5 Principles of Data Management

5 principles of
data management
Paul Bradshaw
Birmingham City University and City University London
Online Journalism Blog and Help Me Investigate
PPA Digital Publishing Conference, September 2012
Monday, 8 October 12

1. Data is only as good
as the person asking
questions
.

5 goals

• Lead generation
• Finding content (destination)
• Consuming content (quantity)
• Engagement (time)
• Events (actions)
http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2012/06/12/five-google-analytics-opportunities/

http://contentini.com/content-strategy-ia-ux-or-seo-whats-my-problem/

5 categories

• Reach: how many, and who
• Relevance: does it gain attention
• Inclusion: diverse staff/sources/users?
• Engagement: consuming or
participating
• Influence: who it reaches/impact
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/05/5-needs-and-5-tools-for-measuring-media-impact131.html

“ Twitter is best at multiplying
traffic on big breaking stories,
while Facebook will relay trend
stories better. [This] can help in
deciding which stories to feed
to which social networks.
http://newsonomics.com/the-newsonomics-of-the-washington-posts-reader-dashboard-1-0


Times film genres


2. Data can save
time and money


“ If you have to do something
twice, get a computer to do it.

.


“ Each weekday, my computer
program goes to the police
department’s website and
gathers all crimes
reported in Chicago.

Adrian Holovaty, EveryBlock

“ I had four searches for “20
year old male killed on fort
stanton se may 4” in my search
terms this afternoon, but in my
records, I didn’t have any
homicide that met that criteria.”
http://lauraamico.tumblr.com/post/5196806316/reporting-from-analytics-example


3. The most interesting
data is the data you
don’t yet have
.

“ After five minutes, which is
enough time for such a high-traffic
site, the version with the most
clicks becomes the wood that
everyone sees.”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/10/how-the-huffington-post-uses-real-time-testing-to-write-better-headlines/


“ Traffic sex work is exhausting,
but it’s fun, and it’s nice to have
extra time to put the extra effort
into important stories about
which fast-food restaurants use
aborted fetuses in their meals.”

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlEzveovUSxddFdjdllzLW9RcW0wTno3aFRORlBzcXc#gid=0


Data is about people

• What do people do - and what traces
would that leave?
• Create profiles from analytics (filter
new vs returning; objectives based
on traffic flow; characteristics based
on geo/OS/etc.)

4. Good data is social,
sticky, and useful

.


“ Successful business
models are based on
shared metrics”

The Big Thaw

“ There are two flavours of
interest targeting ... more than
350 interest categories
[or] you can specify @names
that are relevant”

Twitter Advertising

“ Because sometimes things
happen to people and they’re not
equipped to deal with them.”

Passage from Hunger Games highlighted by 18,000 Kindle users

“ “The Tribune’s three dozen
interactive databases
collectively have drawn three
times as many page views as the
site’s stories.”

http://bit.ly/dj2dmz

5. You can be driven by
the data, or driven
by the story


“ What gets measured gets
managed - even when it’s
pointless to measure and
manage it, and even if it harms
the purpose of the organisation
to do so.”

Journalism is about
taking things away
.

1. Data Journalism is only as good as the
person asking questions
2. Data Journalism can save time and money
3. Data Journalism is about people
4. Good data journalism is social, sticky and
useful
5. You can be driven by the data source or
driven by the story


Thank you.

@paulbradshaw
OnlineJournalismBlog.com Linkedin.com/in/onlinejournalist
For all articles mentioned in this presentation, and image
credits go to Delicious.com/paulb/DONAdata

5 Principles of Data Management

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