Can the analysis of data help investigative journalism? Could new workflows working with data create more substantial reporting and thus finance costly investigations? This talk tried to provide food for thought for these questions, not the final answers. Work ahead on this...

1. CAN DIGGING
DEEPER INTO DATA
HELP TO FINANCE
INVESTIGATIONS?
AN INTRODUCTION TO
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
Mirko Lorenz, Journalist/Information Architect
Global Investigative Journalism Conference
GENEVA (APRIL 2010) - http://www.gijc2010.ch/

2. DATA AND
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM:
WHY, HOW AND WHEN?

3. CONTEXT:
THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM
OPPORTUNITY:
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
How can we make use of data?
What is there to learn?
A curriculum to train journalists?

4. CONTENTS
1. WHY DATA? WHY NOW?
2. EXAMPLES, PLEASE!
3. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES?
4. NEXT STEPS

5. 1 2 3 4
WHY DATA? WHY NOW?
SOME QUOTES WHY AND HOW
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
IS BECOMING IMPORTANT...

6. Online work to be 'data-driven'
Posted: 16/10/02 By: Caroline White
"Journalists will do less 'been-there,
done-that' reporting as readers
demand more continuous coverage of
issues, such as domestic violence and
child abuse.“
Hal Straus, database editor and manager for Washington
Post Newsweek Interactive added: "Consumer news is a
hard sell in a lot of newsrooms because it's not going to
win a Pulitzer, but people really want objective information
about what they are buying or have bought."
http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/5493.php

7. I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten years will be
statisticians. People think I’m joking, but who would’ve
guessed that computer engineers would’ve been the
sexy job of the 1990s?
Hal Varian, Google Chief Economist, The McKinsey Quarterly, January
2009

8. „Journalism has always been about reporting facts and
assertions and making sense of world affairs. No news
there. But as we move further into the 21st century, we
will have to increasingly rely on "data" to feed our
stories, to the point that "data-driven reporting"
becomes second nature to journalists.“
Zach Beauvais, Journalism Needs Data in the 21st Century, ReadWriteWeb, August 5, 2009
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/journalism_needs_data_in_21st_century.php

11. WE HAVE TO RETHINK
OUR FORMATS
BIG AMOUNTS OF
INFORMATION ARE LOST
EVERY DAY
BECAUSE THEY ARE
PRINTED OR TELEVISED

12. AMOUNT OF DATA DATA SOURCES
NEW ANALYSIS TOOLS
ONLINE DISTRIBUTION
WHY DATA? WHY NOW?
(TOP 5 REASONS)
NEED FOR CLARITY
OPPORTUNITY FOR JOURNALISM

17. SUB-PRIME CRISIS RATING AGENCIES
CREDIT CARD DEBTS PRIVACY
GREEK DEFICIT DECEPTION FRAUD
TOTAL COST OF
PURCHASES
SENSEMAKING IS NEEDED HERE
Sensemaking: “..the ability or attempt to make sense
of an ambiguous situation. More exactly, sensemaking
is the process of creating situational awareness and
understanding in situations of high complexity or
uncertainty in order to make decisions.” (Wikipedia)

18. DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM = A PROCESS
STORY
VISUALIZE
FILTER
B LIC
O PU
DATA U ET
VAL

19. DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
FLAT EARTH NEWS
VS.
DEEP-LINKED
STORIES
(WE NEED RELEVANT NEWS AND BETTER FILTERS)

20. 1 2 3 4
EXAMPLES, PLEASE
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
1. USE DATA TO TELL STORIES
2. CREATE BETTER FILTERS
4. ENABLE DECISIONS
3. COLLABORATE

21. USE DATA, TELL A STORY
Mediastorm: Never coming home
http://www.mediastorm.org/0006.htm

22. CREATE BETTER FILTERS

23. ...RESULT IN SIMPLE CLARITY

24. MAKE CONNECTIONS VISIBLE (ELASTIC LISTS)
http://well-formed-data.net/experiments/elastic_lists/

25. ENABLE TRUSTED ACTION
ust?
u tr ta
n yo f da
o ca elp o
Wh e h help
With th ts could
nalis make
jour e to ns -
pl
peo ed des buy cisio ing
in form litics to
po
from ed car.
a n us

26. The New York Times Rent vs. Buy Calculator

27. WHY? (MID-LEVEL)
TO STAY RELEVANT
JOURNALSTS MUST
DIG DEEPER
STORY
STORY
THE DATA LAYER (GROWING VERY FAST)

28. 1 2 3 4
PERSPECTIVES FOR
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN?

29. NOT ABOUT STATISTICS
NOT ABOUT INFOGRAPHICS

30. DATA-INNOVATION ON ALL LEVELS:
THE LIST IS GETTING LONGER BY THE HOUR
‣ Ushahidi (Al Jazeera, Haiti)
‣ New York Times: Rent or buy
‣ Guardian Data-Blog
‣ Guardian Crowdsourcing of Data (Example)
‣ Flowing Data
‣ Information is Beautiful
‣ Innovative Interactivity
‣ Oakland Crime, Chicago Crime, Blaulichtkurier
‣ EveryBlock

31. PERSPECTIVES
‣ DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM IS AN OPPORTUNITY
‣ DATA SHOULD BE INTERPRETED BY JOURNALISTS
‣ DATA CAN HELP FINANCE JOURNALISM IN GENERAL
‣ DATA CAN HELP TO INVESTIGATE, DETECT PATTERNS,
ANOMALIES EARLY
‣ STATUS OF DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM 2010:
FEW PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW IT IS DONE
NASCENT OFFERINGS, NO LEADERS YET (MAYBE GUARDIAN, NYT)
EJC TO SPREAD THE WORD AND KNOW-HOW

32. Thomson Reuters
The Economist
MAKING MONEY?
RETHINK OUR FORMATS
New York Times
Guardian

33. FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
REDUCE TIME TO SEARCH
MINIMIZE NEED TO REFORMAT
ENABLE DECISIONS
DETECT ANOMALIES EARLIER
BE TRUSTABLE

34. 1 2 3 4
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
NEXT STEPS

35. DATA CAN:
STEAL THE WORLD
OR
HEAL THE WORLD

36. REGRESSION
ANALYSIS,
PREDICTIVE
MODELLING:
DATA WILL GET
EVEN MORE
POWERFUL

37. EJC • DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
1 Description PAPER PRESENTATION
2 Demonstration CONFERENCE
WEBSITE
3 Training WORKSHOPS
NETWORK
4 Group

38. EJC • DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
Curriculum Results orientated,
understand journalist interests
Data Mining, Filtering, Modeling,
Produce
Other Story Elements
Text
Format, Visualisation,
Present
Presentation
Deliver information to users and
Provide
organizations in usable formats

39. SUMMARY: GOALS
EJC • DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
3 YEAR PERSPECTIVE
DEMONSTRATE EXAMPLES ON WEB
TRAIN JOURNALISTS
CREATE EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE
BUILD NETWORK OF DATA-JOURNALISTS

40. QUESTION:
WHAT IS THE
BIGGEST BARRIER
KEEPING
JOURNALISTS FROM
USING DATA?

41. THANK YOU!
Mirko Lorenz
mirko.lorenz@gmail.com