Presentation @ Zurich University of Applied Sciences - SRG DeutschSchweiz. February 2014.

1. challenges in the field of Data Journalism
PAST PRESENT FUTURE

2. Grüezi mitenand!
•
•
Hille van der Kaa
Twitter: @Hillevanderkaa
•
Researcher Data Journalism at Tilburg
University
Professorship Media, an
interdisciplinary institute of journalism,
ICT, communication, arts &
economics at Fontys University of
Applied Sciences
•

3. what is data journalism?

4. Data journalism is a journalism specialty
reflecting the increased role that numerical
data is used in the production and
distribution of information in the digital era.
It reflects the increased interaction
between content producers and several
other fields such as design, computer
science and statistics.
(Poynter institute, 2011)

6. computer
assisted
reporting
big data
driven
journalism
automated
algorithmic
storytelling
past
present
future

8. 1952
The Univac was used by
CBS to predict the result
of the 1952 presidential
election.
With a sample of just 1%
of the voting population
it famously predicted
an Eisenhower landslide
while the conventional
wisdom favored
Stevenson.

9. Computer-assisted reporting describes
the use of computers to gather and
analyze the data necessary to write
news stories.
Collectively this has become known as
computer-assisted reporting, or CAR.

10. 1967

11. 1992

12. entering the jungle of Big Data
an ‘information explosion’ that
generates exabytes of data every year
for example: info generated by open
data government policies, digital
archiving, and human interactions in
social networks …
… all these data tell stories

13. velocity
volume
• data comes in
quickly through
multiple sources
(online systems,
social media
etc.)
• from terabytes
to petabytes
(and more) of
information
variety
complexity
• of data types
(structured,
semi-structured,
and
unstructured
data)
• geographical
and multi-data
center data
distribution,
cloud
computing

14. data journalism
=
the craft of finding stories
into complex datasets

15. computer assisted reporting
data-driven journalism
database journalism
automated journalism

16. data-driven journalism
data-driven journalism is a process
whereby journalists build stories using
numerical data or databases
as a primary material

25. database journalism
database journalism or structured
journalism is a principle in information
management whereby news content is
organized around structured pieces of
data, as opposed to news stories
it focuses on the constitution and
maintenance of the database

32. challenge 1
the line between activism and journalism has become
even fuzzier in the digital age
growing interest in investigative news organisations
that operate on a non-profit model
some new players are producing
to serve a particular agenda

33. challenge 2
when does a study, or dataset, constitute as a reliable
source for a news story?
what does a journalist need besides the data to
create a trustworthy story?
how to evaluate data?
as a news source… or?

34. challenge 3
how to analyze all these data?
data journalism = social science?

35. challenge

36. only skilled data analysts can bridge the
gap between data and knowledge, and
find the stories underneath
a new set of skills:
advanced research methods +
computational methods
(data mining, data processing)

37. ability to select data from a broad range of data sources
ability to analyze and abstract data from a scientific perspective
ability to explore and detect abnormity in data
familiarity with various data standards & the ability to convert
ability to visualize data in graphics and text
ability to transform data
in a journalistic storyline

40. all journalists = data journalists
NO
But....

41. future journalist need to know
(at least a little bit…)
about data
and algorithms

42. computer assisted reporting
data-driven journalism
database journalism
automated journalism

51. all journalists = data journalists
NO
But....

52. journalism, as one of the key professions
specialized in making information visible
and accessible to large audiences,
MUST BE
at the forefront of the
‘data revolution’

60. Widerluege!