Invited lecture at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, 16 May 2014.

1. Connec&ng Data, Computa&on and Journalism:
Liliana Bounegru and Thomas Poell
(Research project in progress)
The Epistemological Models of The Guardian,
The New York Times and ProPublica

4. Examples
The Guardian Datablog
h@p://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/oct/31/europe-
unemployment-rate-by-country-eurozone

5. The New York Times InteracOve News unit
h@p://london2012.nyOmes.com/

6. ProPublica’s News Apps unit
h@p://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/

7. “Could compu+ng technology - which has played no small part in the decline
of the tradi+onal news media - turn out to be a saviour of journalism’s
watchdog tradi+on?” (Cohen, Sarah, Chengkai Li, Jun Yang, and Cong Yu. 2011. "ComputaOonal
Journalism: A Call to Arms to Database Researchers." CIDR 2011: 148-151)
“If there’s a silver lining in this situa+on, it is the ability of computer scien+sts
to strengthen the hands of the remaining professional reporters and engage
new players in the watchdog process” (Cohen, Sarah, James F. Hamilton, and Fred Turner.
2011. “ComputaOonal journalism.” Communica+ons of the ACM 54 (10): 66-71)
How have these recent developments been
discussed in academic literature?

8. Flew, T., Spurgeon, C., Daniel, A., & Swic, A. (2012). The promise of
computaOonal journalism.
Cohen, S., Li, C., Yang, J., & Yu, C. (2011). ComputaOonal journalism: A call to
arms to database researchers
Hamilton, J. & Turner F. (July, 2009). Accountability through algorithm:
Developing the field of computaOonal journalism.
How have these recent developments been
discussed in academic literature?

9. How are data and computer science used in journalism?
What epistemological assumpOons about the role of data, computer science
and audiences underlie this work?
Our research

10. I. Mapping data journalism and computaOonal journalism outside the
newsroom – the hybrid network of academic and non-governmental
organisaOons
II. Mapping how data and computaOon are used in newsrooms
Our approach

11. I. Mapping data journalism and computaOonal
journalism outside newsrooms

12. ComputaOonal journalism in the
academic space

13. Data journalism and computer-
assisted reporOng in the NGO space

14. II. Mapping how data and computaOon are
used in newsrooms

15. Royal, Cindy. 2010. “The Journalist as Programmer: a Case Study of the New
York Times InteracOve News Technology Department.” Presented at the
Interna+onal Symposium on Online Journalism, AusOn, Texas.
Parasie, Sylvain, and Eric Dagiral. 2012. ‘‘Data-driven Journalism and the
Public Good: ‘Computer-assisted-reporters’ and ‘Programmer-journalists’ in
Chicago.’’ New Media & Society 15 (6): 853-871.
ExisOng research

16. Three case studies:
• Guardian Datablog
• ProPublica’s News Apps division
• New York Times’ InteracOve News unit
Method:
• In-depth interviews with journalists
• Analysis of outcomes of their work
• Analysis of press coverage of these developments
Our case studies and method

17. “Most of what we do is this kind of very newsy,
quick pieces of data journalism, that are based
around stories that just happen to be in the news
that day. Every news story has some data behind
it and we’re here to make that accessible and
surface it.” (interview with Simon Rogers, 6 September
2012)
“When we launched the Datablog, we thought the audiences would be developers building applica+ons.
In fact, it’s people wan+ng to know more about carbon emissions or Eastern European immigra+on or
the breakdown of deaths in Afghanistan — or even the number of +mes the Beatles used the word ‘love’
in their songs.” (Rogers, Simon. 2012. “Behind the scenes at The Guardian Datablog.” In The Data Journalism
Handbook, edited by Gray, Jonathan, Liliana Bounegru, and Lucy Chambers, 34-37. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media)
The Guardian Datablog:
‘journalism as a source of data’

18. The Guardian Datablog:
‘journalism as a source of data’

19. “I don’t see that [publishing data] as necessarily an act of journalism. I see that as an act of technology. And, I think that’s
sort of shirking responsibility. The journalists’ responsibility is data analysis. It always has been. If all reporters did was
report every fact, how would you be able to dis+nguish an important from an unimportant fact? What journalists say is:
‘This is not important, and this is.’ I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.” (interview with Aron Pilhofer, 19
September, 2012).
The New York Times InteracOve
News unit: ‘the data experience’

20. ProPublica’s News Apps unit:
‘journalism as a data research tool’
“By showing each reader data that is specific to
them, a news app can help each reader understand
a story in a way that’s personally meaningful to
them. It can help a reader understand their personal
connec+on to a broad na+onal phenomenon, and
help them aXach what they know to what they don’t
know, and thereby encourage a deep understanding
of abstract concepts.” (Klein, S. (2012). News apps at
ProPublica. In J. Gray, L. Bounegru, & L. Chambers (Eds.), The
data journalism handbook (pp. 185-186). Sebastopol, CA:
O'Reilly Media)

21. A criOcal examinaOon of this much celebrated phenomenon is needed.
Journalists should reflect on how the integraOon of data and computaOonal
tools in news producOon might impact the nature of the stories they are
telling.
Journalists should be more criOcal and creaOve in the way they source the
data they use for their reportage.
What does this mean for journalism?

22. h@p://lilianabounegru.org/2014/05/07/list-of-academic-papers-about-data-
journalism-and-computaOonal-journalism/
List of academic literature on data journalism

23. THANK YOU!
WEBSITE: lilianabounegru.org
EMAIL: liliana.bounegru@gmail.com
TWITTER: @bb_liliana

24. Resources for pracOOoners

25. Website dedicated to data journalism
DataDrivenJournalism.net is a hub for data journalism news and resources,
featuring case studies, tools, methods, events and job opportuniOes.

26. 70+ authors from:
New York Times
BBC
Guardian
Financial Times
Washington Post
Zeit Online
Chicago Tribune
Deutsche Welle
La Nacion
ProPublica
Australian BroadcasOng
CorporaOon
10+ transla&ons:
Russian
Spanish
Georgian
Ukrainian
French
Italian
Chinese
Macedonian
Arabic
Portuguese
Greek
Czech
Data journalism book
New York Times
Guardian
ScienOfic American
LiberaOon
TechCrunch
NiemanLab
ReadWriteWeb
Gigaom
Global Voices
PBS
10101 abc
Dubbed the “bible” of data journalism, The Data Journalism Handbook is a reference
book on how journalists can use data to improve their work.
Featured in:

27. Biggest data journalism event in Europe
300+ parOcipants
50+ countries
Speakers from:
Reuters
New York Times
Spiegel
Guardian
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
LocaOon: Italy
Featuring a mix of panel discussions and hands-on
sessions, the School of Data Journalism gives
parOcipants an opportunity to discuss developments
and challenges in the field, learn about new tools,
techniques and iniOaOves, and meet and network face-
to-face with like-minded pracOOoners.

28. 20.000+ parOcipants
170+ countries
Top professions:
Journalist
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Biggest journalism MOOC
Doing Journalism with Data is a free 5-module online introductory course that gives parOcipants the
essenOal concepts, techniques and skills to effecOvely work with data and produce compelling data
stories under Oght deadlines.
Instructors and advisors from:
New York Times |Wired | Twi@er | Zeit Online

29. WEBSITE: www.datadrivenjournalism.net
BOOK: www.datajournalismhandbook.org
COURSE: www.datadrivenjournalism.net/course
MAILING LIST: www.ejc.net/ddj-list
TWITTER: @ddjournalism
EMAIL: bounegru@ejc.net