Making data journalism work

Making the most of data journalism Paul Bradshaw Oxford, June 2012Thursday, 21 June 2012

1967Thursday, 21 June 2012

https://vimeo.com/5337314Thursday, 21 June 2012

2005Thursday, 21 June 2012

Thursday, 21 June 2012

“Each weekday, my computer program goes to the Chicago Police Departments website and gathers all crimes reported in Chicago.” Adrian HolovatyThursday, 21 June 2012

Opening up dataThursday, 21 June 2012

2012?Thursday, 21 June 2012

Themes • What just happened? 1967-2012 • From data to knowledge: the data journalism process • Pitfalls and preparationThursday, 21 June 2012

What just happened?Thursday, 21 June 2012

“The Tribune’s more than three dozen interactive databases, collectively have drawn three times as many page views as the site’s stories. [75% of traffic]” http://bit.ly/dj2dmzThursday, 21 June 2012

Times film genres digitised? = dataThursday, 21 June 2012

the processThursday, 21 June 2012

Passive vs active data journalism Start with the data and look for the stories? (MPs’ expenses) Or start with a lead and look for the data?Thursday, 21 June 2012

Compile: Reactive Official sources: ONS, data.gov.uk, etc. Secondary FOI: disclosure logs, WDTK, Hansard Reports and research: Google alerts Unofficial sources: Scraperwiki, OpenlyLocal, OpenCorporates, OpenCharities, etc.Thursday, 21 June 2012

Compile: Proactive Communities, mailing lists, groups Advanced search: Site:gov.uk (etc), Filetype:pdf (etc) Tip: database contents are invisible Scrapers - tools, write or askThursday, 21 June 2012

Start with a question How does policy affect people? Who is top? Bottom? Time: what has happened since last year? 10 years ago? Space: Trends in fields/regions? What is the context?Thursday, 21 June 2012

Spreadsheet formulae =ImportHTML("http://bob.com/mytable", "table", 1) =ImportXML("http://backtweets.com/ search.xml?itemsperpage=100&...”) =ImportFeed("http://search.twitter.com/ search.atom?rpp=20&page=1&q="&A2)Thursday, 21 June 2012

Data health warning! Pitfalls and preparationThursday, 21 June 2012

Image by Lauren York on the Data Journalism Blog http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2012/04/19/when-data-goes-bad/Thursday, 21 June 2012

http://delicious.com/paulb/benfordslawThursday, 21 June 2012

http://junkcharts.typepad.com/junk_charts/trifecta-checkup/Thursday, 21 June 2012

Porn, tampons and duck housesThursday, 21 June 2012

Make it socialThursday, 21 June 2012

Tools Google Docs or Excel - spreadsheets, charts and fusion tables Google Refine - simple, powerful data cleaning and mixing ManyEyes, Tableau - visualisation freeDive - create a searchable database for users Outwit Hub - simple scraping Scraperwiki - learn programming!Thursday, 21 June 2012

Websites National statistics and govt department releases Local and global open data initiatives FlowingData, Information is Beautiful Guardian Datablog, Eagereyes Junkcharts, WSJ’s Numbers Guy; BBC’s More Or LessThursday, 21 June 2012

Books Bradshaw & Rohumaa - Online Journalism Handbook EJC - Data Journalism Handbook Darrell Huff - How To Lie With Statistics Blastland & Dilnot - The Tiger That Isnt Donna Wong - The WSJ Guide to Information Graphics Brian Suda - A Practical Guide to Designing with DataThursday, 21 June 2012

...but the most important thing: PLAY. Be curious. Start with a question, not a technical challenge. Pick up the phone. Ask experts where to get information, what jargon is used, etc If the challenge is too complex, do something more simple Join communities, listen, and ask for help.Thursday, 21 June 2012

Questions?Thursday, 21 June 2012

Links at delicious.com/paulb/anox2012 @paulbradshaw onlinejournalismblog.com helpmeinvestigate.com slideshare.net/onlinejournalist linkedin.com/in/onlinejournalistThursday, 21 June 2012

http://visualoop.com	2096
http://www.twylah.com	13
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://www.onlydoo.com	1

Making data journalism work

by Paul Bradshaw on Jun 21, 2012

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