The document discusses leveraging big data opportunities in journalism. It recommends (1) understanding the relevant ecosystem including data sources, actors, and trends in science/technology, (2) defining big data projects with short and long-term goals and KPIs, and (3) implementing projects using agile methods to obtain customer feedback. Potential services include real-time journalism using rapid opinion propagation, ex-post journalism packaging news, and utilizing free-lance experts. The key is balancing quick wins with sustainable business models that meet consumer and industry expectations.

1. Leveraging
Big Data
Why and How ?
Louis WEHENKEL
Montefiore Institute - University of Liège - Belgium

2. Three main messages
A. To exploit Big Data opportunities, we first need to
model the concerned Ecosystem
- Internal and external data generating processes
- The exogenous actors: customers, governments, competition
- Our key performance indicators and targets
A. The concerned Technology and Science are both
moving very fast
B. We need to synergize Short-term and Long-term
goals to develop a viable strategy

3. Weather,
Environment
Rest of the
society &
economy
Electric Power
System
T&D Operators
Regulators
Consumers Producers
Markets Suppliers
Example: the “Electric Energy” ecosystem…

4. The Ecosystem of Journalism ?

5. The Ecosystem of Journalism !
“Exogenous”
Data Sources
People
in their
Bubbles

6. Technology and Science

7. Trends in Technology
The main tools becoming available at low cost
 Sensors and the Internet of Things
 High-throughput data collection empowered
 Cloud storage, GPUs, and HPC
 Massive computational data exploitation empowered
 Virtual reality and Computer vision
 Versatile Human-Computer interaction empowered

8. Trends in Science
The main results in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
 The ‘Machine Learning wave’
 The ‘Natural Language Processing wave’
 The ‘Robotics wave’
 The ‘Augmented Intelligence wave’

9. WHY ?

10. First, we need to
understand the
expectations of
consumers

11. Consumer Expectations
What is expected from the media industry by individuals, social groups,
governments, and economies ?
 The shorter-term practical utility of Big-Data to consumers
 How we would like the world to be for us now and here…
 The longer-term impact in terms of ethical aspects
 How we prepare the world for our children and grand-children…
What can/should the ‘Media industry’ offer to
encounter these expectations ?

12. Second, we need to
understand the rest
of the data intensive
industry

13. Producer Expectations
Who are the likely game-changers in terms of service and product offers ?
 Data centric industry
 Google, Facebook, Hubber, Amazone…
 All other industries
 Opportunities for many operators to exploit their data
 Governments
 Moral obligation to produce value for the society
What is the position of the ‘Media industry’ in this
triangle ?

14. HOW ?

15. Step 1: Understand the relevant
available data sources
 WEB archives (Wikipedia, Google Scholar,…)
 Media (Reuters, Press, Broadcasters,…)
 Social networks (Twitter, Facebook, …)
 User clicks and commenting on Media web sites
Need to understand the quality and the various
dynamics of all these data sources to be able to
exploit them !

16. Step 2: Define a big data project in
terms of its objectives
 Define a specific context and a specific problem
 Define the “short-term” goals (1 – 3 years)
 Define the “long-term” goals (5 – 10 years)
 NB: both types of goals must be associated a priori with their
KPIs, and their horizon of evaluation
Need to synergize the possibility to exploit low
hanging fruits with the wish to fulfill the intrinsic
mission !

17. Step 3: Implement the project and
collect customer feedback
 Use agile methods to exploit early feedback from developers
and from customers
 Carefully choose what technology has to be developed ‘in-
house’ and what technology should be ‘imported’
 Define strategic ‘alliances’ in terms of technology development
and CRM strategy
Need to ensure fast success stories to enable
sustainability

18. Summary

19. We need to build on 4 exogenous
trends to define a business model
 Trends in the world of Science
 what we will able to do in principle
 Trends in the world of Technology
 what kind of affordable tools will be available to do this
 Trends in the world of Producers
 who will be able to provide the set of services and products
 Trends in the world of Consumers
 what would the utility of these services/products be to society

20.  Quick wins / low hanging fruits, and
 Sustainable business models
Ensure a synergy between
Understand the ecosystem
 Data sources, actors, trends in science and tech
 Explicit KPIs and evaluation horizon
We need to

21. Some possible services/products
 Real-time journalism
 Based on the rapid propagation of opinions (e.g. TWITTER)
 How to build a fast and very well instrumented journalist ?
 Ex-post journalism
 Need for packaging and digesting the news
 How to create a press service à la BOOKING.COM ?
 Hubber journalism
 There is a multitude of free-lance ‘amateurs’ who are able to provide
excellent analyses of topics of interest to the general public
 How to build on the contributions of this wealth of topical expertise ?