This presentation was given on August 24, 2010 in Amsterdam at the "Data-driven Journalism" Roundtable, organized by the EJC (European Journalism Centre). The presentation is meant to ask questions, not necessarily to give all the answers - I am very open to discuss and debate everything here. The whole one-day event was just great - with participants such as Simon Rogers (Guardian Datablog), Alan McLean (New York Times), the great Tony Hirst (OUseful.info), Stefan Fichtel, Burt Hermann (Hacks/Hackers) and Stijn Debrouwere. Other media companies present as speakers or guests: Times, Financial Times, ARD, dpa,... am doing injustice here by not listing everyone, but the list would simply be too long. The programme and speakers list of the day can be found here: http://datadrivenjournalism.net/ Many of them met for the first time - which was one of the main goals when we started this. You can find more information and overview on these sites and platforms. If you are interested in working with data as a basis for reporting and storytelling, you can find more resources here: http://datadrivenjournalism.net/ Join the group, if you want: http://community.ejc.net/group/datadrivenjournalism http://www.ejc.net/ Follow discussions on Twitter: Twitter: #ddj

1. DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM
FIVE WS
(AND ONE H)
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
ROUNDTABLE • A‘DAM •
AUGUST 24, 2010
Mirko Lorenz • Information Architect

2. WELCOME!
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THE TIME?

3. THE NEXT 10 MINUTES
STATUS OF DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM?
MANY QUESTIONS, FEW ANWSERS YET
‣ Basics: Do we all mean the same?
‣ Debate: Where do we agree, where do we not agree?
‣ Future: What is the opportunity, what keeps us from doing it?
‣ Work: Which elements are missing from our discussions?

4. TODAY: WHAT IS THERE TO LEARN?
DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM:
JUST ANOTHER BUZZWORD OR A BIG
OPPORTUNITY?
MAIN GOALS TODAY:
‣ Experiences so far
‣ Examples of work
‣ Discussion & Debate
Can we describe what is there to learn?

5. WHAT?
DATA IN THE HOUSE
‣ DATA-DRIVEN JOURNALISM IS A WORKFLOW, WHERE DATA IS
THE BASIS FOR ANALYSIS, VISUALIZATION AND STORYTELLING
‣ Foggy: Platforms, Tools, Formats, Business Models, Financing
PAST FUTURE
JOURNALIST ALWAYS WORKED WITH SOME USE DATA FOR GOOD/TRUE/
DATA, BUT TOOK A LOT FOR GRANTED COMPELLING REPORTING
JOURNALISM
EXTERNAL JOURNALISM FILTERED
DATA DATA
OPEN
DATA
NOT SO-OPEN
DATA

6. WHAT?
UNSOLVED QUESTIONS WHAT DDJ MIGHT BE
‣ How can the results of DDJ become really relevant?
„Don‘t be the noise in the middle“ (Brian Storm, mediastorm)
‣ What insight are we looking for?
Are we solving a puzzle or a mystery? (Gladwell on Enron)
http://www.gladwell.com/2007/2007_01_08_a_secrets.html
‣ Do we understand our readers/users perception of the facts?
Article: „How Facts backfire“, Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/

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

8. WHY?
JOURNALISM NEEDS A FUTURE
‣ THE OLD MODEL HAS FALLEN APART, CAN DDJ BE THE RESCUE?
‣ A SUGGESTION: ARE WE IN THE TRUST BUSINESS?
BEING THERE WHEN PEOPLE MAKE IMPORTANT DESCISIONS?
‣ TRUSTABLE SERVICE, NO PRIVACY INVASION:
BUYING A HOUSE, A CAR, AN INSURANCE,...
‣ ANALYZE PRESENT CHALLENES, IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES
‣ DETECT SCAMS AND FRAUD
‣ HELP MANAGEMENT/POLITICS TO DO THE RIGHT THING

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

10. HOW?
How can we combine all the many pieces of this?
Platforms
‣ Holovaty/EveryBlock
--> Insights on how to structure our material better
‣ Mark-Down Editors, Metadata,...
Data
‣ How could a tool stack for DDJ look like?
Visualization
‣ A flood of creative examples, no platform
Storytelling
‣ Give them something they will remember
Business Models
‣ Subscription, Advertising, Sales
‣ How can DDJ offerings get to the top of a Google search?
Training
‣ Journalists=programmers or groups of specialists?

11. WHO?
CAN ALL JOURNALISTS DO THIS?
‣ Do journalists need to become programmers?
‣ Or will we have teams of specialists?
‣ Doubting that journalist can contribute to change?

12. WHO?
ONE EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE
‣ Alexander L. Holley, Journalist, Engineer
(1832 – 1882)
‣ Deep interest in technology:
Railways, machinery, iron making
‣ Trained as an engineer, skilled writer
‣ Foreign technical correspondent for the
New York Times
‣ Went through many troubles and
times of economic crisis
‣ Bought the rights to the Bessemer
process for steel making in 1863,
perfected it, developed floor plans for
new steel works for Carnegie Steel and
others.
‣ Changed the world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lyman_Holley

13. 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

14. WHERE?
EVERYWHERE

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