Making data journalism work

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

https://vimeo.com/5337314

“Each weekday, my computer
program goes to the Chicago
Police Department's website and
gathers all crimes reported in
Chicago.”

Adrian Holovaty


Opening up data


Themes

• What just happened? 1967-2012
• From data to knowledge: the data
journalism process
• Pitfalls and preparation


What just happened?


“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/dj2dmz


Times film genres

digitised? = data


the process


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?


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.

Compile:
Proactive

Communities, mailing lists, groups
Advanced search: Site:gov.uk (etc),
Filetype:pdf (etc)
Tip: database contents are invisible
Scrapers - tools, write or ask


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?

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)


Data
health
warning!

Pitfalls and
preparation

Image by Lauren York on the Data Journalism Blog

http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2012/04/19/when-data-goes-bad/

http://delicious.com/paulb/benfordslaw

http://junkcharts.typepad.com/junk_charts/trifecta-checkup/


Porn, tampons
and duck houses

Make it social

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!

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 Less


Books

Bradshaw & Rohumaa - Online
Journalism Handbook
EJC - Data Journalism Handbook
Darrell Huff - How To Lie With Statistics
Blastland & Dilnot - The Tiger That Isn't
Donna Wong - The WSJ Guide to
Information Graphics
Brian Suda - A Practical Guide to
Designing with Data

...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.


Questions?

Links at delicious.com/paulb/anox2012
@paulbradshaw
onlinejournalismblog.com
helpmeinvestigate.com
slideshare.net/onlinejournalist
linkedin.com/in/onlinejournalist

Making data journalism work

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