CAN DIGGING DEEPER INTO DATA HELP TO FINANCE INVESTIGATIONS?AN INTRODUCTION TO DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISMMirko Lorenz, Journalist/Information Architect

Global Investigative Journalism ConferenceGENEVA (APRIL 2010) - http://www.gijc2010.ch/

DATA AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM: WHY, HOW AND WHEN?

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?

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

WHY DATA? WHY NOW?SOME QUOTES WHY AND HOW

IS BECOMING IMPORTANT...DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

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Online work to be 'data-driven'Posted: 16/10/02 By: Caroline White

http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/5493.php

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."

"Journalists will do less 'been-there, done-that' reporting as readers demand more continuous coverage of issues, such as domestic violence and child abuse.“

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

„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

WE HAVE TO RETHINK OUR FORMATSBIG AMOUNTS OF INFORMATION ARE LOSTEVERY DAYBECAUSE THEY ARE PRINTED OR TELEVISED

WHY DATA? WHY NOW?(TOP 5 REASONS)

AMOUNT OF DATA

NEW ANALYSIS TOOLS

DATA SOURCES

ONLINE DISTRIBUTION

NEED FOR CLARITY

OPPORTUNITY FOR JOURNALISM

SENSEMAKING IS NEEDED HERESensemaking: “..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)

SUB-PRIME CRISIS

GREEK DEFICIT

RATING AGENCIES

CREDIT CARD DEBTS PRIVACY

FRAUD

TOTAL COST OF PURCHASES

DECEPTION

DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM = A PROCESS

DATA

FILTER

VISUALIZE

STORY

VALUE TO PUBLIC

DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

FLAT EARTH NEWS

VS.

DEEP-LINKED STORIES

(WE NEED RELEVANT NEWS AND BETTER FILTERS)

EXAMPLES, PLEASEDATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM 1. USE DATA TO TELL STORIES2. CREATE BETTER FILTERS4. ENABLE DECISIONS 3. COLLABORATE

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USE DATA, TELL A STORY

http://www.mediastorm.org/0006.htm

Mediastorm: Never coming home

CREATE BETTER FILTERS

...RESULT IN SIMPLE CLARITY

MAKE CONNECTIONS VISIBLE (ELASTIC LISTS)

http://well-formed-data.net/experiments/elastic_lists/

ENABLE TRUSTED ACTION

Who can you trust?

With the help of data

journalists could help

people to make

informed descisions -

from politics to buying

an used car.

The New York Times Rent vs. Buy Calculator

STORYSTORY

THE DATA LAYER (GROWING VERY FAST)

WHY? (MID-LEVEL)TO STAY RELEVANTJOURNALSTS MUST DIG DEEPER

PERSPECTIVES FOR

WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN?DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

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NOT ABOUT STATISTICSNOT ABOUT INFOGRAPHICS

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

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

MAKING MONEY?

RETHINK OUR FORMATS

Thomson Reuters

The Economist

New York TimesGuardian

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES

REDUCE TIME TO SEARCH

ENABLE DECISIONS

BE TRUSTABLE

DETECT ANOMALIES EARLIER

MINIMIZE NEED TO REFORMAT

NEXT STEPSDATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

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DATA CAN:STEAL THE WORLDORHEAL THE WORLD

REGRESSIONANALYSIS, PREDICTIVE MODELLING:DATA WILL GETEVEN MORE POWERFUL

EJC • DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

PAPER1

PRESENTATIONDescription

2CONFERENCEDemonstration

3

WEBSITE

Training WORKSHOPS

4 GroupNETWORK

EJC • DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM

Curriculum

Produce

Present

Provide

Results orientated,understand journalist interests

Data Mining, Filtering, Modeling,Other Story Elements

Format, Visualisation, Presentation

Deliver information to users and organizations in usable formats

Text

SUMMARY: GOALS

EJC • DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM 3 YEAR PERSPECTIVE

DEMONSTRATE EXAMPLES ON WEBTRAIN JOURNALISTS CREATE EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVEBUILD NETWORK OF DATA-JOURNALISTS

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

THANK YOU!

Mirko Lorenzmirko.lorenz@gmail.com