferentexplanation—thattherelativegoodfortuneofmanyAfricanAmericanshighlightedmoredeeplythegapfeltbythosewhowereleftbehind.

TheFreePress’scoverageoftherioting,includingMeyer’s“swiftandaccurateinvestigationintotheunderlyingcauses,”wonthePulitzerPrizeforLocalGeneralReportingin1968andlaunchedaneweraintheuseofcomputationalmethodsintheserviceofjournalism.Meyer’sseminalbook,PrecisionJournalism:AReporter’sIntroductiontoSocialScienceMethodswaspublishedin1973andarguedthatjournaliststrainedinsocialsciencemethodswouldbebetterequippedforjournalisticworkandprovidedguidelinesfor

journaliststounderstandthosemethods.3“Thetoolsofsampling,computeranalysis,andstatisticalinferenceincreasedthetraditionalpowerofthereporterwithoutchangingthenatureofhisorhermission,”Meyerwrote,“tofindthefacts,tounderstandthem,andto

explainthemwithoutwastingtime.”4


19ABriefHistoryofComputersandJournalists

ThatpioneeringworkbyMeyeriscommonlythoughttobethebeginningofwhathasbeentermedeitherprecisionjournalismorcomputer-assistedreporting.Hisapproachinspiredotherjournalists.Theirworkinturninspiredamovementandthecreationofatrainingground.Twoacademicinstitutionsinparticular,IndianaUniversityandtheUniversityofMissouri,supportedthedevelopmentofthattrainingground.

Butinthewideracademicworld,computationalmethodsappliedtoreportinglargelydidnothaveanimpactonotheruniversityprogramsorhowjournalismwastaught.Instead,professionaljournaliststaughtotherprofessionaljournaliststhenewtechniques,andonlyasthosedatajournalistsbegantoenteracademiadiddatajournalismeducationbegintotakeawiderholdinthatsetting.

Bythe1980s,asdesktoppersonalcomputerstooktheplaceoftypewriters,andeditingterminalswereusedwithdigitalpublishingsystems,reportersbegantousesoftwareonPCstogreateffect.In1986,ElliotJaspin,areporterattheProvidenceJournal-Bulletin,useddatabasestomatchfelonsandbaddrivingrecordstoschoolbusdrivers.

In1988,BillDedman,areporterfortheAtlantaJournalConstitution,usingdatafroma9-tracktapeandwithanalysisbyDwightMorrisandinputfromtheHubertH.HumphreySchoolofPublicAffairsattheUniversityofMinnesota,showedthatbankswereredliningAfricanAmericansonloansthroughoutAtlanta,andeventuallythecountry,whileprovidingservicesineventhepoorestwhiteneighborhoods.Thatseries,“TheColorofMoney,”wonaPulitzerPrizeinInvestigativeReporting.

By1989,JaspinlaunchedtheMissouriInstituteforComputer-AssistedReporting(MICAR)attheUniversityofMissouri.Soon,hewasteachingcomputer-assistedreportingtostudentsattheuniversityandholdingbootcampsforprofessionaljournalists.Fouryearslater,in1994,aFreedomForumgrantwouldhelptheinstituteboostitspresenceandbecomeapartofIREasNICAR—theNationalInstituteforComputer-AssistedReporting.

In1990,atIndianaUniversity,formerjournalistturnedprofessorJamesBrownworkedwithIREtoorganizethefirstcomputer-assistedreportingconference,sponsoredbyIRE.HecreatedafledglinggroupcalledtheNationalInstituteforAdvancedReporting(NIAR).

“AndySchneider,atwo-timePulitzerwinner,hadjustjoinedourfacultyasthefirstRileyChairprofessor.Onedayweweretalkingabouthowsofewjournalistsusedcomputersintheirreporting,”Brownrecalledinanemail.“In1990,Idon’tknowofanyschoolsthathadsuchskillsintegratedintothecurriculum.Atthattime,anyundergraduateineventhesmallestschoolofbusinessknewhowtouseaspreadsheet.WedecidedtodosomethingaboutitandthatwashowNIARstarted.”

NIARwouldhostsixconferencesbeforedecidingtofoldtoavoidduplicatingeffortsbyIREandMICAR,Brownsaid.Still,theIndianaconferencestrainedmorethan1,000journalistsandwereaprecursortoanewera.In1993,IREandMICAR(whichlaterwouldberenamed



toNICAR),heldacomputer-assistedreportingconferenceinRaleigh,NorthCarolina,thatdrewseveralhundredattendees.Thatmarkedthebeginningofanannualeventthatcontinuestoday,wherenewgenerationsofreportersandeditorslearntousespreadsheetsorquerydataandtousemapsandstatisticstoarriveatnewsworthyfindings.

In1993,thesameyearastheRaleighcomputer-assistedreportingconference,theMiamiHeraldreceivedthePulitzerPrizeforPublicServiceafterreporterSteveDoiguseddataanalysisandmappingtoshowthatweakenedbuildingrequirementswerethereasonHurricaneAndrewhadsodevastatedcertainpartsofMiami.

Muchofthisnewcomputer-assistedreportingcameaboutbecauseastheInternetemergedandbecamemoreaccessible,sotoodidtheconceptofusingacomputerinreporting.ButNICARandtheUniversityofMissouriinparticularhadabroadanddeepimpact.AgoodnumberofthemostprominentpractitionersofdatajournalismlearnedtheirskillsfromNICARandfromotherjournaliststryingtosolvesimilardatachallenges.

ThispatternisperhapsmostvisiblethroughtrackingthecareersoftheNICARtrainersthemselves.SarahCohenwaspartofaWashingtonPostteamthatreceivedthe2002PulitzerPrizeininvestigativereportingfordetailingtheDistrictofColumbia’sroleintheneglectanddeathof229childreninprotectivecare,andJenniferLaFleurhaswonmultiplenationalawardsforthecoverageofdisability,legal,andopengovernmentissues.BothwereNICARtrainers.



AnotherNICARtrainerwasTomMcGinty,nowareporterattheWallStreetJournalandthedatajournalistfor“MedicareUnmasked,”whichreceivedthe2015PulitzerPrizeinInvestigativeReporting.JoCravenMcGintywasalsoaNICARtrainerandlaterworkedasadatabasespecialistattheWashingtonPostandattheNewYorkTimes;shenowwritesadata-centriccolumnfortheWallStreetJournal.HeranalysisabouttheuseoflethalforcebyWashingtonpolicewaspartofaPostseriesthatreceivedthePulitzerPrizeforPublicServiceandtheSeldenRingAwardforInvestigativeReportingin1999.

JournalistDavidDonaldmovedonfromhisNICARtrainingroletoheaddataeffortsattheCenterforPublicIntegrityandisnowdataeditoratAmericanUniversity’sInvestigativeReportingWorkshop.

AronPilhoferwasanIRE/NICARtrainerandledIRE’scampaignfinanceinformationcenter.HewentontoworkattheCenterforPublicIntegrityandtheNewYorkTimes,wherehefoundedthepaper’sfirstinteractivesteam.Today,PilhoferisdigitalexecutiveeditorattheGuardian.



JustinMayo,adatajournalistattheSeattleTimes,graduatedfromtheUniversityofMissouriandworkedintheNICARdatabaselibraryandasaNICARtrainer.Hehaspairedwithreportersonworkthathasopenedsealedcourtcasesandchangedstatelawsgoverningloggingpermits.MayowasinvolvedindataanalysisandreportingonaninvestigativeprojectonproblemswithprescriptionmethadonepoliciesinthestateofWashington,whichreceivedaPulitzerPrizeforInvestigativeReportingin2012andincoveringamudslidethatreceivedaPulitzerPrizeforBreakingNewsReportingin2015.

Clearly,workingatNICARhasmeantbuildingpowerfulskills.So,too,hasattendingconferencesandbootcamps.ThestudentswhoattendedearlyNICARbootcampswere“missionaries”whoreturnedtotheirnewsroomstoteachcomputationaljournalismskillstotheircolleagues,Houstonrecalled.Foryears,theconferencesandbootcampswere“the

onlyplacewherepeoplehavehadanextensiveamountoftimetotryoutnewtechniques.”5

Bythelate1990s,astheincreasingprominenceoftheInternetledmorenewsorganizationstopoststoriesonline,journalismeducationofferedevenmoredigitallyfocusedinstruction:multimedia,onlinevideoskills,andHTMLcoding,amongothers.

Twostrands,dataanddigital,representdistinctusesofcomputerswithinjournalism.Earlycallsforjournalismschoolstoadapttochangingtechnologicalconditionswereansweredmainlywiththeadditionofdigitalclasses—learninghowtobuildawebpage,createmultimedia,andcuratecontent.

Manyoftheearlydigitallyfocusedjournalisminstructorsfacedabattleintryingtointroducenewconceptsintoprintjournalismtraditions.Datajournalisminstructors—focusingmoreondataanalysisforuseinstories—havefacedsimilarchallenges.

Meanwhile,bythe1990s,afewuniversitieshadbegunteachingdataanalysisforstorytelling.Meyer,whoin1981becameKnightChairattheUniversityofNorthCarolina,wasteachingstatisticalanalysisasareportingmethod.IndianaUniversity,withBrown,theprofessorwholaunchedthefirstCARconference,beganincorporatingthemethodsintoclasses.AndMissouriofferedcomputer-assistedreportinginstruction,thankstoJaspin;BrantHouston,anearlyNICARdirectorwholaterbecameIRE’sexecutivedirector;andothers.Otheruniversitiesbegantointroducebasicclassesorincorporatespreadsheetsintoexistingclasses.

Houston’sComputer-AssistedReporting:APracticalGuidebecameoneofthefewfoundationaltextsavailableonthesubject.Hisbook,nowinitsfourthedition,laysoutthebasicsofcomputer-assistedreporting:workingwithspreadsheetsanddatabasemanagersaswellasfindingdatathatcanbeusedforjournalism,suchaslocalbudgetsandbridgeinspectioninformation.WhatHoustondetailedinthatfirsteditionbecameessentiallyacore



curriculumfordatajournalismfrom1995throughthepresentday.Houston’sworkcodifiedtheprinciplesandpracticesofcomputer-assistedreportingfromtheperspectiveofitsburgeoningcommunity.

Butthroughoutthosetwodecades,journalistsstilllearnedtheseskillsprimarilythroughtheNICARconferencesorfromotherjournalists.Formanyyears,forexample,MeyerandCohentaughtaNICARstatsandmapsbootcampattheUniversityofNorthCarolinagearedtowardteachingprofessionaljournalists.

Sincethen,bootcampshavebecomeapopularmodel,usedbyuniversitiesandotherjournalismtrainingorganizations,oftenincoordinationwithIRE/NICAR.Akeytenetofthebootcampispractical,hands-ontraining,usingdatasetsthatjournalistsroutinelyreporton,suchasschooltestscores.Tosumupthismodel,Houstonsaidit’sallabout“learningbydoing.”

Manybootcampgraduateshavegoneontorobustdatajournalismcareersandhavealsomovedintoteachinginjournalismprograms,bothasadjunctsandfull-timefaculty,wheretheyhaveintegratedthoseteachingtechniquesintotheirclasses.ThesejournalistsessentiallytookthecurriculumfromNICARandintroduceditintothewideracademicworld.

In1996,ArizonaStateUniversityluredDoigfromtheMiamiHeraldtotheacademiclifewherehehasbeenteachingdatajournalismeversince,servingastheKnightChairinJournalismandspecializingindatajournalism.ThestatsandmapsbootcampeventuallymigratedtoASUaswell.

Asjournalismprogramsbegantooffertheseclasses,theyfocusedonthebasicscoveredinHouston’sbook:negotiatingfordata,cleaningit,andusingspreadsheetsandrelationaldatabases,mapping,andstatisticstofindstories.

In2005,ASUbenefitedfromapushbytheCarnegieCorporationofNewYorkandtheJohnS.andJamesL.KnightFoundationtorevampjournalismeducation.TheschoolexpandeditsfocusonallthingsdataandmultimediawiththefoundingofNews21.Thatprogramhasfocusedheavilyonusingdatatotellimportantandfar-reachingstorieswhileteachinghundredsofstudentsjournalismatthesametime.

AtColumbia,thefirstcourseoncomputer-assistedreportingwasofferedin2003,whenTomTorok,thendataeditorattheNewYorkTimes,taughtaone-creditelective.WiththefoundingoftheStabileCenterforInvestigativeJournalismin2006,somedata-drivenreportingmethodswereintegratedintothecourseworkforthesmallgroupofstudentsselectedfortheprogram.ThenumberofofferingsindataandcomputationatColumbiahasrisensteadilysincethefoundingoftheTowCenterforDigitalJournalismin2010andtheBrownInstituteforMediaInnovationin2012.Inadditiontoresearchandtechnology



developmentprojects,thesecentersbroughtfull-timefacultyandfellowstoteachdataandcomputation,aswellassuppliedgrantstosupportthecreationofnewjournalisticplatformsandmodesofstorytelling.

Columbiahasalsolaunchedseveralnewprogramsinrecentyearsthatsituatedataandcomputationalskillswithinjournalisticpractice.Oneisadual-degreeprograminwhichstudentssimultaneouslypursueM.S.degreesinbothJournalismandComputerScience—andthosestudentsmustbeadmittedtobothprogramsindependently.In2014,theColumbiaJournalismSchoolestablishedaseconddataprogram,TheLede,inparttoaidstudentsindevelopingthebroadskillsettheywouldneedtobeacompetitiveapplicanttobothJournalismandCS.TheLedeisanon-degreeprogramthatprovidesanintensiveintroductiontodataandcomputationoverthecourseofoneortwosemesters.Moststudentsarrivewithlittleornoexperiencewithprogrammingordataanalysis,butafterthreetosixmonthstheyemergewithaworkingknowledgeofhowdatabases,algorithms,andvisualizationcanbeputtonarrativeuse.PostLede,manystudentsarecompetitiveapplicantsforthedualdegree,butothersgodirectlyintothefieldasreporters.

Theemergenceoftheseinitiativesinjournalismschoolsreflectstheextenttowhichdata-drivenreportingpracticeshavebroadenedinthelastdecade.Inthe2000s,journalistsbegantomovewellbeyondCAR,tryingoutadvancedstatisticalanalysistechniques,crowdsourcinginwaysthatensureddataaccuracyandverification,webscraping,programming,andappdevelopment.

In2009,IREbeganworkingtoattractprogrammersandjournalistsspecializingindatavisualization,saidexecutivedirectorMarkHorvit.Italwaysofferedhands-onsessionsinanalyzingdata,mapping,andstatisticalmethods.Addedtothatnowaresessionsonwebscraping,multipleprogramminglanguages,webframeworks,anddatavisualization,amongothertopics.Thesessionshaveevenincludeddronedemonstrations.Thechallengehasbecomebalancingthepanelssothatthereisenoughofeachtypeofdatajournalism.Asaresult,theannualconferenceshavegrowntremendously,fromaround400attheCARconferenceeachyearintheearly2000stobetween900and1,000attendeestoday.

Othergroupsbeganaddressingdatajournalismaswellaspushingfornewmethodsofdigitaljournalism.TheSocietyofProfessionalJournalistswantedtoteachitsmembersaboutdataandjoinedwithIREtodoso,sponsoringregionaltwo-orthree-dayBetterWatchdogWorkshops.Minorityjournalismassociationsbegantoprovidedatajournalismtraining,oftenincollaborationwithIREoritsmembersorundertheBetterWatchdogtheme.

TheOnlineNewsAssociation’sannualconferencefocusesonthelargerworldofdigitaljournalism.Manyofitspanelsfeaturecodingforpresentation,cutting-edgedevelopmentsindigitalweb-basedproducts,audiencedevelopment,andmobile.Italsoofferspanelsondatajournalismandprogramming.



Still,agaphaspersisted.Attimes,neworganizationsformedtofillsomeoftheneeds.In2009,Pilhofer,thenattheNewYorkTimes,RichGordonfromNorthwesternUniversity,andAssociatedPresscorrespondentBurtHerman,whowasjustfinishingaKnightFellowshipatStanford,createdalooselyknitorganizationthatbringstogetherjournalistsandtechnologists,hencethenameHacks/Hackers.Itsmissionistocreateanetworkofpeoplewho“rethinkthefutureofnewsandinformation.”Evenassomegroupshavetriedtofillgapsindatajournalisminstruction,whatexactlycountsasdatajournalismremainsaroughboundary,withfewdistinctionsbetweendatajournalismanddigital/webskills.Inthispaper,wecontinuetosharpenthefocusonwhatwillimprovethelevelofdatajournalismeducation,notoveralldigitalinstruction.

In2013,agroupofjournalistsusedKickstartertoraise$34,000andcreateForJournalism.com,ateachingplatformtoprovidetutorialsonspreadsheets,scraping,buildingapps,andvisualizations.FounderDaveStantonsaidthegroupwantedtofocusonteachingprogrammaticjournalismconceptsandskillsandoffersubjectsthatweren’tbeingtaught.“Youdidn’treallyevenhavetheseonlinecodeschoolthings,”hesaid.“Therewereafew.Theproblemwastherewasnocontextforjournalism.”

2.Inlatereditions,thenamechangedtoTheNewPrecisionJournalism(2013).↩

4.Meyer,PrecisionJournalism,p.3.↩

5.Foramorecompletelookatthelongandstoriedhistoryofcomputer-assistedreporting,thespring/summer2015editionoftheIREJournalprovidesadetailedandengagingrecountingbyJenniferLaFleur,NICAR’sfirsttrainingdirectorin1994andnowtheseniordataeditorattheCenterforInvestigativeReporting/Reveal.BrantHoustondetailsthathistoryin“FiftyYearsofJournalismandData:ABriefHistory,”GlobalInvestigativeJournalismNetwork,November12,2015.↩



TheTaskatHand:CausesforConcernandReasonsforHopeWithdatacourseworklackinginsomanyschools,thestrongestpresenceofdatajournalisminmostofacademiahasbeenthestudyofchangingnewsroomsbysociologistsandcommunicationscholars.Theirworkaimstodocumentandexplaindatapracticeswithinongoingscholarlyconversationsaboutmedia,technology,information,andsociety.

Elsewhereinacademia,narrativeusesofdataandcomputationhaveemergedindependently.Besidestheworkofquantitativesocialscientists,likethosewhoinspiredtheworkofMeyer,significantmovementsintheartsandhumanitiestreatdataeitherasanovelinroadtotheirtraditionalobjectivesorasameanstoreinterpretthoseobjectives.Probablythebroadestofthesemovementsfallsundertheheadingofthe“digitalhumanities.”Oneofitsleadingfigures,FrancoMorettiofStanfordUniversity’sEnglishdepartment,hasdevelopedmethodsof“distantreading”bywhichoneasksquestionsofasetofbookslargerthananyonepersoncouldreadinalifetime.DennisTenen,aprofessorinColumbiaUniversity’sEnglishandComparativeLiteraturedepartmentwhohasalsotaughtattheJournalismSchool,identifieshimselfasapractitionerofcomputationalculturalstudiesandarguesthatmostdisciplineshavebynowdevelopedcomputationalmethodsthathaveeither

complementedorsupplantedtheirearlierpractices.6

Severaluniversitieshavefoundedcentersandinstitutesdevotedtoworkatthenexusofdata,computation,andhumanisticendeavors.TheUniversityofIllinois,Urbana-Champaign,forinstance,hoststheInstituteforComputinginHumanities,Arts,andSocialSciences,orI-CHASS,apartnershipbetweentheuniversityandtheNationalCenterforSupercomputingApplications.Theinstitutehelpsdeveloppartnershipsamongsocialscientistsandcomputingexperts,engineers,datascientists,andcomputerscientists.Theircollaborationshaveincludedworkonlarge-scalevideoanalysis,researchintoclimatechange,andevendigitizingandanalyzingthepapersofAbrahamLincoln.

Theusesofdataandcomputationinarchitecture,geography,andeconomicsalsoreflectthemannerinwhichthesedisciplinesadoptednewtoolsandmethodsinrecentdecades.Injournalism,ourhistoryisnotsodifferent.Likedatajournalism,computationalworkinthehumanitiesandsocialsciencesisgrowing,andthisisreflectedintherelativelyhealthyacademicjobmarketfordigitalhumanistscomparedwiththejobmarketfortraditionalscholars.


27TheTaskatHand:CausesforConcernandReasonsforHope

Overall,weseedatascienceandcomputationalmethodsbeingintroducedintodisciplinesacrossuniversitiesthat,likejournalism,havenotbeenparticularlyquantitativeinthepast.Practicesinvolvingtheuseofdataandcomputationalmethodsmaybebundledintoentirelynewdepartments,centers,researchinstitutes,anddegreeprograms(suchasdatascienceandcomputationalmedia).Itisnotthepurposeofaprogramindatajournalismtocompetewiththeseotherdisciplines,buttodevelopacurriculumthatisintrinsicallyjournalistic—onethatreflectsamissiontofindandtellstoriesinthepublicinterest—aswellasdeveloppartnershipsandcollaborationswithotherdisciplines.

OneexampleofunexpectedinterdepartmentalcollaborationatColumbiahasbeenwiththeEarthInstitute,whichhascuratedamassivedatabaseofclimatedataandofferscoursesinPythonprogramminginwhichseveralJournalismstudentshaveenrolled.Thiscoursefocusesonlargetime-seriesdatasets,whichenablesdatajournaliststoputtheclimateintocontextintheirstories.

In2013,JeanFolkerts,JohnMaxwellHamilton,andNicholasLemann—alljournalismschooldeansandtwoofthethreeofthemlongtimeprofessionaljournalists—published“EducatingJournalists:ANewPleafortheUniversityTradition.”Thepaperfocusedon“universities’roleinjournalismasaprofession”butitalsodiscussedhowthistransformationinjournalismcouldbeaboonfortheschoolsthateducatejournalists.Theauthorswrote:

Thatjournalismisgoingthroughprofoundchangesdoesnotvitiate—infact,itenhances—theimportanceofjournalismschools’becomingmorefullyparticipantintheuniversityproject.Doneproperly,thatwillproducemanybenefitsfortheprofessionatacriticaltime.Journalismschoolsshouldbeorientedtowardthefutureoftheprofessionaswellasthepresent,andtheyshouldnotbecontentmerelytotraintheirstudentsinprevailingentry-level

newsroompractices.7

Keyamongtheirrecommendationswasthis:“Weseeallthreeoftheseearlystrainsinjournalismeducation—practice-oriented,subjectmatter-oriented,andresearch-oriented—asessential.Andallofthemcanandshouldbeapplied,withpotentiallyrichresults,tothedigitalrevolution.Journalismschoolsshouldembraceallthree,notchooseoneandreject

theothers.”8

Journalismprograms,withtheirabilitytocommunicatetoageneralaudienceandtheirpotentialtoanalyzeandvisualizedataforstory,areaperfectpartnerforotherdepartments.Forexample,atStanford’snewComputationalJournalismLab(co-foundedbyoneofthisreport’sauthors),facultyareworkingonseveralprojectswithprofessorsfromotheracademicdisciplineswhoseresearchmissiontouchesonthesamedata.Onegoalisthatdatasetscanbecollected,analyzed,andusedinacademicresearchaswellasforjournalisticstorytelling.Insomeinstances,newmethodsofanalysiscanbedevelopedinconcertwithimportantpublicaccountabilityjournalismprojects.



Talktodeansofjournalismschoolstodayandyouwillhearthesamerefrainandthebeliefthatdatajournalism,whilenotasavior,isanincreasinglyimportantcomponentofhowjournalismeducationcanevolve.

SteveColl,thedeanoftheColumbiaGraduateSchoolofJournalism,describestheemergenceofinstructionindata-drivenreportingpracticesasarecognitionthatdatajournalismisaboutmorethanjustpublishingstoriesthroughdigitalmedia,butaboutdevelopingreportingmethodsappropriatetothecomplexityoftheworldtoday.

“Datajournalismandtoolslikesensorslookpowerfulbecause,incomparisontothewayjournalismschoolshaverespondedtopreviousiterationsoftechnologicalchange,thisonerunsdeep,andtotheheartofprofessionalpractice.It’snotaboutshiftingdistributionchannels,orshiftingstructuresofaudience,”Collsaid.“Itwasverytempting,inmanywaysnecessary,forjournalismschoolstorushovertotheteachingoftools,theteachingofplatforms,theteachingofchangingaudiencestructure.Butthattransformationoftenhadlittletodowiththecore,enduringpurposeofjournalism,whichistodiscover,illuminate,holdpowertoaccount,explain,illustrate.”

Journalismschools,bynecessity,adaptedmanynewtoolstorespondtothemassiveandrapidshifttodigitalmedia.Butdelvingintodatajournalismbringsjournalismbacktoitsjournalisticmissionandmovesitaheadinitsresearchmissionatthesametime,Collsaid.

“Whatwe’rereallyseeingnowisthatthisisadurablechangeinthestructureofinformation,andthereforeaneedtodurablychangeajournalist’sknowledgeinordertocarryouttheircoredemocraticfunction.Nottobuildabusinessmodel,nottoreachmorepeople,nottohavemorefollowers,buttoactuallydiscoverthetruth—youneedtolearnthis.”

Theriseofdataanalysismayalsofostercross-campuscollaboration.Journalismschools,astheyembracedataanalysiswithintheiralreadypowerfulabilitytotellstories,areuniquelysuitedtoberobustparticipantsandevenleadersindevelopingmeansofstorytellingwithdata.

Ourresearch,whichisfocusedonjournalismschools,maynotaccountforprogramswheredataanalysisiscenteredinanotherschoolordepartmentthatteachesthissubjecttostudentsthroughouttheuniversity.Forundergraduates,inparticular,thereislittlereasontoofferin-houseclassesinsubjectsthatstudentshavefreereintostudyinanotherdepartment.Yetitwouldrequireagreatdealoflatitudeandinitiativeforstudentstoconstructhybriddegreesthisway.Journalismstudentscansometimesbebetterservedbycross-departmentalinitiativesthatpairinstructorsforteamteachingandconnectjournalismstudentswithotherdisciplinesthatfocusondataandcomputation.Northwestern,Stanford,BostonUniversity,Columbia,GeorgiaTech,Syracuse,andothershaveworkedtobuildtheseinterdisciplinaryinitiatives.



Byestablishingtheseinterdepartmentalbridges,schoolscancreatepathwaysofcollaborationbetweenjournalism,itspartnerdisciplinesofcommunicationandmediastudies,andtheotherareasofresearchthatshareaninterestinthefutureoftechnologyandsociety.

Evenascross-departmentalworkincreases,anotherchallengeforjournalismeducationwillbetoidentifywhichdatacoursesneedtobeframedjournalisticallyandwhichotherscanbelearnedthroughclassesframedwithinthemethodologyofotherdepartments.Inordertolearnstatistics,forexample,studentsmaybeencouragedtoregisterinclassesofferedbythemath,statistics,orevenpoliticalsciencedepartment.Theprinciplesandobjectivesoftheseclassescouldapplywithinjournalisticwork,butthatmaynotalwaysbethecase.Theseclassesareoftentaughtfromaresearchortheoreticalperspective.Astatisticsclassthatemphasizessurveymethodology,forexample,couldbelessusefulforajournalismstudent.

Journalistsdonotoftenworkwithsamples,buttheydoworkwithentiredatasets.Fordatajournalismeducationinparticular,amoreusefulstatisticsclassmightbethetypeofinstructionMeyerprovidedbothincollegecoursesandinIRE/NICARbootcamps,usingsocialsciencetoaddressjournalisticchallenges.Accommodatingbothtechniquesinaresearchorstatisticsclasscouldfostercollaborationinsteadofsilos.Inotherinstances,outsourcingacoursemaymakesense.Mappingskillsnecessaryforjournalists,forexample,arethesametypesofskillsnecessaryforotherdisciplinesinacademia.

Yetthetaskofdevelopingandadoptingadatajournalismcurriculumcomeswithitsownchallenges.Thehighrateofchangeindigitaltools,platforms,andprogramminglanguagesmeansthatthereismoretoteachandthatclassesthemselvesmustbeupdatedfrequently.Itisdifficulttodecipherwhichnewtechniquesarejustpassingfadsandwhichhavethepotentialtoremainrelevantforeventenyears.Forthisreason,itisimportantforclassestobedesignedsothattheyteachdataandcomputationasfundamentalstylesofinquiry.Studentscanlearnenoughabouttheconceptsbehindatechniquetobeabletomoreeasilylearnnewtoolsthataddressthetechnique—asopposedtofocusingonthediscretetoolsusedfromtimetotime.

Thereareexceptions—theUnixcommandline,forexample,hasbeenasfundamentalandimmutableasanycomputingtool.Thisisatext-basedapplication,stillfavoredbydevelopersformanytasksonMacandLinuxsystems,forcontrollingthecomputerusingtypedcommandsinsteadofagraphicalinterface.Andmanyofitscoreutilitiesremainessentiallyunchangedsincethe1970s.YetitisfarmorecommontocitesuchexamplesastheActionScriptlanguageforAdobeFlash,whichwastaughtatseveraljournalismschoolslessthanadecadeagoandisallbutabandonedbydeveloperstoday.ThesilverliningisthatActionScriptsharesmanyfeatureswithprogramminglanguagessuchasJavaScriptand



Python,soitmayhaveofferedapathforastudenttodevelopotherproficiencies.Butitalsohighlightstheimportanceofselectingtechniquesforjournalismclasseswithlong-termconsiderationsinmind.

6.FrancoMoretti,Graphs,Maps,Trees:AbstractModelsforLiteraryHistory(London:Verso,2007)andDennisTenen,“BluntInstrumentalism,”inDebatesintheDigitalHumanities,forthcomingin2016,UniversityofMinnesotaPress.↩

7.Folkerts,Hamilton,andLemann,“EducatingJournalists,”p.4.↩

8.Ibid.,p.12.↩



Chapter2:StateoftheField:OurQuantitativeData


32Chapter2:StateoftheField:OurQuantitativeData

TheScopeofOurStudyForthisreport,wecollectedandanalyzedinformationon113journalismschools,roughlyone-quarterofthenation’sjournalismprograms,andgathered63syllabiforcoursesontopicsspanningdata-drivenjournalism,computationaljournalism,datavisualization,andothermethods.Wecombinedthatwithaseriesofin-depthinterviewswithmorethan50professorsandprofessionaljournalists(manyofwhomareadjuncts),andwespokewithtenstudentsorrecentgraduates.Wealsoattendednineclassesandparticipatedinthreemassiveopenonlinecourses(MOOCs).

Foryears,anecdotalevidencehasindicatedthatU.S.journalismschoolshavefallenbehindindatainstruction,orrather,startedfrombehindandhavenotcaughtupwiththefieldasithasbeenpracticedinnewsrooms.Akeytenetofthisfieldisthatusingdatatoreportandtellstoriescanresultinamorepowerfulstory.AsLaFleurdescribeditinherIREarticle:“understandthedata,interviewthedata,reportthedata.”Thatistheprocesswetriedtofollowforthisreport.

Wefirstcollectedthecourseofferingsof113programsaccredited(fullyorprovisionally)bytheAccreditingCouncilonEducationinJournalismandMassCommunications.Accreditationisavoluntaryprocessforjournalismschools.WeusedtheACEJMCprogramssimplybecausetheyrepresentedasignificantportionofjournalismschoolsandtheircurriculumrequirementsincludetwothatfitinwiththeconceptofprovidingdatajournalisminstruction:“applybasicnumericalandstatisticalconcepts”and“applycurrenttoolsandtechnologiesappropriateforthecommunicationsprofessionsinwhichtheywork,andtounderstandthedigitalworld.”

Wescrapedwhatwecouldfromthejournalismprogramwebsitesandhand-enteredtheremainder.Toverifythedata,wethenemailedorcalledprogramsthathadlistedeithernoclassesindatajournalismorveryfewclasses.Thisyieldedchangesinournumbersforseveralprogramswheretheonlinecoursedescriptionswerenotaccurate.Insolicitingthisfeedback,wealsoheardfrom11schoolswherethedepartmentisrevampingitscurriculumandconsideringaddingdatajournalism.Sixteenschoolsdidnotrespondtomultipleemailsorphonecalls.Wethenrevisitedeveryprogramwebsiteforall113programsanddouble-

checkedthedata.1

Wealsocollectedinformationonmultimediaofferingsofeachprogramsothatwecouldcomparemultimediacourseofferingswithdatajournalismcourseofferings.


33TheScopeofOurStudy

1.Itshouldbenotedthatinformationonadegreeprogram’swebsitedoesnotnecessarilyreflectthepresentstateoftheircurriculum.Wereachedouttoprofessorsandadministrativestaffinordertoconfirmourdata,butthiswasnotalwayspossible.↩


34TheScopeofOurStudy

OurFindingsAlittlemorethanhalfoftheuniversitieswereviewed—59ofthe113schools—offeroneormoredatajournalismcourses.Wedefinedadatajournalismclassasbeingfocusedontheintersectionofdataandjournalism,andusingspreadsheets,statisticalsoftware,relationaldatabases,orprogrammingtowardthatend.WeincludedinthedatajournalismcategoryonlythoseprogrammingclassesthatwentbeyondbasicHTMLandCSS.Forthepurposesofthisreport,weconsideredclassesonHTML,CSS,andJavaScripttobefocusedondigital/designjournalism,notdatajournalism.Wealsoexcludedcoursesinnumeracyandcommunicationsresearchmethodologiesandstatisticsunlessthecourseofferingsexplicitlyincludedajournalismfocus.Theappendixincludestablesdetailingthefullresultsofouranalysis.

ForAaronWilliams,whoisfouryearsoutofcollege,itwasnotsurprisingtohearthatouranalysisshowed54ofthe113programsdon’tofferastandaloneclassondatajournalism.WilliamshasworkedindatajournalismattheLosAngelesTimes,theCenterforInvestigativeReporting,andnowasinteractiveeditorattheSanFranciscoChronicle.AlmosteverythingheknowshelearnedfromcolleaguesatNICAR,hesaid.“Ididn’tevenreallyknowaboutdatajournalismasadiscipline,nordidmyinstructors…untilbasicallyIwasasenior,”Williamsrecalled.

Ofthe59programsweidentifiedthatteachatleastonedatajournalismclass,27oftheschoolsofferjustonecourse,usuallyfoundational.Fourteenoffertwoclasses.Just18ofthe59schoolsteachingdatajournalismofferthreeormoreclassesinthissubject.

Ataminimum,theseprogramsoffercoursesthatteachstudentstousespreadsheetstoanalyzedataforjournalisticpurposes.Attheotherendofthespectrum,someschoolsprovidefarmore,teachingmultipleclassesinprogrammingskills,suchasscrapingtheWeb,


35OurFindings

buildingnewsapps,orcreatingadvanceddatavisualizations.Butprogramswithmultipleclassesarerare.

Asignificantnumberofprogramsoffersomeinstructionindatajournalism,eveniftheydon’tprovideastandaloneclass.Ofthe113ACEJMC-accreditedprograms,69integratesomedatajournalismintootherreportingandwritingcourses,ouranalysisshowed.Inmostcases,thisentailsintroducingtheconceptsofusingspreadsheetsorbasicanalysisaspartofreportingandwritingclassesorcertaintopicclasses,suchasbusinessjournalism.

Again,tablessummarizingthesefindingscanbefoundintheappendix,whiletheremainderofthischapterwilldigdeeperintoouranalysisofsyllabiandcourseofferingsindatajournalism.


36OurFindings

TeachingDataFundamentals:RowsandColumnsDatajournalismprofessorssaythatthefoundationaldataclassisthemostimportantbecauseitlaysdownkeymindsetsandskillsthatareaprerequisiteformoreadvancedlearning.SteveDoigofASUbelievesthecoredatasyllabusshouldconsistofnegotiatingfordata,thinkingcriticallyaboutdata,andusingspreadsheetstoanalyzedata.

Itisdifficulttooverstatethevalueofspreadsheetsformanaginginformation.WhenweaskedformerCUNYprofessorAmandaHickman,nowanOpenLabseniorfellowatBuzzFeed,howshedefinesdata,shereplied,“anythingtabular.”

Forthefoundationalcomputer-assistedreportingclasses,thesyllabusanalysisandinterviewsindicatethatthecourseworkiscomprehensive,providingastrongbaseincriticalthinkingandbasicconceptssurroundingtheuseofdatatofindandtellstories.Studentsaretaughtsimilarconcepts:criticalthinkinganddevelopinga“dataframeofmind”—inotherwords,beingabletoquestiondatainadisciplinedway,makesenseofdiscrepancies,andfindtheunderlyingpatternsandoutliersthatareimportanttotheanalysis.

Mostoftheclassesincludesometypeofhands-onlearning.Manyofthemfocusfirstonspreadsheets,thenSQL,followedbymappingandstatisticalconcepts.Othersincludebasicdatavisualization,usingTableauorGoogleFusionasawayintothesubject.Multipleprofessorssaidthehands-onapproachreinforcesthecriticalthinkingconcepts,includinghelpingstudentstounderstandwhatstructureddatalooklikeandhowinformationofanykindcanbestructuredforbetterunderstanding.

Anotherkeyfeatureofthe63syllabiwereviewedwasanexerciseinrequestingandnegotiatingfordatafromagovernmentalbody.DanKeating,whoworksattheWashingtonPostandteachesalong-standingclassincomputer-assistedreportingattheUniversityofMaryland,saidthatfindingwhat“noonehaseverknownbefore”isadefiningpartofhisclass.

ManyCARcoursesbreakdownthisway:

HardSkills

Searchingforandfindingdocumentsanddatathatenablethejournalisttomakestatementsoffact,includingpublicrequests,deepresearch,andscrapingskillsUnderstandingdatastructuresandhowtocleanandstandardizedataintoaformthatis


37TeachingDataFundamentals:RowsandColumns

usefulAnalyzingdatausingspreadsheets,databases,mapping,andvisualizationLearningadvancedstatisticalmethodsthatilluminatedata

Guidingconcepts

Findingwhat“noonehasknownbefore”Developingdata-drivenstorytellingtechniques,includinghowtousenumberseffectivelyinproseandhowtotellastoryvisuallyThinkingofdataasanassetinthereportingprocess

Whetherfollowingtheguidingconceptsorapplyingthehardskills,journalismstudentstodaymustbewellgroundedinboththeimportanceofdataandthetoolstousedatainstorytelling.“Ifyoudon’tdealwithdataasajournalist,you’reshuttingyourselfdown,”saidMcGintyoftheWallStreetJournal.


38TeachingDataFundamentals:RowsandColumns

TeachingAdvancedDataSkills:VisualizationandProgrammingAdvancedinstructionindatajournalismtodayislimited.Only14ofthe113AEJMC-accreditedprogramssurveyedforthisstudyteachprogrammingbeyondHTML/CSStojournalismstudents.Andonly11ofthe113offercourseworkinemergingareasofdatajournalism,suchasdrones,virtualreality,andcomputationalmethods.

Infact,basedontheanalysisofsyllabiandjournalismprograms,evensomeclassesdescribedasadvancedprimarilyteachbasictenetsofspreadsheetuse.Partofthereasonisthatthisisstillwheretheneedisgreatest,saidprofessorsandtrainers.“ItisunbelievablehowmuchtimeIspendteachingthebasics,”saidJaimiDowdell,theseniortrainingdirectorforIRE.

However,teachingthebasicCARcurriculumisnotenough,arguedKevinQuealy,agraphicseditorattheNewYorkTimesandadjunctprofessorofjournalismatNewYorkUniversity.“Tododataworkatahighlevel,oneortwosemestersofcoursesisveryinadequate,”hesaid.

Manyjournalismprogramsofferdesignclasses,butoftenthoseclassesfocusonbasicdesigntenets,overallwebdesign,orstaticinfographics.Teachingstudentstheconceptsandskillsneededtovisualizedatainaninteractivewayortobuildawebapplicationismorerare.


39TeachingAdvancedDataSkills:VisualizationandProgramming

Notalldatajournalismeducatorsareconvincedthatdatavisualizationfornewspresentationshouldevenbeconsideredpartofadatajournalismcurriculum.However,mostagreethatitisvitaltoteachvisualizationforthepurposeofanalysis.AlbertoCairo,whoisleadinganefforttofilladatavisualizationgapinhisroleasKnightChairinVisualJournalismatMiamiUniversity,believesthatevenbasicvisualizationinstructiongoesalongwaytowardliteracy.

First,datajournalistsneedtoknowhowtodobasicexploratoryvisualanalysis,Cairosaid.Andsecond,evenjournalistswhopracticedatavisualizationneedtostartwiththeexploratoryanalysis.Theyneedtoknow—justliketheCARspecialists—howto“interview”thedata,hesaid.

Onechallengefortraditionaljournalismschools,whichmaylackastrongjournalismdesigncomponentandmayalreadyhavedifficultyteachingaCARordataanalysisclass,iswhethertheyshouldtapprofessionalsorrecruitortrainfacultytoincorporatedatavisualization.Tothat,Cairoandotheracademicsandprofessionalsweinterviewedsuggestthatsuchschoolscollaboratewithotherpartsofauniversitytofillthegap.

Forouranalysis,wedifferentiatedbetweenwebanddigitaltechnologiesaimedatpresentationandthedataskillsneededtotellastory.Thiscanbeadifficultboundaryline.Newsapplications,forexample,arefocusedondesign,but,basedonourinterviews,thereisakeydifferenceinbuildinganewwebsiteoramultimediapresentationandbuilding



somethinglikeProPublica’s“DollarsforDocs,”whichenabledreaderstodrillintothestoryofpharmaceuticalindustrypaymentstodoctorsandalsomadeitpossibleforotherjournaliststofindandtellotherstories.Meanwhile,“SnowFall,”theNewYorkTimes’smuch-touted(andPulitzerPrize-winning)interactivestoryofskierscaughtinaWashingtonstateavalanche,wasn’taboutdataanditwasn’taboutfurtheringtheuseofthedata;ituseddesignskillstomakethestoryanimmersivemultimediaexperienceforthereader.

Just14journalismschoolsinourdatasetteachprogrammingbeyondHTMLandCSS,basedontheircoursedescriptions.Atpresent,theprogramminglanguagesmostoftenusedinclassesondata-drivenreportingareSQL,Python,andR.InstructorsfocusingondataanalysisoftenincorporateSQL,andsomewillintroduceR.Someinstructorsalsoteachwebframeworks,suchasDjangoandRubyonRails,andsomevisualizationprofessorsteachJavaScriptandotherskills,thoughfewergointotheD3librarydevelopedbyMikeBostock,aformerNewYorkTimesgraphiceditor.

DeenFreelon,acommunicationstudiesprofessoratAmericanUniversity,takesadifferentapproach,teaching“codeforthepurposesofanalysis”inacourseopentobothcommunicationsandjournalismstudents.“IjustgotbackfrommylastclasswhereIwasteachingstudentshowtoanalyzeTwitterdata,”hesaid.

Whileadvancedclassesarerare,thereisacleardemandforthisknowledge.Inthetechworld,shortprogramsdesignedtotrainwebdevelopershaveemergedasfinanciallyviablebusinesses.Thesecodeschoolshaveshownthatsomeoftheseskillscanbetaughtinconsiderablylesstimethanafour-yeardegree.TheLedeProgramatColumbia,whichoffersasummerbootcampaswellasanintensivetwo-semestercertificationprogramincomputationalskillsforjournalists,hasdrawnstudentsinterestedingainingkeydataskillsinashortperiodoftime.

MaggieMulvihill,aclinicalprofessorofjournalismatBostonUniversity,israisingrevenueforcomputationaljournalismeffortstherethroughholdingweek-longcampsonstorytellingwithdatafornon-journalismprofessionals.

Integratingdatajournalismexposesstudentstothefield,highlightingthisasanareathattheymightchoosetopractice,butitisalsoanimportantstepforstudentsdevelopingafoundationofjournalisticskills.Asnoted,69ofthe113AEJMC-accreditedprogramsalreadyintegratesomedatajournalismintoreportingandwritingcourses,andonthisfrontthereissomegoodnews:severalschoolsexpressedinterestinaddingdatajournalisminasystematicwaytotheirprograms.When,inordertoverifyordata,wecontactedeachoftheprogramsthathadlistedeithernodatajournalismclassorjustone,11respondedthattheyareactivelyworkingtoadddatajournalismtotheircurricula.AttheUniversityofAlabamainTuscaloosa,forexample,theschooldoesnotofferastandaloneCARclass,butitnowincludescomponentsofdataanalysisinstructioninthreeseparatejournalismclasses.



AlternativeDataInstruction:TheStateofOnlineCoursesOneresponsetothewidespreadlackofinstructionindatajournalism,andinstructorscapableofteachingit,hasbeentoenlistrespectedteachersformassiveopenonlinecourses,orMOOCs.Doigisoneofthoseteachers,andhesuggestsMOOCsoffergreatbenefitforcertainclasses,providingexpertinstructionandhands-ontraining.

HewasaninstructorintwoMOOCsfocusedondatajournalism,oneorganizedbytheEuropeanJournalismCentre,whichdrew25,000peopletoenroll,andtheotherbyRosentalAlvesoftheKnightCenterforJournalisminTheAmericasattheUniversityofTexasSchoolofJournalism,whichdrewmorethan4,000.

“OnestrengthisthatthereareawidevarietyofMOOCsouttherecreatedbytopfacultyatmajorinstitutionslikeHarvardandMITandStanford,”Doigwroteinamemoonthesubject.“Theirexistencebegsthequestionofwhyshouldyourinstitutiongotothetroubleofcreatingandstaffingaclassthatcoversthesameground.(Ofcourse,onereasonwouldbetocollectthetuitionfromyourstudents!)”

HesuggestedthatapartialjournalismcurriculumcouldbecraftedoutofMOOCofferingscombinedwithvideocontentfromjournalism-relatedsourcessuchasIREandthePoynterInstitute’sNewsUniversity.However,beingunabletoprovideindividualfeedback,MOOCswouldcomeupshortforclassesinnewswritingorbasicreporting,hesaid.

OurresearchassistantparticipatedinthreeMOOCstohelpusdevelopasenseofhowwellthevirtualcoursesteachdatajournalism.HefoundthatMOOCsarebestatofferingintroductoryexposure,butoneshouldnotexpecttoreachin-depthknowledge.MOOCsmaybeusefulfordevelopinganinitialfoundationinasubject,orforreinforcingafadingproficiency,butmaybelackingintermsofteachingreportingtechniques,criticalthinking,orcreativeskills.ThethreeMOOCsheparticipatedinwereeffectiveatteachingtools,andourRAreportedthathewasoftenexcitedtolearnafeatureortechniquewithinanapplication.However,findingwaystoapplythesetoolsoutsideofexercisesmayrequireperson-to-personinteractioninaclassroomsetting.

InorderforMOOCstobeviableresources,theymustbemaintained.Manyclassesreferencedlostandoutdatedinformation.Brokenlinks,missingmaterials,andredesignedwebsitesoftenmadeitdifficulttonavigatethroughthelessons.


42AlternativeDataInstruction:TheStateofOnlineCourses

Ourparticipant’sexperiencepointedtotheissuesraisedbyDoig,buttheASUprofessordoesthinkMOOCscouldstillbeanoptionalresourceforadatajournalismcourse.“Studentseagertogobeyondwhatisofferedintheclassroom(alas,almostcertainlyaminority)canbepointedtoonlinesourcesthatwillgivethemthatcontent,”Doigwrote.“Tothatend,itmightbeagoodideatodevelopalistofMOOCsandsuchthatjournalisminstructorscouldsampleandoffertotheirstudents.”


43AlternativeDataInstruction:TheStateofOnlineCourses

Textbooks:LittleConsensusOuranalysisalsofoundonemoregapincurricula—astrongcoreoftextbooks.Theconceptsandskillsofthisfieldweredescribedinfairlyconsistentwaysthroughoutourinterviewsandthetextofthesyllabi,butdatajournalisminstructorsshareonlyafewcorebooksincommon.Infact,mostdidn’tuseatextbookatallbutprovidedalistofselectedreadings.

Ofthesyllabi,morethan70differenttextbookswererequired,buttherewasnoconsensusonwhichbookswerepreferred.Themostpopularbook—BrantHouston’sComputer-AssistedReporting:APracticalGuide—wasrequiredinjust14percentoftheclasses.

FivecoursesrequiredmembershipinIRE,and23ofthecoursesrequiredstudentstobuyabookpublishedthroughIRE.TheyincludedvariouseditionsofHouston’sandIRE’sTheInvestigativeReporter’sHandbook:AGuidetoDocuments,Databases,andTechniquesandSarahCohen’sNumbersintheNewsroom:UsingMathandStatisticsinNews.VariouseditionsofPhilipMeyer’sbook,NewPrecisionJournalismorPrecisionJournalism,wererequiredinnineofthecourses.

EightofthecoursesrequiredTheDataJournalismHandbook,whichwasproducedasacombinedeffortbydatajournalistsaroundtheglobe.TheonlinebookisaninitiativeoftheEuropeanJournalismCentreandtheOpenKnowledgeFoundationandisavailablefreeontheWebinEnglish,Russian,Spanish,French,andGeorgian.

In17classes,notextwasrequired.Thelessonheremaybethatonlinereadingworksbestfortheseclasses.Butitalsocouldmeanthatdespiteitslonghistory,datajournalismisstillanascentsubjectwithinjournalismschoolsandtheremaybeadearthofeffectivetextbooksbeyondthefewthatarecommonlyassigned.


44Textbooks:LittleConsensus

Chapter3:QualitativeFindings:InterviewsandObservations


45Chapter3:QualitativeFindings:InterviewsandObservations

IdentifyingWhattoTeach“Datajournalismisn’teasytodefineortoteach.Itisconstantlychangingandbestpracticesareevolving.Oneneedstolearnalotbydoing,too.”–JonahNewmanoftheChicagoReporter

Ourinterviewsechoedmanyofthefindingsinourquantitativedata,soratherthanrepeatthosefindings,thischapterfocusesonhowtheprofessorsputtheconceptsintopracticeintheclassroom.Itisintendedtoprovidearoadmapofexistingpedagogicalworkindatajournalismandofferinsightsintocommonchallenges.

Weinterviewednearly50teachersandpractitioners,andwhilethereisadiversityofthought,therealsoisaconsensuswhenitcomestothefoundationsofdatajournalismcurricula:criticalthinking,masteryofkeydataskills,andteachingprogrammingconceptssothatstudentswillbeabletolearnnewtoolsasneeded.

DavidBoardman,deanofTempleUniversity’sSchoolofMediaandCommunication,suggestedthatdatajournalismisaboutlearninghigherandmorecomplexlevelsofanalysis.Thisincludeslearningmoresophisticatedtoolsandsoftwareandalmostcertainlysomelevelofprogramming.

Inadatajournalismclass,havingthatcriticalthinkingskillmeansthatthestudentslearntotreatdatainanethicalway,sothatratherthanbendingthedatatorepresentaparticularview,thegoalistowardtruthandaccuracy.

“Iwouldalwayserronthe[teachingof]criticalthinkingskills,”saidLaFleuroftheCenterforInvestigativeReporting.“Thatistheharderskilltoingraininpeople.Youcanlearnhowtoclickthingsandwritealineofcode.”

Ingeneral,thosewhoteachdatajournalismfocusonhands-onmethods.Inthebeginning,theprofessorswillprovidedatatostudentstoanalyze.LaFleur,forexample,useshands-ontrainingwithonedatasetandthenwillintroduceasimilardatasetandassignthestudentstoaskthesametypesofquestions,butontheirown.

Bythemiddleofacourse,studentsoftenhavetoobtaintheirowndata,submittingpublicrecordsrequests.Thestudentsthenmoveontodatathatrequiremorecomplexanalysis.Bydoingthis,theprofessorsaredoingtwokeythings:teachingthecriticalthinkingthatgoeswithnegotiatingforinformationandunderstandingtheboundsofthatinformation.Atthesametime,thestudentsareusingbasictoolstoaccomplishtheirgoals,betheyspreadsheetsorarelationaldatabase.Insomeclasses,thefocusisonwritingamemoby


46IdentifyingWhattoTeach

theendofthecourseonapossiblestory.Inothercourses,theprofessorsexpectthestudentstoreportandwriteastory.Thislaststep—eitheramemoorastory—onceagainhelpsthestudentusecriticalthinking,thistimepairingthatwiththeskillsofstorytelling.

Thekeyislearninghowtoobtainmastery,saidIraChinoy,anassociateprofessorattheUniversityofMarylandwhopreviouslyledthedatajournalismeffortsattheWashingtonPost.

Chinoyrelatesthistothe2009“MiracleontheHudson”andhowthepilotusedreflexivemasterytolandtheUSAirwaysplaneontheriverafterbirdstrikescausedbothenginestofail.Inclass,whenstudentsgetdiscouragedaboutbadinteractionsorconversationsinpursuitoftheirdatabases,Chinoybringsup“Sully”Sullenberger’sactionsandsays,“Doyouthinkhecouldhavedonethatonhisfirstdayofpilotschool?”

Chinoyemphasizedthattheinformationshouldnotalwaysbepresentedtothestudentsupfront.Helikestogivethemachancetocomeupagainstobstacles.Theyalsoneedtodevelopasenseofwhendatacouldbeproblematic,whataresignsofthat,andwhatiseachstudent’sbestpracticeforexaminingthedata.


47IdentifyingWhattoTeach

TheCodingIssueWhetherdatajournalistsneedtoprogramremainsanactivedebate.Butwhenwedelvedintothisissue,wefoundthatwefirstneedtodefinewhatwemeanintermsofdatajournalism.Tosome,“code”meanswebdevelopmentanddesign—backtotheconceptofHTMLandCSS.“Programming”meanswritingprogramsthatenableadvancedminingofdataoralgorithmsthatcouldidentifypatterns.

Thebottomlineisthattodomoreadvanceddatajournalism,itspractitionersneed,ataminimum,tounderstandhowprogrammingworks.Thiscouldbeconsideredthestartofcomputationalthinking.JustscrapinginformationfromtheWebcaninvolvesimpleprogrammingusingPython,andunderstandingwhatispossiblewithprogrammaticsolutionsiscriticalforjournalistslookingatwebsitesandothertrovesofinformation,muchofwhichisnotjustinrowsandcolumns.

Asstudentsdeveloptheabilitytorecognizecomputationalsolutionstosomeoftheseproblems,someofthemmaythenlearnhowtoprogram.Buteventhosewhodon’ttakethecodingpathshouldstillbeabletounderstandhowsolutionslikethesecanbeapartoftheirjournalisticpractice.Theabilitytoworkwithdataandthinkintermsofcomputationisaskillbroaderandmorenecessarythananyspecifictoolorprogramminglanguage.Itisvitalthatwedon’tconfusethetwo.

MarkHansen,aprofessorofjournalismatColumbiaanddirectorofitsBrownInstituteforMediaInnovation,alsofocusesonteachingbothprogrammingskillsandthemindsetofcomputationaljournalism.Theidea,accordingtoHansen,isthatbyusingprogramming,journalistscanthinkbeyondrowsandcolumnsastheysearchforanswersindataofallforms,whetherstructuredorunstructured.

NicholasDiakopoulos,acomputerscientistattheUniversityofMaryland,hasbeenteachinganumberofclassesindatajournalismbeyondtheintroductorylevel.Andhealsoprovidesacourseoncodinginthesophomoreyear.Hisaim,hesaid,istomovetheundergraduatestudentsfromthetrackoflearningCSS/HTMLbasicwebskillstounderstandingwebdevelopmentandnewsapps.Beyondthat,he’sofferingaclassoncomputationaljournalismwithafocusonPython,textanalysisandaggregation,recommendersystems,andwritingstorieswithcodebehindit.

Diakopoulossuggestedthatstudentscouldalsotakecomputerscienceclassesiftheywanttolearnhowtobehackers—meaning,intheoriginalsenseoftheword,anyonefluentenoughwithcomputerstousethemcreatively.


48TheCodingIssue

It’sallaboutworkingwithdatainaprincipledway,Diakopoulossaid.HetiesthistoCARandPhilipMeyer’scrusadetobringthescientificwayofthinkingintojournalism50yearsearlier;inotherwords,thinkingmethodically,thinkingabouthowtoframeanexperiment,gatherdata,anduserigorousmethodstobuildevidenceofsomefindingofjournalisticimportance.

Intheend,datajournalismisaboutteachinghowtofindthestory,usinganincreasingarrayofdatatechniques,saidDavidDonald,datajournalistinresidenceattheSchoolofCommunicationatAmericanUniversityanddatadirectorofAU’sInvestigativeReportingWorkshop.“You’restilltalkingaboutstoryandhowdataneedstobevettedandbeexpressedinawaythatgetsintothepublic’sbraineasily,”Donaldsaid.“Fromtheinvestigativeside,youarelookingforevidenceinthedata.”

Developingthatcomputationalabilitywillbecomeevenmoreimportanttohandlethevastamountsofdataintoday’sworld.Moretoolswillcomeandgo,butdatajournalism,atitscore,willenablejournaliststodotheirjobinamoreexpansiveway,saidCollofColumbia.

“Ithinkthat[datajournalism]willbearoundforawhile”Collsaid.“Itwillbearoundforawholesetofiterationsofplatformsanddistributionsystems,andevenmedia.Sowegetvirtualreality,orweget3D,orwedon’t.That’sawholedifferentsetofquestions.Thisisgoingtobeabouthowyoureportongovernment,howyoureportoncorporations,howyoutellwheatfromchaff.”

Datajournalistsarestartingtoaddressthistypeofcoverage,butittakesadeeperlevelofdatajournalismcapability—thecomputationaljournalismsliceofdatajournalism.Someofitinvolvespresentingdatainnew,journalisticways.The“SurgeonScorecard,”publishedbyProPublica,isoneexample.ProPublicausedextensiveMedicaredataandcollaboratedwithleadersinthefieldtoevaluatetheperformanceofsurgeons.

Inotheriterations,thislevelofcomputationaljournalismmeansexamininginformationinnew,morecomplexways.ExamplesofthattypeofdatajournalismaretheWallStreetJournal’scoverageoftheMedicaresystem,whichreceivedthe2015PulitzerPrizeinInvestigativeReporting,andReuters’2014projectexamininginfluenceintheSupremeCourt.


49TheCodingIssue

InstitutionalChallenges:ResourcesDependingontheuniversity,somestudentsneedmoresupportwithtechnology.Somestudentsstilldonotownpersonallaptopsandrelyonschoolcomputerlabsfortheirassignments,forexample.Otherstudentsmaybeusingpersonalcomputingdevicesthatarenotequippedwithwhattheyneedtododatajournalism.Studentswhouseatablet(suchasaniPad)astheirprimarytoolwillfacebarriers.

MeredithBroussard,whotaughtdatajournalismatTempleUniversityuntil2015,saidthatensuringthatherstudentshadtheequipmenttheyneededforherclasswasamajorpriority.Manyofherstudentsreliedonatablet,whichmeantequippingcomputerlabswiththenecessaryequipmentandplatforms—orevenlendinglaptopstostudentsfortheterm.

BrantHoustonoftheUniversityofIllinoisUrbana-Champaignalsopointedtotheavailabilityofresourcesasanimportantissue—especiallyforuniversitiesthatdrawstudentsfromeconomicallydisadvantagedpopulations.

Journalismschoolscanhelpthesestudentsbyinvestinginup-to-datelabequipmentandbyworkingtocreateanenvironmentthatmakesiteasyforstudentstoaccessneededsoftwareandtoinstallitontheirowndevices.Journalismschooladministratorsshouldconsidermorefrequentauditsandsurveysofprofessorstoidentifywhichsoftwarewillbemostusefulfortheirstudents.

Andforstudentswhoareworkingontheirownpersonallaptops,someprofessorsholdprovisioningsessionstohelpstudentsinstalltheneededsoftwareatthebeginningoftheterm.


50InstitutionalChallenges:Resources

InstitutionalChallenges:FacultyExpertiseThereisnosecretthatadivideexistsbetweentheprofessionaljournalismworldandtheacademicworld.Thischasmcontinuesevenwithfacultywhenitcomestowhoteachesdatajournalismandtheimpactitwillhaveonthedepartment.

Ofcourse,eachbrandofdatajournalisminstructormayhavehisorherownbiases.Thosewhostartedasprofessionaljournalists,orwhostillworkinanewsroomandteachasanadjunct,believethattheycanconveythecriticalthinkingskillsneededtosucceedinanewsroomenvironmentmoreeffectivelythanaprofessorwhoseexperienceisinresearch.

Ontheotherhand,DiakopoulosoftheUniversityofMarylandbelievesthatfacultyshouldholdPhDs,andthatwhileitwouldbegoodtobeabletohiresomeonewith25yearsofexperienceindatajournalism,it’sanunrealisticexpectationatthisstageofthefield’sdevelopment.Hisgoal,hesaid,istoteachthinkingthroughresearch.Still,headmittedthatthisisastruggle.

SomedatajournalistsandjournalismprofessorstakeissuewithDiakopoulos,suggestingthatsuchamodelofdatajournalismprofessorswithPhDsisunrealisticinaworldwheredatajournalismemergedfromtheprofessionalpractice,notacademia.

Whereverjournalismschoolsfindthenecessaryfaculty,justhiringanewprofessortospecializeindatajournalismwillnotsolvetheproblem,saidDoigfromASU.“Onedifficultywithhavingsomebodylikemeiseverybodyelsecansay,‘Ah,wedon’thavetoworryaboutdatajournalismnow.’Inreality,Iteachmaybetwosectionsof20studentseachsemester.That’safractionofourtotalstudentload,”Doigsaid.“Sobelievingthatitissomehowbeingtakencareofbyonespecialistlikethat,thatisn’tthecase.”

Tohelpsolveatleastsomeoftheissues,Doighasprovidedshortvideotutorialstootherprofessorsforbasicgovernmentreportingclasses.

WhileDoigbelievesitwouldbegoodtohavearequireddatajournalismcourse,healsoquestionswhetherthatispossible.“Howareyougoingtofindthefacultytoteachthat?”heasked.“There’snotenoughpeopleintownwhocouldteachthat.”

Professionaltrackandacademictrackfacultymembersagreethatfornow,pullinginprofessionaljournaliststoserveasadjunctswillcontinuetobenecessaryandthatrelyingonprofessionaljournalistsalonewillnotsolvetheproblem.

ForDustinHarpattheUniversityofTexas,Arlington,thisconundrumwassolvedthroughherowninitiative.Shehadnevertaughtdatajournalismbutdecidedthestudentsneededtheclass,soshedidsomeresearchandcreatedone.Somecolleaguesaskedherwhy.She


51InstitutionalChallenges:FacultyExpertise

hastenureandnooneaskedhertotakeontheextrawork.Butthestudentsneededtheclass,Harpsaid.Sheusedlynda.comfortutorialsandlearnedthesameinformationbeforeteachingherstudents.

“ThethingisI’maqualitativeresearcher,I’mnotanumbersperson,I’mnotanumberscruncher,soitwasverycrazyanddaunting.AfterIsaidIwasgoingtodoit,itwasontheschedule,IwaslikewhathaveIgottenmyselfinto?”Harpsaid.“ButIfollowthefield....I’mawarethatdatajournalismis,it’satoolourstudentsneedtobemorecompetitivetogetjobs.”


52InstitutionalChallenges:FacultyExpertise

InstitutionalChallenges:StudentEngagementJournalismprogramsneedtodoabetterjobofpersuadingorevenrequiringstudentstotakeadatajournalismclass.Studentsmayshyawaybecausetheybelievetheyaren’tanygoodatmath.“Alotofstudentsarescaredof‘thatmaththing,’”saidonejournalismstudentatNorthwesternUniversity.

Resistancetomathisanissuefarbroaderthanthefieldofjournalism,butitwillneedtobeaddressedifteachingdatajournalismistobetakenseriously.Thisappliestobothteachersandstudents,someofwhommayhavechosentopursuejournalisminpartbecausetheythoughtthatitwouldrequirelittleornomath.

Theproblemsgodeeperthanjustconvincingpeopletheycanhandlemath.Eveninuniversitieswithentireprogramsfocusedonteachingprogramming,datajournalism,andevendatavisualization,somestudentshavereportedthatitwasn’teasytofindoutabouttheseopportunities.Someofthereasonshavetodowithsiloswithinschoolsanddepartmentsforspecificprogramsaswellasspecifictrackswithemphasisonspecifictypesofjournalisticpractice.

RichGordon,co-founderoftheKnightLabanddirectorofdigitalinnovationattheMedillSchoolofJournalismatNorthwesternUniversity,agreesthatagapexistsbetweenthebasicCARcourseandthemuchmoreadvancedprogramthroughKnightLab,whichbringsintechnologistsandworkswiththetechnologiststodevelopnewapplicationsforjournalism.JournalismstudentsgoingthroughanormaldegreeplanmayhavetheopportunitytotakeabasicCARclass,butmostwon’teverbeexposedtotheworkatthelab,hesaid.

Ingeneral,datajournalismcoursesareelectivesanddrawonlyafewstudentsoutofthetotalenrolledineachjournalismprogram.Someofthathastodowithcapacity,butanotherissueisthelackofvisibility.Often,otherprofessorsdon’ttreattheclassesasvitaltoajournalismcareer.

“There’ssomestudentinterestinCAR,”saidoneUniversityofMissourijournalismgraduate.“Buttherewouldbemoreifitwereexpressedasanoptionforstudentsearlyon.”

Universitiescanaddressthisissue,saidMikeReilley,professorofpracticeatArizonaStateUniversity,whoregardsuniversitiesas“‘toosiloed.”Reilleyadvocatesteam-taughtcoursesandcooperationbetweendepartments.


53InstitutionalChallenges:StudentEngagement

Somestudentsworktheirwaythroughtofindwhattheyneed.Forinstance,onestudentwhotookTempleUniversity’sundergraduateclassindatajournalismhadtakenclassesinprogrammingwithPythonthroughtheuniversity’sbusinessschool.Shetoldourresearcherssheplannedonlearningmoredatajournalismasshewantedtocontinuedoingthistypeofjournalismwhenshegraduated.Butinstitutionalchangescouldmakedatajournalismmuchmoreaccessible.

Severalstudentssuggestedthatschoolsshouldofferatrackthatcouldincludeajournalisticallyfocusedstatisticsclass,aclassthatfocusesondatabases,aclasswithafocusonreportingwithdata,andothersthatdelveintomorein-depthdatareportinganddatavisualization.

Oneoftheauthorsofthisreportco-taughtaspring2015watchdogreportingclasswithanengineeringprofessor.Fivecomputersciencestudentsembeddedintoprojectteamsofjournalismstudents.Thejournalismstudentslearnednewdataskills,andthecomputersciencestudentslearnedtechniquesinreportingandwriting.Theclassofferedchallenges,too.Nexttimearound,theremaybeamoredefinedwayforthejournalismstudentstotakeondatachallengesoftheirownandcontinuedemphasisonhavingthecomputersciencestudentslearnskillssuchasinterviewing.


54InstitutionalChallenges:StudentEngagement

Chapter4:ModelCurriculainDataandComputation


55Chapter4:ModelCurriculainDataandComputation

IntroductionandSummaryofCurricularRecommendationsTheprecedingchaptersofferapictureofthestateofeducationindataandcomputationaljournalismintheUnitedStates,aswellasanargumentforthenecessityandevenurgencyofjournalismschoolscommittingtoteachthesesubjects.Whatfollowsinthischapteraremodelcurriculaandguidelinesthatwehopewillfacilitatethistransition.Weintendthesemodelstobeflexible;wehopethatthisinformationcanbeappliedacrossschoolsdespitevariationintermlength,academicunits,andtimetodegree.

Thischapterisdividedintofivesections.Thefirstisamodelforanintroductoryclassindataandcomputationthatwerecommendasarequirementforalljournalismstudents.Thesecondsectionofferswaysofintegratingdataandcomputationalinstructionintocoreclassesandcertainelectives.Thelastthreesectionspresentfullmodelcurriculaforarangeofdegrees.Thefirstofthosethreeisatrackorconcentrationindataandcomputationaljournalism.Itisflexibleinordertobegenerallyapplicableattheundergraduateorgraduatelevel.Theothertwoaremodelsforadvancedgraduatework.Thefirstpresumesastudentwithsomereportingexperienceorajournalismdegreeinhandwhowishestodevelopexpertise-drivenreportingskills—thatis,towriteaboutcomplicatedsubjectsfromapositionofdeepunderstanding.Thefinalmodelisforaresearch-driven,lab-basedgraduatedegreeinemergingmediaandtechnologicalinnovation.

Aboveall,werecommendthatallprogramshavearequiredfoundationalcourseindatajournalism,teachingbasicprinciplesofdataanalysisforthepurposeoffindingstorieswhilecultivatingasenseofthegeneraltechniquesandpossibilitiesofdata-drivenreporting.Thepremiseofthiscourseisthatallreportersmustbepreparedtousedataintheirworkandtorecognizewhenthisapproachisneeded.

Consideringthatmanyjournalismprogramsaredesignedtocoveradizzyingrangeofmaterialinashortperiodoftime,someofourreadersmightbewonderingwheretofindroomforarequiredclassindatajournalism.Schoolsthathaveanexistingclassonbasicnumeracyforjournalistscouldreworktheclasstoincludeagreateremphasisondata-drivenreportingmethods.Anotheropeningmightlieinmultimediaclasses,manyofwhichwereintroducedonlyinthepastdecade.Comparedwithdatajournalism,whichframesamindsetforgatheringandpresentinginformation,multimediainstructionoftencentersonteachingtoolswithuncertainshelflives.Itmightbetimetoconsiderretiringtheaudioslideshowfromrequiredcourseworktomakeroomfordataskills.


56IntroductionandSummaryofCurricularRecommendations

Model1:IntegratingDataasaCoreClass

FoundationsofDataJournalismThisisamodelforarequiredintroductorycourseatthegraduateorundergraduatelevel.Whatfollowsisanarrativeaccountofhowsuchaclassmayproceedindevelopingdataliteracyamongbeginningjournalists.Werealizethatthiscoursemayneedtofittheuniquecontoursofdifferentjournalismprograms,someofwhichcontainbootcampsandotherintroductoryprogramswithidiosyncraticdurationsandvaryinglevelsofintensityandfocusondifferentskills.Thepointisforthiscoursetobegivenequalfootingwithotherskillsorsubjectmattersthatarecurrentlytreatedasessentialinajournalismeducation.

coursedescription:Thiscourseisanintroductiontothecollection,analysis,presentation,andcritiqueofstructuredinformationbyjournalists.Asstudentsareintroducedtothebasicsofreportingandtherangeofjournalisticmethodsthattheymaypursueinlatercoursework,anintroductiontodataandcomputationisanessentialcomponentoftheirjournalismeducation.

Overthecourseofaterm,studentsshouldbegintodevelopaframeofmindinwhichtheyapproacheverystorylookingfordatapossibilities.Theyshouldunderstandhowtousebasicmethodsusingspreadsheetsandrelationaldatabases.Theyshouldgetaprimeronusingandunderstandingstatisticalconcepts.Theyshouldlearnhowtotaketheirdatafindingsandlocatethepeoplewhoillustratethosefindingsfortheirstories.Theywilllearnhowtoconverttheirdataanalysisintoapitchforajournalisticstory.

Studentswilllearnhowtofinddataonline,howtomaintainpersonalrecordsastheyreportstories,andhowtousesimplevisualizationmethodstofindnewinformation:howkeepingatimelinecanhelprevealdiscrepanciesandhowcross-checkingsourcesofinformationmayleadtonewavenuesofinquiry.Theuseofdatainthesecontextswillbenefitstudentsnomatterwhichareaofjournalismtheychoosetopractice.Justlikeinterviewing,whichisaubiquitousjournalisticskill,theartofgatheringandunderstandingdatashouldextendwidelyacrossthefieldofjournalism.

Thetroublewithdataisthatitsooftenappearsclinicalordetachedfromtherichnessofpeople’slives.Toreducethingstoabstractionsmayseemlimitingtosomestudents.Earlyexercisesmayhelptocounterthispresupposition.Ifyouasktheclasstogatherinformationabouteachothersuchastheirbirthdates,bloodtypes,eyecolor,andbirthplace,theymayseewithina20-minuteexercisehowinterestingdatacanbewhenwelearnsomethingfromdatathatwecaretoknow.


57Model1:IntegratingDataasaCoreClass

Fromthispoint,theclassmaymovetomorejournalisticexerciseswithspreadsheets.Asstudentsbecomemorecomfortablewithspreadsheets,theclassmayturntomethodsofdataanalysissuchaspivottablesandotherplottingmethods.

Skills:Thisclassshouldpreparestudentstousespreadsheetsanddatabasestofindandtellstories.

Centralconcernsinclude:spreadsheettraining,howtofinddata,cleanit,lookforpatternsandoutliers,andquestionthebiasesandomissionsinhowitwasgathered.Instructorsmaychoosetouseanintroductorydatasetwithagoodstoryforbeginnerstofind(examplesarelistedintheappendix).

Studentsshouldalsolearnhowtocriticallyassessclaimssurroundingdata.Reportingondatamaygoastraywhenitpresumesthisinformationiscompleteandaccurate.Reportersshouldbetrainedtolookforproblemsindata.Itisnecessarytoquestioneverysourceofinformation.

Anotherfoundationalaspectofdata-drivenreportingistorecognizepatternsandanomaliesindata.Twoskillsthatshouldemergefromthisclassaretolookfortrendsandtoidentifyoutliers.Everydatapointisapossiblesourceoranecdote.

Thisclasswillintroducedatavisualization,butmainlyasameanstoexploreadataset.UsinganapproachableprogramsuchasExcel,FusionTables,orTableau,studentswilllearntodisplaydataingraphicformasaninroadtoaskingjournalisticquestions.Thegoalisnottodesignagraphicforpublication,buttographforthesakeofunderstandingthedata.Studentsmaythinkofthisasaresearchmethodorasketchpadforfurtherreporting.Instructionshouldincludediscussionofthewaysthatdifferentvisualizationmethodscanbemisleading.

Alongtheway,thisclasscancoverbasicnumeracyanddescriptivestatistics—skillsthateveryjournalistneedstoknow.Thismayincluderemindersabouthowtocalculatepercentageandpercentchange,workingwithunitsandmeasures,andevenidentifyinglargenumberslikebillionsandtrillions.Oncethosearecovered,thematerialcouldmovetostatisticsprinciplesandmethodssuchasstandarddeviationandregressionanalysis.

Topics:Datasources,importingdata,negotiatingfordata,checkingtheveracityofdata,datacleaning,usingformulasinspreadsheets,queryingdatabases,findingsocialsignificanceinthedata,writingadatastory,visualizingadatastory.

CourseStructure:Mixofhands-onpracticeandlectures,primarilyusingspreadsheettoolsandperhapsrelationaldatabasesoftware;somelimitedexposuretodatavisualizationforstoryexploration.

ExampleAssignments:



Homework:Bringapieceofdatajournalismtocritiqueinclass.Homework:Findadatasetandexplainwhyit’sinterestingandwhatitmightreveal.Classwork:Discussbasicdataanalysisandcleaningonpreparedexampledata.Spreadsheetassignment:Analyzeagovernment’spayroll,includingovertime,orexamineacityorcountybudget.Thiscouldbeabridgeinspectiondataset,acitybudget,orcitypayroll.Final:Produceadatastoryinthreeassignments:pitch,draft,finalsubmission.



Model2:IntegratingDataandComputationintoExistingCoursesandConcentrations

GeneralGuidelinesfortheUndergraduateandGraduateLevelsThebasicprinciplesofdatajournalismshouldbeasfamiliartostudentsaswritingalede,shootingb-roll,ortweetingupdatestoadevelopingstory.Tointegratedataskillsintojournalisminstructionmeansintroducingtheseconcernsacrossthecurriculum.

Ourcentralrecommendationisforjournalismschoolstotreatdataandcomputationascoreskillsforallstudents.Datajournalismmustbetaughtasafoundationalmethodinintroductoryclasses,adistinctthemeinmedialawandethics,areportingmethodsuitabletoanyspecializedreportingcourse,andasubjectinwhichinterestedstudentscanpursueadvancedcourseworkoraconcentration.

Moreover,becausedataandalgorithmsareincreasinglyimportanttopicstounderstandinordertoreportonissuesinbusiness,politics,technology,andhealth,amongothers,subjectareareportingclassesshouldincludematerialthatpreparesstudentstoapproachtheseinformationsourceswithproperskepticismandtoexplainthemclearlyinwriting.Inthemodelsthatfollow,wepointtoafewwaysthatdatajournalismcanbeintegratedintocoursesthatarecommonlyofferedinjournalismschools.

Onenotabledifferencebetweengraduateandundergraduateprogramsisthatamaster’sprogramoftenbeginswithabootcampinwhichstudentsarequicklybroughtuptospeedonawiderangeofskills.Forthemajorityofstudents,whoenterwithoutadeclaredconcentration,abootcampmaypointtowardareasofunexpectedinterest.Tointegratedataandcomputationaljournalismintograduateprograms,itmustbegivenequalfootingalongsideotherareaswherestudentsmaychoosetospecialize.Anintroductorymoduleondatajournalismwillbenefitstudentsasmuchaslearningthebasicsofphotojournalism.Moreover,thematicelectivecourseworksuchasenvironmentalandpoliticalreportingshouldintegratedatainstructiontothesamedegreethatitwouldemphasizesuchdistinctapproachesasphotojournalism,broadcast,andlong-formjournalism.

Introductoryjournalismclassesarenecessarilybroad.Someclassesarethematic,coveringmaterialfromthebasichistoryandgeneralpracticesofjournalismtotherangeoftechnologiesandreportingtechniquesthatconstitutethemodernmedia.Othersfocus


60Model2:IntegratingDataandComputationintoExistingCoursesandConcentrations

entirelyonthepracticeofjournalism.Eitherway,dataandcomputationmusthaveaplacefoundationalcourses.

Attheundergraduatelevel,thisshouldapplytostudentspursuingeitheramajororaminorinjournalism.Courseworktowardtheminoralsoshouldintegratesomemeasureofdataandcomputationalinstruction.

Schoolsmayalsoconsiderworkingmorecourseworkindataandcomputationforotherprogramsandconcentrations.Studentsfocusedoninvestigativereporting,forinstance,wouldbenefitfromadditionalcourseworkonfindingstoriesindata,perhapsevenasanadditionalrequirement.

IntroductoryandRequiredJournalismClassesIntegratingDataandComputation

BasicGraphics,Video,andMultimedia

Howandwhytointegratedata:Differentschoolsmayteachavarietyofvisualtoolsundertheheadingofgraphic,video,multimedia,ordigitalmedia.Thereareproductivewaysfordataandcomputationtobeintegratedintotheselessons,howevertheclassesarestructured.Datavisualizationwoulddovetailwithinstructioninothergraphicalstorytellingmethodssuchasdesignandvideo,forinstance,whileageneralfamiliaritywithnewsappscouldbedevelopedinmultimediaclasses.

Skillstointegrate:Simpletoolsforbuildingcharts,maps,andtimelines.Includebuildingmapsandbasicdatacharts,visualizationsandtimelines,plusanoverviewonnewsapps.

Possibleassignments:

Usesimpletools(GoogleFusion,CartoDB,orEsri’sStoryMaps)tolocatetheavailabilityofapublicserviceacrossageographicarea.Usesimpleonlinechartingtoolstoillustratechangesintheannualbudgetsofseveralgovernmentoffices.Includedatavisualizationwithinavideotoprovidecontextandenhancethestory.

MediaLawandEthics

Howandwhytointegratedata:Legalconsiderationsformoneofthecoreconcernsofdatajournalists:makingpublicrecordsrequestscanbeoneofthemostfruitfulavenuesforreporting,butalsooneofthemostfrustrating.Journalismstudentsshouldlearntherelevantpublicrecordslawsatthestateandfederallevels.



Theyshouldalsoaddressthecommonmisconceptionthatdataissterile,objective,orinsomesensedetachedfromhumanexperience.Onthecontrary,alldataexistsbecausesomeonehaschosentogatherit,andtheuseofdatahassocialandethicalconsequences.

Coursesshouldincludematerialontheverificationofphotos(throughmetadataorcrowdsourcing)andethicalconsiderationssurroundingleakedorsensitivedata,aswellassourceprotectionanddigitalsecurityinconditionsofpervasivesurveillance.

Skillstointegrate:Becomingfamiliarwitharangeofethicalquestionssurroundingtheuseofdata.Scrutinizingdataforbias,errors,andincompleteness.


Prepareacriticalresponsepaperonlegalandethicalconcernssurroundingleakeddata.Thiscouldtaketheformofanessayorevenamockeditorialrespondingtoasensitivestory.FileaFreedomofInformationAct(FOIA)orotherpublicrecordsrequest,thenfollowupwithneedednegotiations.Thismaybeframedaspreparationforaprojectinasubsequentterm,ifandwhentherecordscomethrough.

HistoryofJournalism

Howandwhytointegratedata:Understandinghistoryisespeciallyvaluableduringtimesofapparentchange.Toobservethefieldofjournalismevolvingoverthecenturiescanmakejournalismstudentsmoreconsciousparticipantsintheprocessofinventingitsfuture.Itmayalsohelptotemperthewidespreadviewthatjournalismiswitnessingunprecedentedupheavalduetotechnology.Lookingback,weseethatinstitutionscomeandgo,newtechnologiesareoftendisruptivebeforesettlingintoroutine,andthemissionandpracticeoftheprofessionareperenniallyunderrevision.Dataandcomputationareinmanywaysemblematicofourtime,butnotexclusivetoit.Thesetopicshavealonghistoryinjournalism.Thisclassneedstotellthatstory.

Twodistinctstrandsofhistoricalconcernshouldbecovered.Oneistorecountthehistoricalusesofdatainthenews.Forexample,astrikingandmemorableearlycaseofdata-drivenjournalismdatestotheantebellumperiodintheUnitedStates,whenHarrietBeecherStowecompiledtheaccountsofseveralescapedslaves,aggregatedadvertisementsfromSouthernnewspapersofferingrewardsfortheirreturn,andpublishedseveraltablesofdataasarebuttaltoclaimsthathernovelUncleTom’sCabinhadexaggeratedtherealityofslavery.Likewise,onemightpointtoPhilipMeyer’suseofdatatoundermineracialstereotypesinthecoverageofthe1967Detroitriots.Thesetwocaseshighlighttheenduringvalueofdataforassertingtruthsthatmightotherwisebedenied.Morebroadly,wherethese



storiesplacedatajournalisminhistoricalcontext,itwillnotonlyformacanontoorientstudentsinthisareaofpractice,butitwillalsorevealthatdatajournalism,forallitsglamorousnovelty,isrootedinatraditionofqualitywork.

Skillstointegrate:Acquiringasenseofhowthejournalisticprofessionhasdevelopedovertime,especiallyintermsofhowjournalistshavechosentodepicttheworldtotheiraudiences.Appreciatinghowdataandcomputationaljournalismfitintohistoricalcontext.


Homework:Findandanalyzeachart,graph,map,orotherdatavisualizationpublishedinanewspaperatleast50yearsago.Termpaper:Consideracontemporaryconcernsurroundingemergingtechnology,suchasalgorithmictransparencyortheSnowdenleaks,inthecontextofotherhistoricalcases.

AdvancedClassesandElectives:IntegratingDataandComputation

InvestigativeReporting

Howandwhytointegratedata:Manyofthetoolsandmethodsofcomputationalanddata-drivenjournalismweredevelopedthroughinvestigativereporting.Fluencywithspreadsheets,databases,andothermainstaysofcomputer-assistedreportingwillenablestudentstoconductdeepinvestigationswiththefullrangeofresourcesattheirdisposal.

Skillstointegrate:Compilingthebackgroundsofpeopleandorganizationswiththeuseofdata.Turningdocumentsintodata.Makingpublicrecordsrequestsandnegotiatingfordata.


Tracingshellcompanyownershipthroughpublicrecords.Examiningmedicaldevicereportsforproblemsindevicessoldbyspecificcompanies.

NarrativeReportingandFeatureWriting

Howandwhytointegratedata:Greatfeaturewritingisbuiltonfactsandcompellingnarratives.Thiscourseshouldincorporatesomedata-drivenandcomputer-assistedreportingmethods,teachingstudentstoframe,explain,andgivecontexttodatathatwillhelptotelltheirstory.Thisclassshouldhighlightthatwordsandnumbersarebothsourcesofdata.Theinstructormayconsiderinvitingaguestlecturefromaprofessorinthedigitalhumanitiestohighlightnovelapproachesdevelopedinthisfieldforunderstandingliteratureandtheartsthroughacomputationallens.



Skillstointegrate:Generalgraspofusingnumberstosupportanarrative.Usingspreadsheetstoorganizechronologiesofthemaincharactersinthecourseofreporting.Usinglarge-scaletextualanalysistoolstoorganize,index,andannotatedocuments.


UseOvervieworDocumentCloudtoexplorealargecacheofdocuments,suchastheCongressionalRecord,Wikipedia,orarecentleak.Organizereportingforalong-formnarrativepiecebyplacingsources,quotes,andchronologiesinaspreadsheet.Analyzetaxreturn(IRSForm990)dataonartsnonprofitstoevaluatetheirfinances.

SocialMediaSkills

Howandwhytointegratedata:Theuseofsocialmediabycontemporarynewsorganizationsgoeshandinhandwiththeuseofanalyticstodrivetraffic.Ifstudentsaretaughttorunsocialmediafeeds,theyalsoshouldbetaughttounderstandtheanalyticsfortheseplatforms.Moreover,theabilitytominethesocialwebtointerpretsocialtrendsandpublicopinionwillbeanassetinreporting.

Skillstointegrate:Gatheringandinterpretingwebanalytics.Scrapingorotherwiseaggregatingsocialmediacontentforanalysisuseinastory.


UseTwitteranalyticstodeterminetherateofgrowthinfollowers,retweetingactivity,orthemostpopularstories,sections,writers,anddaysoftheweek.UseGoogleanalyticstoaggregateseveralstreamsoftrafficdataandgeneratemorecomplicated(second-order)insights.UseGoogleTrendstodoastoryonpatternsinsearchdata.Analyzesocialmediadatatoproducechartofattentionaroundarecentnewsevent.(Advanced)UsescrapedTwitterdatatotellastory(perhapsthroughsentimentanalysis).

BusinessandEconomicReporting

Howandwhytointegratedata:Theabilitytogather,analyze,andcritiquefinancialdataisanessentialcomponentofbusinessreporting.Manyclassesalreadyincludesomeinstructiononreadingandinterpretingdata.Asmoreofthisdatahasbecomegenerallyavailable,whilesomeofithasbecomemorecomplicatedanddifficulttointerpret,businessreportingclasseswillneedtoadaptandoffermoreadvancedinstruction.



Skillstointegrate:Theabilitytogatherandanalyzedatafromavarietyofsources,includingBloombergterminalsandAPIs(applicationprogramminginterfaces)forfinancialinformation.Advancedspreadsheetanalysisandfinancial/budgetanalysistraining.


Spreadsheetassignment:findastoryinacompany’spublicfinancialstatements.BuildapersonaldashboardofAPIstotrackfinancialinformationforastory.AnalyzewhetheryoucanpredictearningsorstockpricethroughafactorlikeCEOsalary.

DigitalDesignandVisualCommunication

Howandwhytointegratedata:Digitaldesigncoursesinjournalismschoolsservetointroducestudentstolayoutdesign,editorialgraphics,andtheprinciplesofvisualcritique.Inordertointegratedataandcomputation,suchacourseshouldincludematerialondatavisualizationandatleastanintroductiontotheideaofnewsappsandwebdevelopment.

Skillstointegrate:Basiccharts,graphs,andmaps.Avisualcritiquetoknowwhichstylesofvisualizationaregoodforwhichkindsofdataandtopinpointcasesinwhichvisualformscanconcealordistortthedata.


Findadatavisualizationyoulike,thendissect,explain,analyze,andcritiqueit.Findsomedata,identifywhat’sinterestingaboutit,andvisualizeyourfindings.Mockup(design,don’tprogram)anewsapp.

GlobalandInternationalReporting

Howandwhytointegratedata:Whenjournalistscoverothercountries,numberswilloftenhelpboththemandtheiraudiencetopicturetheseunfamiliarandoftencomplicatedmatterswithgreaterclarity.Aglobalreportingclassshouldteachstudentstofind,assess,andaccuratelyconveyfactsandfiguresaboutforeigncountriesandsubjectswithaninternationalscope.Onadeeperlevel,suchaclassshouldteachstudentstofindstoriesbygatheringandscrutinizingdatafromglobalsources.

Skillstointegrate:Howtogather,evaluate,andusedatafrommultipleinternationalsources.Howtoevaluatewhatdatacancommunicateaboutinternationaldevelopmentpatterns.Howtousedatatocompleteaninvestigativeprojectfocusedonaninternationalissue.




UseadatasetfromalargeinternationalorganizationsuchastheUNtofindastory,thenlearnhowtheorganizationgathereditsdataanddiscussthelimitationsandbiasesthatmayresult.Finddatathatdeepensyourunderstandingofaninternationalstoryinthenews,complicatestheprevailingnarrative,orrevealsanothersideofit.

ScienceandEnvironmentalReporting

Howandwhytointegratedata:Dataisacrucialcomponentofscientifictopicsinthenews.Theabilitytointerpretresearchpapersandscrutinizeexperimentalmethodswillmakestudentsfarbetterreportersonthesesubjects.Studentsshouldemergefromthisclasswithanunderstandingofthescientificmethod,randomizedcontrolledexperiments,statisticalsignificance,andotherfactorsthattheywillencounterwhilereportingontopicsinscienceandtheenvironment.Ifpossible,theyshouldalsohavetheopportunitytousetheirowndatasources,suchassensorsforairorwaterquality.

Skillstointegrate:Howtogather,evaluate,andusedataonspecializedscientifictopics,andtocriticallyassesspublishedresearch.


Readingandanalyzingdatastoriescoveringthesetopicsandreverseengineeringhowthereporterstoldthisstory.Draftingdataanalysisofkeydatasetsandstorypitchmemos.Readingaresearchpaper,evaluatingtheevidence(includingthestatisticalargumentsused),andsummarizinginplainlanguageforanon-technicalreader.Settingupasensornetworktotestairqualityacrosscampus(classproject).



Model3:ConcentrationinData&ComputationAdatajournalismconcentrationshouldbeginwithseveralcore,requiredclassesbeforemovingintoatrackofelectivesofferingdatajournalismanalysis,visualization,andonlineresearch/backgrounding.

Thecurriculumdetailedbelowshouldprovideaframeworkforaschooltobeginofferingspecializedcourseworktostudentswhowishtoconcentrateindata-drivenreportingorcomputationaljournalism.

Thissectiondescribessomeofthecoursesthatmayformsuchadegree.Dependingontheavailabilityofinstructorsandotherresources,classeslikethesemayformeitherthemandatorycoreofaconcentrationindataandcomputation,orelsearangeofelectives.

Pleasenotethatwewouldnotexpectanyjournalismschooltoofferalloftheseclasses,noronlythese,initsdataandcomputationalcurriculum.Thisisjustonepictureoftheskillsandthematicexposurethatcouldconstituteajournalismdegreespecializingindataandcomputation.

CoreClassesRequiredforConcentrationinData&Computation

FoundationsofDataJournalism

Thisisthecourseoutlinedintheopeningofthischapter(seefulldescriptiononpage50)asarequirementforalljournalismstudents.Ifstudentsenterjournalismschoolwithoutdeclaredconcentrations,thisintroductionwillbesuitableforfuturedataconcentratorstolearnthebasicsbeforeproceedingtootherrequiredcoursesandelectives.Schoolsmayalsochoosetorequireapplicantstobespecificallyacceptedintothedataconcentration,inwhichcaseitmaybeadvisabletoofferasummerbootcamp(see“NoteonIncomingSkills,TechnicalLiteracies,andSpecializedBootCamps,”page74)togetstudentsuptospeedonthetoolsandmethodstheywillneed.Inthiscase,dataconcentratorsmaybeplacedinamoreadvancedfallfoundationscoursewiththeirpeers.

IntroductiontoJournalisticProgramming


67Model3:ConcentrationinData&Computation

Coursedescription:Thepurposeofthiscourseistointroducestudentstoseveralfoundationalcomputer-programmingskillsthattheywillusetofindandtellstories.Thisshouldbearequirementofthosewhoconcentrateindataandcomputation,butalsoopentostudentsfromothertracks.

Coursestructure:Meetstwiceweekly,firstforlectureandthenforanintensiveworkshop.

Skills:TheUnixcommandline;basicPythonprogrammingforscraping,parsing,connectingtoAPIs;introductiontoJavaScriptforwebwork.

Tools:Bashutilities,Jupyter/IPythonNotebook,Pandas,Matplotlib,JavaScript.

Exampleassignments:

Testproficiencywiththecommandlinewithaquiz,orevenascreencastdemonstratingcompletionofaseriesoftasksusingBashalone.StoryassignmentreportedandsubmittedinJupyter/IPythonnotebook.

StatisticsforJournalism

Coursedescription:Themethodsandprinciplesofstatisticshaveproventobepowerfultoolsinthehandsofjournalists.Thiscourseshouldbearigorousintroductiontostatsworktaughtfromwithinaframeworkofjournalisticconcerns.Thatmeansthecourseisstory-based,inthesenseofprecisionjournalismandtheCARtradition.

Coursestructure:Weeklylectureswithin-classexercises,regularhomework,andafinalexam.

Skills:Developingandtestinghypotheses;understandingandapplyingthecentrallimittheorem,normaldistribution,andconfidenceintervals;FrequentistversusBayesianstatistics;linearregression;analysisofvariance.

Tools:RStudio,Excel,MySQL,MicrosoftAccess,SAS,SPSS(proprietary)orPSPP(F/OSS).

Exampleassignments:

Analyzecrimestatistics,lookforatrend,andtrytoexplainitscause.Lookatthedistributionofcancercasesandtrytodecideifthereisevidenceofanincreaseinmorepollutedareas.AnalyzestatisticalevidenceforU.S.andinternationalcasestopredictwhetherreducingthenumberofgunswouldhaveaneffectongunviolence.Analyzethestatsinaresearchpaperandreporttheminplainlanguage.



DistributionofElectivesFortheconcentration,theschoolmayofferelectivecoursestofulfillrequirementsintwoorthreeareasofdataandcomputationalwork.Wehavedividedtheseintothreecategories:presentation/visualization,analysisforstory,andjournalisticprogramming.Asamatterofdesigningdegreerequirements,aprogrammightchoosetorequireatleastoneclassfromeachcategoryinadditiontofulfillingoverallcreditrequirements.

presentation&visualization

DataVisualizationVisualJournalismwithDataandComputationAdvancedDataVisualizationAdvancedJournalisticMapping

analysisforstory

WritingAboutDataStatisticalAnalysisforJournalismAdvancedComputationalReportingMethods(UsingCAR)

journalisticprogramming

IntroductiontoJournalisticProgrammingMethodsofCollectingDataandAutomatingReportingNewsAppDevelopmentAdvancedComputationalJournalism

ElectiveCourseworkGraduateDegreewithConcentrationinData&Computation

MethodsofCollectingData&AutomatingReporting

Coursedescription:Thiscoursefocusesondevelopingexpertiseingatheringdata,cleaningit,storingitinadatabase,andretrievingitwithease.Italsoemphasizesbuildingautomatedtoolstoserveasdatasourcesinreporting.

Coursestructure:Weeklyworkshoporlab-basedinstruction.



Skills:Webscraping,APIs,cronjobs,bashscripting,digitizingpaperdocuments,regularexpressions,parsingtextanddata,fuzzystringmatching,recordlinkage,contentanalysis.

Tools:Python,BeautifulSoup,Mechanize,Scrapy,Tabula,SQL,MongoDB,dataformats(CSV,JSON),Tesseract(OCR),Twitterbots.

Exampleassignments:

Classwork:DesignGoogleAlertstomonitorsubjectsofinterest.homework:WriteaprogramtoscrapetheCongressionalRecordforeverythingaparticularrepresentativehassaidontheflooroftheHouse.Homework:WriteawebscraperinPythonandautomateitwithacronjob.Homework:BuildawebapporTwitterbottopostusefulinformationfromanAPI.Groupproject:Buildasensornetworktoautomaticallyposttemperatureorairqualitymeasurementsonline.Finalproject:Gatherausefulbodyofdata,previouslyunavailable,andshareitpublicly.

VisualJournalismwithDataandComputation

Coursedescription:Thiscoursecoversarangeofmethods,media,andformatsforthegraphicpresentationofinformation.Readingsshouldintroduceprinciplesofvisualdesignandintegratetheseintoregularassignments.BeginningwithafairlybasicprogramlikeTableau,theclassshouldhighlighttheeffectiveandaccuratepresentationofinformationingraphicform.Bythemiddleoftheterm,studentsshouldbranchoutintousingaprogramminglibrarysuchasD3todesigntheirowngraphicsoutsidetheconstraintsofexistingsoftware.

Coursestructure:Weeklyseminartodiscussreadings,followedbyhands-onworkshop.

Skills:Datavisualization,newsapps,GIS/mappingforpresentation.

Tools:Tableau,JavaScript,D3,QGIS,CartoDB.

Exampleassignments:

Homework:UseTableautofindastoryinapreviouslyunexploreddataset.Finalproject:Createanoriginalvisualizationorinteractivepieceprogrammedbyhand(presumablyinD3orevenpureJavaScriptifitwastaughtinanearlierclass).

AdvancedDataAnalysis&JournalisticAlgorithms

Coursedescription:Thiscourseshouldbuilduponthecore,requiredclassestobringtogetherdataandcomputationforfindingstoriesandmakingpredictionsusingalgorithmicandcomputationalanalysis.



Coursestructure:Weeklylectureandworkshopwithregularhomeworkandafinalproject.

Skills:Pythonformachinelearning,clustering,classifyingdocuments,standardizingandmatchingalgorithms.

Tools:R,Python(Pandas,MatPlotLib,SciPy,scikit-learn),clusteringalgorithms(k-means,k-nearestneighborclustering),topicmodelingalgorithms(LDAorNMF).

Exampleassignments:

Classwork:Recordlinkagefordatacleaning,forexample,analyzeFederalElectionCommissiondatatofindtopdonors,whichrequiresregularizationofnames,bestdonewithmachinelearning.Homework:AnalyzeStateoftheUnionspeechessince1790tomakeavisualizationofhowkeytopicshavechangedovertime.homework:Implementclusteringtodetectoutliersinadataset.Finalprojectoption:Buildanelectionormarketpredictionmodel.Finalprojectoption:Reverseengineerapricing,lending,orcreditscorealgorithm.

AdvancedDataVisualization

Coursedescription:Thiscoursewouldpickupfromthedatavisualizationskillsdevelopedinthecorecourseinvisualjournalism.Thetechnicalaspectsshouldbeconductedentirelythroughprogramming.ThemostlikelytoolsareJavaScriptandD3,butotherswillcertainlyemerge.Thekeypointisthatdatavisualizationatthislevelshouldbeprogrammaticsothatthesoftwareitselfdoesnotlimitdesignpossibilities.

Coursestructure:Itmaybedesignedtoalternatebetweenseminars(high-levelreading,discussion,andanalysisofvisualcommunicationandinformationdesignprinciples,focusingonhowitismosteffectiveandwhereitcanbemisleading)andlabclasses(advancedpracticalinstructioninapplicationandcodingframeworksforinfodesign).

Skills:Designingforclarity,precision,impact.

Tools:D3,JavaScript,oranothersuitableprogrammingframework.

Exampleassignments:

Homework:Regulardataassignmentsindifferentmedia:staticweb,video,interactive.Finalproject:Anoriginalanalysisofunexploreddata,presentedinanoriginalvisualizationprogrammedmoreorlessfromscratch,withcross-platformconsistency.

AdvancedJournalisticMapping



Coursedescription:Thiscourseshouldbuildonpreviouscourseworkinmappingtocovermoreadvancedmanipulationsofdata,todevelopahigherdegreeofdesignsophistication,andtodevelopahighlevelofnewsjudgmentintheselectionoftimely,compelling,andoriginaltopics.ThisinvolvesusingGIStechnologies,joiningthatspatialdatawithotherinformation,usingdensityandotherspatialanalysistoinformstories,notjustbuildingpresentations.

Coursestructure:Hands-onworkshopandlab.

Skills:Clustering,binning,heatmaps,joiningdifferentgeographicdatasets.

Tools:BothGISanalysissoftwareandpresentationsoftware,includingEsri,QGIS,CartoDB,Leaflet,sensorslikeDustDuino.

Exampleassignments:

Homework:Weeklypitchesandjournalisticmappingassignments.Finalproject:Aninteractivemaporsetofmapstellingastoryaboutatimelyorunexploredsubject,and/oranarrativestoryusingfindingsfromthemappinganalysis.Classproject:Buildasensornetworkorotherwiseamassanunexploreddataset,thenworkinsmallgroupstobuildapackageofmapstoexplorethedata.

AdvancedJournalisticTextMining

Coursedescription:Textisdata.Thepurposeofthisclassistoteachjournaliststogather,analyze,andpresentstoriesusinglargeamountsoftextualdata.Thismaybuildonmaterialfromthecourse“MethodsofCollectingDataandAutomatingReporting.”

Coursestructure:Weeklylectureandlab,workingtowardafinalproject.

Skills:Webscraping,analyzinglargebodiesoftext,sentimentanalysis,topicmodeling.

Tools:Overview,DocumentCloud,NaturalLanguageToolkit(NLTK)orStanfordNLP.

Exampleassignments:

Homework:Usesentimentanalysistoreproducethebeforeandaftertonechangeofastory.Finalproject:BuildascrapertocrawlasignificantchunkoftheWeb,forexample,collectingtheblogosphereofacountrythat’sinthenewsandlearningwhatpeoplearetalkingabout.Finalproject:Gatherandanalyzealargebodyofdocuments,suchaslookingforastoryinaleakedcacheofdocuments.

AdvancedComputationalJournalism



Coursedescription:Thiscourseshouldreflectthestateofcomputationaltoolsinjournalisticpracticewhilelookingtowardnovelapplicationsofemergingandunexploredtools.Bythistime,studentsshouldhavealreadydevelopedastrongfoundationofprogramminganddataanalysisskills.Thisclassshouldbuildonthatfoundationandencouragein-depth,independentprojectscenteredonreportingstoriesordevelopingapieceofsoftware.

Coursestructure:Meetstwiceweekly,onceforlectureandonceforlab.

Tools:Python,Ruby,orasimilarlypowerfulandversatilescriptinglanguage.Additionally,physicalcomputingtoolslikeArduino.

Exampleassignments:

Homework:UseregularexpressionstominetheCongressionalRecordforasenator’sstatedpositionsonapoliticalissueoverthecourseofhisorhercareer.Mockcodinginterview:Inthecommonstyleofinterviewingfortechjobs,solveagivenprogrammingproblemonawhiteboardandnarrateyourlineofthinking.Finalproject:Anin-depthstoryreportedusinganadvancedtool,includingbutnotlimitedtoajournalisticalgorithm,machinelearning,analysisofpersonallygathereddata,ordevelopmentofapieceofsoftware.

CapstoneorThesisProject

Athesisindatajournalismwillarise,ideally,fromworkwithinstructorsandanadviser.Itcouldtaketheformofareportedstory,atechnicalreport,apieceofsoftware,orasubstantialdesignpiecesuchasamapordatavisualization.

Acapstoneprojectforconcentratorsindataandcomputationmaytakeaclassofstudentsandcoordinateaprojectusingandhoningtheskillstheyhavedevelopedintheirearliercoursework.Eachstudent’sworkshouldthenbesupplementedwithanindividualcontributionsuchasareportedpieceordatavisualization.



Model4:AdvancedGraduateDegree:Expertise-DrivenReportingonData&ComputationWhilemostundergraduateandmaster’sprogramsaredesignedtoofferjournalisticnewcomersasetofskillsthatcanbeappliedtoawiderangeofsubjects,thereisalsodemandformid-careerjournaliststoreturnforcourseworkinwhichtheycandevelopdeepexpertisetoreportoncomplicatedsubjects.Ashighlytechnicaltopicshavecometopermeatemattersfrominternationalpoliticstoeverydaylife,journalismschoolsmaywishtoofferclassesthatpreparestudentsandequipmid-careerjournaliststoreportonsuchissuesascyberwar,databreaches,andcryptocurrencythatrequirespecializedskillwhenwritingforageneralaudience.Theusesofdata,machinelearning,andcomputationalmodelsmayalsoaidthesereportersinfindingandtellingthesestories.

Dataandcomputationaljournalismareidealsubjectsforamid-careerdegreebecauseofthetimeandmentorshipthatcouldbedevotedtodevelopingthissetofskills.Sinceitisdirectedatstudentswhoalreadyknowhowjournalismworks,thisdegreecouldprovidealevelofdepthandfocusthatmaybedifficulttoreachduringastandardjournalismprogramorwhileworkingafull-timejob.

Courses

FoundationsofData-DrivenJournalism

(asdetailedabove,butadaptedtothelevelofadvancedstudents)

ReportingAboutData

Coursedescription::Thegoalofthiscourseistopreparestudentstounderstandandcriticallyassessreports,studies,scholarlywork,andotherinformationsourcesthatarebasedindataandtechnicalwork.Thiswillbeanessentialskillaseachstudentdevelopsafocusasanexpertreporteronatopiccenteredondata,computation,technology,ortheexperimentalsciences.

Coursestructure:Smallseminarfocusedonthediscussionandanalysisofreadingsandcasestudies,culminatinginalongformpiece.

exampleassignments:


74Model4:AdvancedGraduateDegree:Expertise-DrivenReportingonData&Computation

responsepapers:Weeklyanalysisandreflectiononclassreadings.termpaper:Asubstantiallong-formreportingprojectonatopicofthestudent’schoosing,possiblydevelopedasanoutgrowthofaweeklyresponsepaper.

Thesis

Coursedescriptionandstructure:Seminarinwhichstudentsdevelopindependentreportingprojects,sharingprogressduringclassandmeetingregularlywithanadvisertobuildtowardamaster’sthesis.

Electives

Oneofthegoalsofamid-career,expertise-drivendegreeinjournalismisforstudentstodevelopadeepunderstandingofthefieldtheyarereporting.Tothisend,thisdegreeshouldofferseveralelectiveslotsfortakingclassesinotherdepartmentsthatcontributedirectlytothesubjectofthethesis.

Studentsmayalsoconsiderauditingcourseswithskillrequirementsabovetheirlevel(forexample,ifassignmentsmustbesubmittedintheCprogramminglanguage,whichisstillthecaseinsometraditionalcomputerscienceclasses).

exampleelectivesandjustification:

Anearthscienceorgeologycoursefocusedonclimatedata.Adigitalhumanitiescoursethatusescomputationaltechniquestoexplorehistoricalarchives,literaryworks,orleakedcachesofdocuments,tonamejustafewexamples.Anynumberofcomputersciencecoursesinwhichstudentscouldlearnthetechnicalbasisandacademicconcernssurroundingissuesofinterestintheirreporting,suchascomputervisionorcryptography.Acourseindigitalsecuritycouldhelpajournalistnotonlytoprotectsensitivesources,butalsotoreportonsuchmattersaspublickeyencryptionoronionrouting,andtoassessnewdevelopmentsinthesefields.Agraduatecourseinstatisticalmodeling,whethertakeninthestatisticsdepartmentorinaquantitativesocialsciencesuchassociology.

Thepointofelectivecoursesshouldbetopermitstudentstocraftacourseworkplanthatissuitabletotheirownuniqueinterestsastheydevelopthecapacityforexpertise-drivenreportinginsomearearelatedtodata,computation,andemergingtechnologies.


75Model4:AdvancedGraduateDegree:Expertise-DrivenReportingonData&Computation

Model5:AdvancedGraduateDegree:EmergingJournalisticTechniquesandTechnologiesInvestigativereportingisinmanywaystheresearchanddevelopmentwingofjournalism.AccordingtoBrantHouston,“It’stheonlyplacewherepeoplehavehadanextensiveamountoftimetotryoutnewtechniques.”

CAR,datajournalism,andcomputationaljournalismaresomeoftheclearestexamplesofthisphenomenonatwork.Thesepracticeshavedevelopedwherereportershavehadthetimeorinclinationtoworkwithnewtoolsandplatforms.Universitiesareideallysuitedtocultivatethisstancetowardjournalisticpractice—notmerelyteachingthewisdomofthefieldasitexists,butdevelopingentirelynewapproachesbasedonencounterswithotherdisciplinesandunexploredtools.

Ifjournalismschoolsweretotakeupthemantleofencouragingworkthatseemstohappenonlyunderthesepermissiveconditions—notjustthroughgrantsandinnovationlabs,butperhapsthroughcourseworkaswell—thenuniversitiescouldalsoactasR&Dlabsinawaythatinvestigativereportinghasinthepast.

Thiscurriculumisinmanywaystheleaststructuredandmostspeculativeoneweoffer.Itisanopenquestionwhetherthesedegreesshouldbeofferedatthemaster’sordoctorallevel.Onemightalsoaskwhetherthedegreeshouldrequireanycourseworkorsimplyprovideanopenplatformforresearch.

StructureandTopicsOneobjectiveforthisprogramwouldbetohelpteachalgorithmsforjournalism,machinelearning,andartificialintelligence.

Dronesandvirtualrealityaretwoplatformsthatarebeingactivelyexploredfortheirjournalisticpotential.MattWaiteestablishedtheDroneJournalismLabattheUniversityofNebraskapreciselytoexplorethejournalisticapplicationsofthesedevices.Likewise,theBrownInstituteatColumbiahassponsoredseveralMagicGrantstosupportteamsofjournalistsexploringthenarrativepotentialofimmersivevirtualreality.

Manyotheremergingtechnologieshavebeenrecognizedfortheirjournalisticpotential.Atthetimeofourwriting,immersivevirtualrealityheadsetsseempoisedtoenterthemarkettoenthusiasticreception.Augmentedrealitypresentssimilarpossibilities:broadcastjournalists


76Model5:AdvancedGraduateDegree:EmergingJournalisticTechniquesandTechnologies

maysoonarriveinourlivingroomsasholograms.

Thepointisnottospeculateonthearrivalofthesedevices,nortopromoteinnovationforitsownsake,buttoconsidertheroleofjournalismschoolsindevelopingandshapingtheuseofnewdevices.

SettingandGearforEmergingTechnologyLabsAlthoughmanycodinganddesignprojectsmayrequirenothingmorethanalaptop,avarietyofhardwareshouldbeonhandforstudentsinterestedinexperimentingwithsensorsandotherhardwarethatcanbeusedforjournalisticprojects.

Ideally,cheapdevicesandcomponentscanbeprovidedonanhonorsystem,andmoreexpensivegearcheckedoutthroughanequipmentroom.AthrivingexampleofthismodelistheInteractiveTelecommunicationsProgramatNewYorkUniversity.Theprogramalsodesignatesafewshelvesfordonatingusefulscrapmaterials,suchasoldelectronicstobedismantledforcomponentsorsheercuriosity.

AWordonSafetyMostinnovationlabswillfeatureatleastonetoolordevicethatrequiressafetytraining.Mostjournalismstudentswillarrivewithouthavinghadexperiencehandlingsolderingironsorelectricalwiring.

Anylabthatincludesthesedevicesmustprovidesomesafetyinfrastructure.Solderingironsshouldbeusedwithsomemeansofventilation.Firehazardsrequireanearbyextinguisher.Andmanycircumstancesmayrequiresafetyglovesorgoggles.

WhenAmandaHickmanarrivedattheBuzzFeedlabinSanFrancisco,oneofherfirsttaskswastoevaluatesafety.TheBuzzFeedteamhaspurchasedsafetygogglesandfireextinguishers,forexample,becauseitisworkingwithsawsandsolderingirons.

Tinkeringequipmentcanbequitecheap,butanytechnologylabmustcoversomebasics.Thesecomponentsarethebreadandbutterofhackerandmakercircles,sotheyareeasytofind.Becausetheyoffersuchusefulinroadstoexperimentingwithtechnology,theyarevaluableforjournalismschoolstocultivatespacesofinnovation.

Mostelectricalprototypingstartswithasolderlessbreadboard,aflatplasticcasewithanunderlyinggridofconnectionsorbuildingcircuits.Asimpleelectronicdevicelikeanairqualitymetercanbebuiltfromscratchbyplacingcomponentslikewires,resistors,knobs,



buttons,andsensorsacrossthegrid.AndconnectingabreadboarddevicetoasimplecomputerlikeanArduinooraRaspberryPienablesuserstoissuecommandsandgatherdatafromtheequipment.Astartersetforsuchaprojectwouldgenerallyrununder$100,farlessthancamerasandotherequipmentthatjournalismstudentsareoftenrequiredtopurchase.

Beyondthesmallcomputersusedforprototyping,moresubstantialcomputersshouldbeonhandforprojectsthatcallforit.Ifpossible,anemergingtechnologieslabshouldhavemachinesthatallowstudentstogainfirsthandexperienceworkingwithnews-boundtechnologysuchasimmersive3Dcameras,VRheadsets,anddronesinsteadofrelyingonsecondhandaccounts.Theseskillsandliteraciesfitintoalargerconstellationoftechnicalconcernsthatmaygiverisetomediainnovationalongunforeseenpaths.



Chapter5:InstitutionalRecommendations

StepsTowardBringingDataandComputationintoYourJournalismSchool


79Chapter5:InstitutionalRecommendations

FacultyDevelopmentandRecruitmentFormanyjournalismschools,integratingspecializedcourseworkindataandcomputationwillpresentsomethingofachicken-and-eggconundrum.Thereisprofessionaldemandfordatajournalistsinpartbecausetheyarerelativelyscarce,sowhileschoolsmaywishtopreparetheirgraduatesforthisemergingfield,thefielditselfmaynotyethaveenoughteachersinitsranks.

Butspecializedcourseworkwillmeetonlysomeoftheneedhighlightedinthisstudy:dataandcomputationmustalsocontinuetobeintegratedintomanyclasseswhereitisnowneglected,frombootcampstocapstonesandtheses.Itisworthrecallingthateditorsonceresistedtheuseofphotographyasajournalistictool.Journalismschoolsmustpreparestudentstobringdataandcomputationtoanystorythatneedsit.

Thismayrequiremanyjournalismfacultytobetrainedtoworkwithdataandcomputationaltools.Attheveryleast,journalisminstructorsshouldbeconsciousofwhenastudent’sworkmaybenefitfromdata,evenifthestudentmustgoelsewherefortargetedinstruction.Schedulingguestlecturesmayalsoserveasatransitionalsolution.


80FacultyDevelopmentandRecruitment

TrainingsorModulesIn2014,NICARintroduceddatajournalismexercisesforacademicsinterestedinteachingdatajournalismbutinneedofalittlehelp.Thesepromisetobeusefultojournalisminstructorswhowouldliketoteachdata.

ThebenefitofNICARandotherjournalismtrainingorganizationscouldgowellbeyondthemodules,though.Newtoolsaredevelopingquickly,anditiscriticalforfacultytocontinuetogrow,learn,andchangeasthefielditselfdevelops.

Infact,NICARfilledavacuumthatexistedbecausemanyacademicinstitutionsdidn’taddressnewtoolsorskills.Meanwhile,personalcomputingtoolsbecamemorepowerful,digitalinformationsourcesbecamemorecommonplace,andnewsorganizationsincreasinglyreliedondigitalmethodsofgatheringanddistributingnews.Justasprintnewspaperswereslowtorecognizethepowerofdata-drivenreportingandtheInternet,sotoohavejournalismschoolsbeenreluctanttochange.Teachinginstitutionsmustadaptorriskbeingunabletofulfilltheirgoalsandmission,bothtotheirstudentsandtotheprofession.


81TrainingsorModules

IncomingSkills,TechnicalLiteracies,andBootCampsManygraduateprogramsinjournalismreadilyenrollstudentswithlittletonopriorexperienceasreporters.Thereisanimplicitassumptionthattheirundergraduateworkwillprovideafoundationtobeginlearningtothinklikeareporterandproducestoriesinavarietyofplatforms.

Withdataandcomputationaljournalism,though,theremaybemoresubstantialgapstobridgeintermsofmathskillsandtechnicalliteracies.Oftentimes,studentsmustlearntouseavarietyofunfamiliarsoftwareinordertoevenbeginworkingwithdata,statistics,andprogramminglanguages.Asitstands,itshouldbefairlystraightforwardtoteachtheaveragejournalismstudenttothinkaboutdata,tofindstoriesinaspreadsheet,andeventothinkcriticallyaboutthenumbers.Reportershavealwaysneededtoseeinsidecomplicatedissuesandtoasktoughquestionsinordertogetthestoryright.

Mathandtechskillsmayrequireextratime.Thisskillgapcouldbeamelioratedwithasummerbootcampthatfocuseslargelyonbuildingskills,tools,andtechnicalliteracies,whiledeferringinstructioninreportinguntiltheregulartermbegins.Thisway,whenstudentsentertheirregularmaster’scoursework,theywillbeequippedwithsomefluencyinthedataandcomputationaltoolsthattheywilluseasconcentrators.

Inthecasethatdataconcentratorsgothroughanextendedbootcamp,itmaybeappropriatefortheirfallintroductiontodatajournalismclasstobeseparateandmoreadvancedthanthedatajournalismcoursethatisrequiredofallstudents.Foranexampleofhowthiscourseworkcouldbestructured,wehavelistedtheofferingsofColumbia’sLedeProgramintheappendix.


82IncomingSkills,TechnicalLiteracies,andBootCamps

TechnologyInfrastructureManycollegesanduniversitiesprovidecomputerlabsandstudiosforclasses.Theprimaryadvantageisthecertaintythateachstudentwillhaveaworkstationwiththenecessarytechnicalspecificationsandsoftwareinstalled.Theprimarydisadvantageisthatstudentsmaygraduatewithoutthetoolstheyneedtopracticetheskillstheyhavelearned.

Althoughtheirnewsroomworkstationcouldpotentiallybeoutfittedwiththetoolstheyneed,ifanyofthosestudentsbecamefreelancers,theymaybeoutofluckiftheyleftclasswithoutbringingalongthemthetoolstheylearnedinschool.

ProvidingserverspaceforstudentsisagreatwaytobeginteachingthemtheUnixcommandlineandtoprovideresourcesfordata-intensiveprojects.Butseveralinstitutionalconcernsarise.Schoolsarerequiredbylawtomaintaintheconfidentialityofstudentdata,andsothesecurityofstudentserversmaybecomeaconcern.Studentsmightinsteadbeginbyworkingonvirtualmachinesusingaprogramsuchasthefree,cross-platformVirtualBoxinordertobecomeacquaintedwithrunningamachinefromthecommandline.


83TechnologyInfrastructure

BenefitsofDistanceorOnlineLearningUsingMOOCsincomplementaryfashionwithdatajournalismcoursescouldhelpprofessorsintegratenewskillsintowhattheyoffer,saidDoigfromASU.

Inaddition,distancelearningandvirtualclassroomsmayprovidestructureandsupportthatMOOCslack.Journalismschoolsmayconsidercoordinatingpartnershipsinwhichstudentscross-enrollinspecializedcourseworkandtaketheclassoveravideostream.Thestudentwouldparticipateinclass,submitwork,andreceivecreditlikeanyotherstudent.Thisapproachcouldfillcourseworkgapsincaseswhereitisotherwisedifficulttofindaninstructor.

Stanton,thefounderofForJournalism.com,offersacautionaryword:maintainingonlinecoursesisaproblemforanyprogramthatproducestutorialsorscreencasts.Withoutupdating,thevalueoftheofferingsdiminishesquickly,Stantonsaid.TheForJournalism.comtutorialonbuildingawebframeworkwithDjangoisbasedonanolderversionoftheopensourcesoftware,forexample.

Stantonsuggeststhatuniversitiescreateaconsortiumofuniversitieswhereeachparticipatinguniversitywouldtakeownershipofspecifictopicsinwhichithadexpertfaculty.Itwouldcreatelabstoprovidethetechnicalinstructioninthoseareasandofferscreencasttutorialsonthebasics.Theneachschoolcouldbuildonthatfoundationallearninginprojectsspecifictotheirprograms.


84BenefitsofDistanceorOnlineLearning

FosteringCollaborationJournalismschoolsshouldbuildcollaborativepartnershipswithotherdisciplines.Manyprofessionalschools,journalismincluded,havetendedtooperateassiloswithinuniversitiesbecausetheydrawtheircultureandconcernsfromafieldofpracticeratherthanatraditionofacademicdiscourse.Thatstancemustshiftbecausejournalismitselfisshifting.Asaresult,weshouldrecognizethatjournalismisnotanarrowsetoftraditionalnewsroomskills,butinsteadencompasseswhatevertoolsandmethodshave,inonewayoranother,beenmadejournalistic.Practitionersofdata-drivenandcomputationaljournalismhavethrivedbyembracinginterdisciplinarityintheirwork.Severaljournalismschoolshavebeguntobuildbridgeswithcomputersciencedepartmentsbyopeningresearchcenters,co-teachingandcross-listingclasses,andevendevelopingjointdegreeprograms.Thisisapromisingstart.Notonlywilljournalismschoolsbenefitfromactingasleadersininterdisciplinarycollaboration,buttheyalsoshouldbenaturallysuitedtothisroleasafieldsituatedattheintersectionofmanyotherdisciplines.


85FosteringCollaboration

NoteonSpecialistFacultyinDataandComputationAnintegrateddatajournalismcurriculumpresentsauniquechallenge.Inthestateofthefieldasithasdevelopedandexiststoday,datajournalismisusuallyalonecourse,orelementofacourse,taughtbyonespecialistinstructor.Often,theinstructorisaprofessionaljournalistworkingasanadjunctmorefortheloveofspreadingthewordthanforthemoney.Toachieveafullyintegratedcurriculum,theoverallfacultyatjournalismprogramswouldneedtocommittochange,andadministrationswouldneedtofostertrainingforfaculty.Thechangeneedstobebroad.Thereshouldnotbeasinglefacultymemberjugglingalltheclassesindataandcomputationalskills,norshouldguestlecturesfromthatfacultymembersufficeinbroadeningtheclasstoaccountfordata.Journalismschoolsmustcommittotheideathattheycannottraininformationprofessionalstoworkinanincreasinglycomplicatedworldofinformationwithoutdevelopingthesecrucialliteracies.Itmustbeintegratedacrosstheboard.


86NoteonSpecialistFacultyinDataandComputation

Appendix

Tablesfromouranalysis

ClassesOfferedbySubjectatACEJMC-AccreditedJournalismPrograms

DataJournalism

NumberofClasses NumberofPrograms PercentofTotal

Noclass 54 48%

Oneclass 27 24%

Twoclasses 14 12%

Threeormoreclasses 18 16%

ClasseswithDataJournalismasaComponent


NoClasses 44 38%

OneClass 31 27%

TwoClasses 22 19%

ThreeClasses 9 8%

FourorMoreClasses 7 6%

Multimedia

NumberofClasses NumberofPrograms Percentoftotal

Noclasses 20 18%

Oneclass 31 27%

Twoclasses 12 11%

Threeclasses 16 14%

Fourormoreclasses 34 30%


87Appendix

ProgrammingBeyondHTML/CSS


NoClasses 99 88%

OneClass 6 5%

TwoClasses 5 4%

ThreeorMoreClasses 3 3%

Note:Thisanalysisofprogrammingclassesisfocusedonthosecoursestaughtwithinajournalismprogram.Itshouldbenotedthatafairnumberofschoolspointedtocollaborationswithotherdepartmentswherejournalismstudentswereabletotakeadvancedprogrammingorcomputerscienceclasses.

NotableStoriesBelowwelistseveralexamples,forreference,ofstoriesthatareemblematicofthecategorieswedefineinChapter1.

DataReporting

“DruggingOurKids,”SanJoseMercuryNews,2014“MethadoneandthePoliticsofPain,“TheSeattleTimes,2012

DataVisualizationandInteractives

ProPublica’s“DollarsforDocs,”2010TheWashingtonPost‘svisualizationofthemissingMalaysianjet,2014

EmergingJournalisticTechnologies

DroneExamples:

“Tanzania:InitiativetoStopthePoachingofElephants,”CCTVAfrica,2014BecauseofregulatoryissueswiththeFederalAviationAdministration,theuseofdronesforjournalismisnotwidespreadinspiteofsignificantinterestonthepartofindustryandacademia.Usesforeseenwhenregulationsbecomemorepermissibleincludenewsphotographyandvideography,scanningnewslocationsforusein3Dmodelsand360-degreevideoapplications,remotelysenseddatagatheringthroughvisibleimagesormultispectralimages,mappingofareasofinterestathighertemporalresolutionsthan


88Appendix

currentlyavailableandassensordistributorsorsensor-baseddatagatherers.

SensorExamples:

WNYC’sCicadaTrackerprojectin2013recruitedinterestedlistenerstousesensorstoidentifywherecicadaswouldemerge.USAToday’s“GhostFactories”investigationin2012usedX-raygunsensorstoscanthesoil.TheHoustonChronicle’s2005investigativestory“InHarm’sWay”usedsensorstoexamineairqualitynearoilrefineriesandfactories.

VirtualandAugmentedRealityExamples:

TheNewYorkTimessentoutmorethanamillionGoogleCardboardkitstosubscribersin2015asitlauncheditsfirstVRstory,“TheDisplaced,”apiecedetailingchildrendisplacedbywar.StanfordUniversity’sDepartmentofCommunication,hometotheStanfordVirtualHumanInteractionLab,hasscheduledaVRclassforthewinter2016quarteraspartofitscurriculumforitsmaster’sinjournalismprogram.

ComputationalJournalism

StoryExamples:

The2014WallStreetJournalinvestigationintoMedicare“TheEchoChamber,”a2014ReutersinvestigationintoinfluenceattheSupremeCourt

PlatformExample:

PDFrepositoryDocumentCloudorOverview,developedbyJonathanStray

Tools,ResourcesandMethodsDiscussedintheReportTheethicsofsoftwaremayalsoshapedecisionsaboutthetoolsandtechniquesyouteach.“Free”softwareislicensedinanefforttopromotefreedomofcomputing,inamanneranalogoustofreedomofspeech.Freesoftwaremaybecopied,altered,used,andsharedfreely.Arelatedformofsoftwarelicensing,titled“opensource,”isverysimilartofreesoftware,butinsteademphasizesthepublicavailabilityofcode.

Proprietarysoftwaremayalsohavecertainadvantages.Oftentheinterfacedesignismorepolished,supportservicesareprovided,andinsomecasestheysimplyrunbetterondemandingtasks.


89Appendix

Butthegapbetweenfreeandproprietarysoftwarehasbecomenarrowerinrecentyears,andmanyprofessionalsinfactprefertousefreeandopensourcesoftwareonmorethanideologicalgrounds.F/OSSsoftwareisoftenmoresecurebecauseitcanbeopenlyvettedbysecurityresearchers.Forthesamereason,particularlypopularapplicationsmayhavemanytalentedanddedicateddevelopers,aswellasasupportcommunityoffellowusersratherthancallcenteroronlineservice.

Giventheexpenseofproprietarysoftwareanditsinevitableobsolescence,therearefewadvantagestousingtheseapplicationsindataandcomputationclassesinsteadoffreeandopen-sourceones.

GuidetoCommonToolsforDataandComputationalJournalismThefollowinglistofcommontoolsfordataandcomputationaljournalismisquotedfromtheLedeProgramatColumbia.

ProgrammingLanguages

Cisaheavy-liftingprogramminglanguagethatisthelanguageofchoicefortheComputerScienceDepartment.It’sfarfasterthanPythonorJavaScriptandintroducesyoutothenitty-grittyofcomputerscience.

Gitissomethingcalledaversioncontrolsystem—it’snotaprogramminglanguage,butprogrammersuseitoften.Versioncontrolisawayofkeepingtrackofthehistoryofyourcode,alongwithprovidingastructurethatencouragescollaboration.GitHubisapopularcloud-basedservicethatmakesuseofgit,andwemakeheavyuseofitduringtheLedeProgram.

HTMLisn’ttechnicallyaprogramminglanguage,it’samarkuplanguage.AHyperTextMarkupLanguage,tobeexact.HTMLisusedtoexplainwhatdifferentpartsofwebpagesaretoyourbrowser,andyouuseitextensivelywhenlearningtoscrapewebpages.

JavaScriptisaprogramminglanguagethat’sinchargeofinteractivityontheWeb.Whenimageswiggleorpop-upsannoyyou,that’sallJavaScript.ThepopularinteractivedatavisualizationframeworkD3isbuiltusingJavaScript.

Pythonisamultipurposeprogramminglanguagethatisathomecrunching,parsingtext,orbuildingTwitterbots.WeusePythonextensivelyintheLede.

Risaprogramminglanguagethatisusedwidelyformathematicalandstatisticalprocessing.


90Appendix

ToolsforDataandAnalysis

BeautifulSoupandlxmlaretoolsusedfortakingdatafromtheWebandmakingitaccessibletoyourcomputer.

D3isaJavaScriptlibraryforbuildingcustomdatavisualizations.

IPythonNotebooksareaninteractiveprogrammingenvironmentthatencouragedocumentation,transparency,andreproducibilityofwork.Whenyou’redonewithyouranalysis,you’llbeabletoputyourworkupforeveryonetosee—andcheck!

NLTK(NaturalLanguageToolkit)isaPythonlibrarybuilttoprocesslargeamountsoftext.Whetheryou’reanalyzingcongressionalbills,Twitteroutrages,orShakespeareanplays,NLTKhasyoucovered.

OpenRefine(previouslyGoogleRefine)isdownloadablesoftwarethathelpsyousortandsiftdirtydata,cleaningittothepointwhereyoucanstartyouractualanalysis.

Pandasisahigh-performancedataanalysistoolforPython.

QGIS(geographicinformationsystem)isanopen-sourcetoolusedtoworkwithgeographicdata,fromreprojectingandcombiningdatasetstorunninganalysesandmakingvisualizations.

Scitkit-learnisaPythonpackageformachinelearninganddataanalysis.It’stheSwissArmyknifeofdatascience:itcoversclassification,regression,clustering,dimensionalityreduction,andsomuchmore.

Webscrapingistheprocessoftakinginformationoffofwebsitesandmakinguseofitonyourcomputer.Alotoftimesdocumentsaren’teasilyavailableinaccessibleformats,andyouneedtoscrapetheminordertoprocessandanalyzethem.

DataFormats

AnAPI(applicationprogramminginterface)isawayforcomputerstocommunicatetooneanother.Forus,thisgenerallymeanssharingdata.We’llbecodingupPythonscriptstotalktoandrequestdatafrommachinesaroundtheworld,fromTwittertotheU.S.government.

CSVs(comma-separatedvalues)arethemostcommonformatfordata.It’saquickexportawayfromExcelorGoogleSpreadsheets,andyou’llfindyourselfworkingfromCSVsmoreoftenthananyotherformat.Although“comma-separated”isinthename,aCSVcanarguablyalsousetabs,pipes,oranyothercharacterasafielddelimiter(althoughthetab-separatedonecanalsobecalledaTSV).

GeoJSONandTopojsonarespecificallyformattedJSONfilesthatcontaingeographicdata.


91Appendix

JSONstandsforJavaScriptObjectNotation,andit’saslightlymorecomplicatedformatthanaCSV.Itcancontainlists,numbers,strings,sub-items,andallsortofcomplexitiesthataregreatforexpressingthenuanceofreal-worlddata.DatafromanAPIisoftenformattedasJSON.

SQL(StructuredQueryLanguage)isalanguagetotalktodatabases.You’llsometimesfinddatasetsinSQLformat,readytobeimportedintoyourdatabasesystemofchoice.

TechTeamReportAnotherusefulresourceforunderstandingthetoolsofdatajournalismwaspreparedatStanfordbyaninterdisciplinaryteamofcomputerscienceanddatajournalismstudentsinaSpring2015courseonwatchdogreporting.Thereportisavailablehere:http://cjlab.stanford.edu/tech-team-report/

Resources

OnlinecoursesandMOOCs

DoingJournalismwithData:FirstSteps,SkillsandTools(http://datajournalismcourse.net/)SchoolofData(http://schoolofdata.org/)TheKnightCenterforJournalismintheAmericasoffersanumberofMOOCsasdistancelearningforjournalists(https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/distancelearning)

UsefulDataSetsforClassworkandAssignments

Babynamecensusdata—cleandata,alwaysvariesfromyeartoyear,papersalwayscoverit(Top1000babynamesbyyearcanbefoundathttps://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.htmlGreenhousegasdata(NOAAhasanumberofsearchabledatasetsathttp://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/)StudentgradedistributionsforyourcollegeThisisasmalldatasetusedinalotoftheSchoolofDataExamples:TheGRAINdatabaseoflandgrabs(http://datahub.io/dataset/grain-landgrab-data/resource/af57b7b2-f4e7-4942-88d3-83912865d116)WorldBankOpenData(http://data.worldbank.org/)TheGuardianDatabases(http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/jan/14/all-our-datasets-


92Appendix

http://cjlab.stanford.edu/tech-team-report/

http://datajournalismcourse.net/

http://schoolofdata.org/

https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/distancelearning

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/

http://datahub.io/dataset/grain-landgrab-data/resource/af57b7b2-f4e7-4942-88d3-83912865d116

http://data.worldbank.org/

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/jan/14/all-our-datasets-index

index)TheEurostatDatabases(http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/help/new-eurostat-website)UKGovernmentDatabases(https://data.gov.uk/data/search?res_format=RSS)NationalandInternationalStatisticalServicesbyregionandcountry(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_and_international_statistical_services)GlobalHealthObservatoryDataRepository(http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.homeBusinessRegistryDatabases(https://www.investigativedashboard.org/business_registries/)Google’slistofPublicData(http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory#)OpenSpending(https://openspending.org/)Datahub(http://datahub.io/)OpenAccessDirectory(http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Main_Page)DataPortals(http://dataportals.org/)NASA’sDataPortal(https://data.nasa.gov/)

PhilipMeyer’srecommendedtextsJohnTukey,ExploratoryDataAnalysis(UpperSaddleRiver,NJ:PearsonEducation.1977)JamesA.Davis,TheLogicofCausalOrder(ThousandOaks,CA:Sage,1985)RobertP.Abelson,StatisticsasPrincipledArgument(Hillsdale,NJ:LawrenceErlbaumAssociates,1995)

DataJournalismArticles,Projects,andReadingListsUsedinInstruction

MOOCExamples:

Cairo,Alberto.“RecommendedResourcesforMyInfographicsandVisualizationCourses.”Personal.TheFunctionalArt:AnIntroductiontoInformationGraphicsandVisualization,October11,2012.http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2012/10/recommended-readings-for-infographics.html.“Cameroon—CameroonBudgetInquirer.”AccessedSeptember23,2015.http://cameroon.openspending.org/en/.Downs,Kat,DanHill,TedMellnik,AndrewMetcalf,CoryO’Brien,CherylThompson,andSerdarTumgoren.“HomicidesintheDistrictofColumbia—TheWashingtonPost.”News.TheWashingtonPost,October14,2012.http://apps.washingtonpost.com/investigative/homicides/.


93Appendix

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/help/new-eurostat-website

https://data.gov.uk/data/search?res_format=RSS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_and_international_statistical_services

http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.home

https://www.investigativedashboard.org/business_registries/

http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory

https://openspending.org/

http://datahub.io/

http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Main_Page

http://dataportals.org/

https://data.nasa.gov/

http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2012/10/recommended-readings-for-infographics.html

http://cameroon.openspending.org/en/

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/investigative/homicides/

“FindMySchool.Ke.”AccessedSeptember23,2015.http://findmyschool.co.ke/.Keefe,John,StevenMelendez,andLouiseMa.“FloodingandFloodZones|WNYC.”News.WNYC.AccessedSeptember23,2015.http://project.wnyc.org/flooding-sandy-new/index.html.Kirk,Chris,andDanKois.“HowManyPeopleHaveBeenKilledbyGunsSinceNewtown?”Slate,September16,2013.http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html.Lewis,Jason.“Revealed:The£1BillionHighCostLendingIndustry|TheBureauofInvestigativeJournalism.”Journalism.TheBureauofInvestigativeJournalism,June13,2013.https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/06/13/revealed-the-1billion-high-cost-lending-industry/.Nguyen,Dan.“WhoinCongressSupportsSOPAandPIPA/PROTECT-IP?|SOPAOpera.”News.ProPublica,January20,2012.http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/.Rogers,Simon.“GovernmentSpendingbyDepartment,2011-12:GettheData.”TheGuardian,December4,2012,sec.UKnews.http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/dec/04/government-spending-department-2011-12.———.“JohnSnow’sDataJournalism:TheCholeraMapThatChangedtheWorld.”TheGuardian,March15,2013,sec.News.http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/mar/15/john-snow-cholera-map.———.“WikileaksDataJournalism:HowWeHandledtheData.”TheGuardian,January31,2011,sec.News.http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jan/31/wikileaks-data-journalism.———.“WikileaksIraqWarLogs:EveryDeathMapped.”TheGuardian,October22,2010.http://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/interactive/2010/oct/23/wikileaks-iraq-deaths-map.Rogers,Simon,andJohnBurn-Murdoch.“SuperstormSandy:EveryVerifiedEventMappedandDetailed.”TheGuardian,October30,2012.http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2012/oct/30/superstorm-sandy-incidents-mapped.Serra,Laura,MaiaJastreblansky,IvanRuiz,RicardoBrom,andMarianaTrigoViera.“Argentina’sSenateExpenses2004-2013.”News.LaNacion,April3,2013.http://blogs.lanacion.com.ar/ddj/data-driven-investigative-journalism/argentina-senate-expenses/.Shaw,Al,JeremyB.Merrill,andZamora,Amanda.“FreetheFiles:HelpProPublicaUnlockPoliticalAdSpending.”ProPublica,September4,2015.https://projects.propublica.org/free-the-files/.“WhereDoesMyMoneyGo?”AccessedSeptember23,2015.http://wheredoesmymoneygo.org/.


94Appendix

http://findmyschool.co.ke/

http://project.wnyc.org/flooding-sandy-new/index.html

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2013/06/13/revealed-the-1billion-high-cost-lending-industry/

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/dec/04/government-spending-department-2011-12

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/mar/15/john-snow-cholera-map

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/jan/31/wikileaks-data-journalism

http://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/interactive/2010/oct/23/wikileaks-iraq-deaths-map

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2012/oct/30/superstorm-sandy-incidents-mapped

http://blogs.lanacion.com.ar/ddj/data-driven-investigative-journalism/argentina-senate-expenses/

https://projects.propublica.org/free-the-files/

http://wheredoesmymoneygo.org/

LedeProgramCurriculumTheLedeProgramatColumbiaJournalismSchoolisapost-baccalaureateinwhichstudentsfromavarietyofbackgroundslearndataandcomputationskillsoverthecourseofoneortwosemesters.Theprogramwasdesignedtohelpstudentsrapidlyelevatetheirskillsintheseareas,especiallyiftheywereconsideringapplyingforColumbia’shighlydemandingdual-degreeprograminjournalismandcomputerscience.

Inthecontextofthisreport,theone-semesterversionoftheLederepresentsapromising“extendedbootcamp”inwhichstudentswhohavebeenacceptedintoadatajournalismmaster’sprogrammayattendforafullsummerbeforetheirpeersinordertodeveloptheskillsthatwillhelpthemgetthemostoutoftheireducation.

ThefollowingcoursedescriptionswerepulledonNovember5,2015,from:http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/page/1060-the-lede-program-courses/908

FoundationsofComputing

DuringthisintroductiontotheinsandoutsofthePythonprogramminglanguage,studentsbuildafoundationuponwhichtheirlater,morecoding-intensiveclasseswilldepend.Dirty,real-worlddatasetswillbecleaned,parsedandprocessedwhilerecreatingmodernjournalisticprojects.Thecoursewillalsotouchuponbasicvisualizationandmapping,andhowtousepublicresourcessuchasGoogleandStackOverflowtobuildself-reliance.

Focus:Familiarizeyourselfwiththedata-drivenlandscape

Topics&toolsinclude:Python,basicstatisticalanalysis,OpenRefine,CartoDB,pandas,HTML,CSVs,algorithmicstorygeneration,narrativeworkflow,csvkit,git/GitHub,StackOverflow,datacleaning,commandlinetools,andmore

DataandDatabases

Studentswillbecomefamiliarwithavarietyofdataformatsandmethodsforstoring,accessingandprocessinginformation.Topicscoveredincludecomma-separateddocuments,interactionwithwebsiteAPIsandJSON,raw-textdocumentdumps,regularexpressions,textmining,SQLdatabases,andmore.Studentswillalsotacklelessaccessibledatabybuildingwebscrapersandconvertingdifficult-to-usePDFsintouseableinformation.

Focus:Findingandworkingwithdata

Topics&toolsinclude:SQL,APIs,CSVs,regularexpressions,textmining,PDFprocessing,pandas,Python,HTML,BeautifulSoup,IPythonNotebooks,andmore


95Appendix

http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/page/1060-the-lede-program-courses/908

Algorithms

Machinelearninganddatascienceareintegraltoprocessingandunderstandinglargedatasets.Whetheryou’reclusteringschoolsorcrimedata,analyzingrelationshipsbetweenpeopleorbusinesses,orsearchingforasinglefactinalargedataset,algorithmscanhelp.Throughsupervisedandunsupervisedlearning,studentswillgenerateleads,createinsights,andfigureouthowtobestfocustheireffortswithlargedatasets.Acriticaleyetowardapplicationsofalgorithmswillalsobedeveloped,uncoveringthepitfallsandbiasestolookforinyourownandothers’work.

Focus:Analyzingyourdata

Topics&toolsinclude:linearregression,clustering,textmining,naturallanguageprocessing,decisiontrees,machinelearning,scikit-learn,Python,andmore

DataAnalysisStudio

Inthisproject-drivencourse,studentsrefinetheircreativeworkflowonpersonalwork,fromobtainingandcleaningdatatofinalpresentation.Dataisexplorednotonlyasthebasisforvisualization,butalsoasalead-generatingfoundation,requiringfurtherinvestigativeorresearch-orientedwork.Regularcritiquesfrominstructorsandvisitingprofessionalsareacriticalpieceofthecourse.

Focus:Applyingyourskillset

Topics&toolsinclude:Tableau,webscraping,mapping,CartoDB,GIS/QGIS,datacleaning,documentation,andmore


96Appendix

AcknowledgmentsWecouldnothavedonethiswithouttheassistanceofMaxwellFoxmanandJoscelynJurich,twoPh.D.studentsatColumbia.MaxandJoscelyntraveledfarandwide,scouredtheWeb,andcheckedinnumerablefactsinorderforthisreporttoevencomeclosetodepictingthestateofdatajournalismeducation.Theirthoughtfulmemos,perceptivecomments—andyes,meticulousspreadsheets—werevitalcontributionstothisresearch.

Manyoftheinsightsinthisreportshouldbecreditedtoouradvisorycommittee:SarahCohen,MeredithBroussard,SteveDoig,MichelleMinkoff,ShaznaNessa,JeremySinger-Vine,JonathanStray,MattWaite,andDerekWillis.Ourcommitteemettwice,firsttolaunchtheprojectandframeitsmission,thensevenmonthslatertoreviewourfindingsandhelpustorefineourconclusions.

Anumberofjournalistsandjournalismteachersalsoofferedin-depthinterviewsontheirexperience,thestateofthefield,andtheirvisionforthefuture,andforthatwethankthemforsharingtheirtimeandtheirinsights:JonathonBerlin,RahulBhargava,DavidBoardman,R.B.Brenner,MattCarroll,IraChinoy,BrianCreech,CatherineD’Ignazio,NickDiakopoulos,DavidDonald,JaimiDowdell,DeenFreelon,DavidHerzog,MarkHorvit,BrantHouston,MikeJenner,DanKeating,JenniferLaFleur,DarnellLittle,KathyMatheson,TomMcGinty,PhilipMeyer,GeorgeMiller,T.ChristianMiller,MaggieMulvihill,JonahNewman,BenPoston,KevinQuealy,MikeReilley,SimonRogers,CindyRoyal,JuddSlivka,MargotSusca,BenWelsh,AaronWilliams,andZachWise.

Specialthanksgoouttothosewhoinvitedusintotheirclassroomstowatchhowtheyteach.CatherineD’IgnazioofEmersonCollegeofferedourveryfirstobservationandalsointroducedustohercolleaguesattheMITMediaLabwhoaretacklingsimilarquestionsaboutteachingdata.ZachWiseandLarryBirnbauminvitedustoobservetheirteam-taughtclassatNorthwestern.AmandaHickmanhostedustwiceforherclassattheCUNYGraduateSchoolofJournalism.MeredithBroussardandGeorgeMillereachallowedustoobservetheirclassesatTempleUniversity.Likewise,DanKeatinggraciouslyhostedanin-classobservationattheUniversityofMaryland.

Wewouldalsoliketothankthestudentswhospoketousabouttheirexperiencelearningtousedataintheirreporting:MattBernardini,SimengDai,GeorgeDumontier,AlexDuner,JasmineHan,JohnHilliard,AustinHuguelet,AshleyJones,AnneLi,MaryRyan,andNicoleZhu.Wewishthemfruitfulcareersastheyshapethisfieldofpractice.


97Acknowledgments

Throughthecourseofthisbi-coastalresearchproject,theColumbiaandStanfordcommunitieshaveprovidedanunimaginablelevelofsupportandinspiration.MarkHansen,theEastCoastdirectoroftheBrownInstituteforMediaInnovation,hasarticulatedaremarkablevisionfortheunionofjournalismandcomputation,aswellasamodelforbicoastalcollaboration.SusanMcGregorsharedherdeepunderstandingofjournalism,pedagogy,anddigitalsecurityatcrucialstagesofthisproject,inadditiontohostingusinherclassroomtwice.GianninaSegnini,JamesMadisonVisitingProfessoronFirstAmendmentIssueattheColumbiaSchoolofJournalism,offeredherconsiderableexpertiseintheuseofdataforglobalinvestigativereporting.ThosefromStanfordwhoprovidedcriticalinputandsupportincludeHearstProfessionalinResidenceDanNguyen,PeninsulaPressManagingEditorVigneshRamachandranandGeriMigielicz,theLorryI.LokeyVisitingProfessorinProfessionalJournalism,whoisco-teachingavirtualrealityclassinthewinterof2015.

SteveCollexpressedanelegantandconvincingcasefordatajournalism’splaceincontemporarypractice—fromwhichweborrowedunabashedlyandatlength.ThisreportwassubstantiallyimprovedbyJayHamilton,SarahCohen,JonathanStray,JonathanSoma,andChrisAnderson,whoreadourfirstdraftandofferedremarkablyusefulfeedback.WethankMarciaKramerforthethoughtandcarewithwhichsheeditedthisreport.

WeareindebtedtotheJohnS.andJamesL.KnightFoundationforfundingthisresearch.Knight’scommitmenttoboththefutureofjournalismeducationandtoinnovationinjournalisticpracticedovetailedinthisproject,andwehopethatitisaworthycontributiontoKnight’sgreatermission.

Finally,wethankthepersonwhoconceivedofthisproject,recruitedourteam,andservedasasagelyadvisorateverystep:SheilaCoronel,directorofColumbia’sStabileCenterforInvestigativeJournalism.Sheilarecognizednotonlytheurgencyofdevelopingadatacurriculumbasedonanempiricalstudyofthefield,butalsothevalueofsharingtheresultswithotherjournalismeducators.Whatcouldeasilyhavebeenjustaresearchstudy,orelsejustacurriculumdevelopmentproject,wasenvisionedbySheilaassomethingthatcouldbegreaterthanthesumofitsparts.


98Acknowledgments

teaching data and computational journalism

Career