2. Data Journalism: An Explication
What is Data Journalism?
Process or Product?
Roles or Skills?
Who does it affect?
Is it really anything new at all?
All of the above
3. Data Journalism: An Explication
Method
Concept explication with grounded theory
Identification of sources
Identification of assertions
Word frequency analysis
Coding of dimensions
Development of conceptual definition
8. Data Journalism: An Explication
Process
[Data journalism is] “a reporting process that uses
spreadsheet programs to generate statistics from public
records and data sets" (Hackett, 2013)
[Data journalism is] “the aggregating, filtering, and
visualizing of large sets of data, based on statistical
methods of data analysis” (Dreyfus, S., Lederman, R., &
Bosua, R., 2011).
"I would say data journalism is such a wide range now of
styles - from visualisation to long form articles. The key
thing they have in common is that they're based on
numbers and statistics - and that they should aim to get a
'story' from that data. The ultimate display of that story, be
it words or graphics, is irrelevant, I think - it's more about
the process" (Rogers, 2012).
9. Data Journalism: An Explication
Product
“Data journalism can help a journalist tell a
complex story through engaging infographics”
(Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).
“Data journalism — interactives, infographics,
charts and tables — were tapped to convey
factual aspects like historical timelines and status
of gun control policy” (Xie, 2013).
“Some stories are just better told as databases
and interactive web apps” (Betancourt, 2009).
10. Data Journalism: An Explication
Convergence of Fields
“Data journalism is ‘incomprehensibly enormous,’ in part
because it represents the convergence of several fields —
programming, design, statistics and investigative
research, to name a few” (Bradshaw, 2010).
“In the hands of the most advanced practitioners, data
journalism is a powerful tool that integrates computer
science, statistics, and decades of learning from the
social sciences in making sense of huge databases”
(Howard, Art and Sciences, 2014).
“Data journalism is currently an emerging form of
storytelling, where traditional journalistic working methods
are mixed with data analysis, programming and
visualization techniques” (Appelgren & Nygren, 2014).
11. Data Journalism: An Explication
Traditional
“Data journalism and its practice are not new, along with
existing critiques of its practices or of programming in
journalism generally “(Howard, Debugging the Backlash,
2014).
“One of the editors points out that analyzing data is not in
itself something new for journalists, however, the new tools
that are currently available speed up the process of
working with large data sets” (Appelgren, E., & Nygren,
G., 2014)
"What makes data journalism different to the rest of
journalism? Perhaps it is the new possibilities that open up
when you combine the traditional ‘nose for news’ and
ability to tell a compelling story, with the sheer scale and
range of digital information now available” (Gray, J.,
Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).
12. Data Journalism: An Explication
Outside Influence
“It can help explain how a story relates to an individual”
(Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).
"Data-driven journalism” improves the way journalism can
contribute to democracy – especially at a time when a
growing number of data sets are released by
governments" (Parasie & Dagiral, 2013).
“After all, programming and data are journalism. And it
can be practiced in such a way that it can create
interaction, user engagement, and more information in
terms of seeking the truth. Especially when you talk about
Freedom of Information access to government data — if
the public can have access to that in a way that makes
sense to them, or in a way that’s easy for them to use,
then that’s just really powerful” (Royal in Garber, 2010).
13. Data Journalism: An Explication
Skills
“I think schools are making a better effort to train young
journalists in many of the skills that fall under the umbrella
of data journalism: data wrangling, analysis, visualization;
statistics; digital literacy (how does the Web work?); Web
development” (Howard, Profile of the Data Journalist,
2014).
Data journalism is a new set of skills for searching,
understanding and visualizing digital sources in a time that
basic skills from traditional journalism just aren’t enough
(Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).
"Emergence of a new generation of web-based
technologies that have made the presentation and
visualization of data-driven stories easy even for those with
no database or web development experience"
(Vallance-Jones, F., 2013).
14. Data Journalism: An Explication
Hybrid
“Data journalism is bridging the gap between stat
technicians and wordsmiths, locating outliers and
identifying trends that are not just statistically
significant, but relevant to de-compiling the
inherently complex world of today.” (Gray, J.,
Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).
“Sourcing, reporting and presenting stories
through data-driven journalism, and visualising
and presenting data (including databases,
mapping and other interactive graphics)" (Arthur,
2010).
15. Data Journalism: An Explication
Comprehensive Definition
Data journalism is a process by which analysis and presentation of
data are employed to better inform and engage the public. Its
roots are in the fields of computer-assisted and investigative
reporting, but data journalism products may add engagement
through customization and user contribution made possible by
Web development and programming techniques.
Notes de l'éditeur
Kudos to Rosental and Amy for nurturing this lively community
Very meaningful associations have come out of my ISOJ participation.
Or meeting people like Trei Brundrett and Dave Cohn who I just served on a panel with at SXSW. Trei taught an exercise in my class this past Wed.
Or meeting Dawn Garcia a few years ago, which led to my applying for a being accepted into Knight Fellowship at Stanford.
Meeting people who have been very influential to the future of my students,like Aron P who was influential in students like Maira G at NY Times.
And it was after I met Aron here that I invited myself to spend a week with his team at NY Times that led to my first project studying the role of the data journalist at NY Times. Which led to this recent research. I felt it was time to unpack what we mean by data journalism.
Lit Review
Few studies, but recently an issue in Digital Journalism
My study of NYT presented here in 2010
French scholars Parasie and Dagiral on Chicago Tribune
Much change has occurred, more organizations telling stories with data, seeking resources
Asked 3 questions
What is data journalism?
What are the skills necessary to perform data journalism?
What trends do you see for the future of data journalism?
23 sources
Communication Source – 16 assertions
Other Academic – 29 assertions
Professional – 18 assertions
63 assertions
General Google Search
Tapped known sources
Other professional or other academic
Few studies, but recently an issue in Digital Journalism
Online sources like Nieman Lab and PBS Media Shift
All assertions in Google Sheet
Comprehensive definition may not be suitable for all purposes, this study provides a way to understand different aspects
New and rapidly changing
Lack of aptitude in the profession in working with numbers
Data becoming important not only for storytelling, but for strategy and decision-making using analytics
Tech culture vs journalism culture
What this analysis does is provide a more nuanced and systematic understanding of data journalism as a research area within the realm of journalism scholarship.
Roles are in demand