Invited talk and workshop at the International School of Science Journalism, Erice, Italy, 10 May 2015 (with Jonathan Gray).

1. Using Data for Science Journalism
10 May 2015, International School of Science Journalism, Erice, Italy
Liliana Bounegru | lilianabounegru.org | @bb_liliana!
Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org | @jwyg

2. Jonathan Gray Liliana Bounegru

3. Ideas, inspiration, methods and approaches
for using data in science journalism.

4. Menu of ideas/options + design your own

5. 1. A Brief Introduction to Data Journalism!
2. Using Data to Tell Stories in Science and
Technology Studies (STS)!
3. Networks in Journalism

6. 1. A Brief Introduction to Data Journalism

7. Growing use of data and
computational approaches in newsrooms.

8. Predecessors to data journalism -
from social survey movement in 1900s
to “precision journalism” in 1960s.

9. “Computer Assisted Reporting” (CAR)
tradition in the United States.

10. Emergence of term “data journalism” in 2000s.

11. Wikileaks commonly cited
as a turning point.

12. How to handle, explore, analyse and present
hundreds of thousands of leaked documents?

13. Social and cultural “data turn”.

14. Rise of interest in potential of data and
data technologies in many areas of life.

15. Use of data in the service of journalism.

16. Data Journalism Handbook: http://datajournalismhandbook.org/

17. Data Journalism Handbook: http://datajournalismhandbook.org/

18. Data Journalism MOOC: http://datajournalismcourse.net/

19. School of Data: http://schoolofdata.org/

20. Sources of data?

21. For example
Governments (portals, FOI, leaks)
Scientific research (open access, open data)
Civil society organisations and companies
User generated/citizen data
Data extracted from digital media

22. Open access to scientific data and publications

23. Open Knowledge - Open Science Working Group
http://science.okfn.org/

24. Panton Principles for Open Data in Science
http://pantonprinciples.org/

25. OpenTrials: http://opentrials.net/

26. Dryad Digital Repository: http://www.datadryad.org/

27. Figshare: http://figshare.com/

28. Government data portals

29. Government data about…!
!
• Public finance
• Contracts
• Campaign finance
• Elections
• Companies
• Lobbying
• Pollution
• Environment
• Events and crises

30. Data.gov!
http://data.gov

31. data.gov.x

32. Data Catalogs!
http://datacatalogs.org/

33. A selection of themes and topics from national!
(UK and US) and local (Glasgow) open data portals

34. CCTV Camera Locations - Runnymede Borough Council!
http://data.gov.uk/dataset/cctv-camera-locations

35. CO2 emissions by different sub-groups in manufacturing sector, 2000 to 2008!
http://data.gov.uk/dataset/co2-emissions-by-different-sub-groups-in-manufacturing-sector-2000-to-2008/

36. Open Data
vs.
Freedom of
Information?

37. What kinds of projects?

38. A few examples…

39. Farm Subsidy: http://farmsubsidy.openspending.org/

40. Luxembourg: http://www.icij.org/project/luxembourg-leaks

41. Connected China: http://connectedchina.reuters.com/

42. Journalists collect and publish data too.

43. InfoAmazonia: http://infoamazonia.org/

44. The Migrants Files: https://www.detective.io/detective/the-migrants-files/

45. New forms of journalistic collaboration
around data?

46. Influence Mapping: http://influencemapping.org/

47. Questions or thoughts?

48. 2. Using Data to Tell Stories in Science
and Technology Studies (STS)

49. http://digitalmethods.net
http://www.medialab.sciences-po.fr/
http://www.densitydesign.org/

50. Some conceptual background…

51. –Tommaso Venturini, Controversy Mapping, climaps.org
“Controversy mapping was introduced by Bruno Latour as a
teaching method to train students and future citizens to
navigate socio-technical debates through the creative
use of digital media.”
!
“The political aim of controversy mapping is to provide
innovative methods for approaching scientific and
technical disputes. ”

52. – Richard Rogers, “Political Research in the Digital Age”, International
Public Policy Review, 2014
“[Digital methods] refers to repurposing online devices and
platforms (such as Google searches, Facebook and
Wikipedia) for social and political research that would often
have been otherwise improbable.”

53. – Bruno Latour & Tommaso Venturini, “The Social Fabric: Digital Traces and
Quali-quantitative Methods”, Proceedings of Future En Seine, 2009
“The interest of electronic media lies in the fact that every
interaction that passes through them leaves traces…”

54. - Duncan J. Watts, “A twenty-first century science,” Nature, 2007
“Data about Internet-based communication and interactivity
could revolutionise our understanding of collective human
behaviour.”
!

55. – David Lazer et al., “Computational Social Science”, Science, 2009
“…[T]racing the spread of arguments, rumours, or positions
about political and other issues in the blogosphere, as well
as the behaviour of individuals ‘surfing’ the Internet, where
the concerns of an electorate become visible in the
searches they conduct.”

56. –Noortje Marres & Carolin Gerlitz, “Interface methods”, The Sociological
Review, forthcoming
!
“Social media data tend to be organised in ways that favour
highly particular modes of analysis, such as the investigation
of people’s ‘networks’, the ‘influence’ of actors, the ‘reach’ of
content or the ‘currency’ of certain words at certain moments
in time.”

57. “… A holistic understanding of digital social research, which
recognises that its analytic capacities derive from the
assembly of methods, data, tools, user practices, context of
application and so on.”
–Noortje Marres & Carolin Gerlitz, “Interface methods”, The Sociological
Review, forthcoming

58. Richard Rogers and Saskia Kok, 2015

59. Some examples…

60. New York Times (2014) “The Thanksgiving Recipes Googled in Every State”

61. New York Times (2014) “The Thanksgiving Recipes Googled in Every State”

62. Mapping climate change adaptation

63. Climaps (2014). Available at: http://climaps.org

65. Climaps (2014). Available at: http://climaps.org

66. Findings!
Both adaptation and mitigation are highly visible in
negotiations.
Mitigation has been a top priority from the beginning.
Adaptation received less attention in the beginning with
the exception of adaptation financing
Adaptation becomes more important in the second
phase of the negotiations.

68. Climaps (2014). Available at: http://climaps.org

69. Notable stability in presence and
intervention of countries.
Most active are China (representing G77),
United States and Europe.
Notable exceptions include Bolivia and
Philippines who are becoming more
prominent in recent negotiations.
Countries tend to be more active when they
host the negotiations.

71. “…the negotiations on climate change have moved from
mitigation to also include adaptation, an issue which
could in principle be seen as a national responsibility.
Here it becomes particularly acute to justify which
countries should receive aid and why. A much
debated method for doing so is the assessment of
vulnerability to climate change.”
!
- climaps.org

72. ND-GAIN Index. Available at: http://index.gain.org/ranking

73. DARA Climate Vulnerability Model.!
Available at: http://download.daraint.org/CVM2-Low.pdf

74. Who is vulnerable according to whom?
Climaps (2014). Available at: http://climaps.org

75. Findings
• Vulnerability indices tend to disagree in their assessment
of different countries.
• Very few countries (7) are among the most vulnerable
according to all three indices.
• Quite a few countries (25) are simultaneously assessed to
be most vulnerable and least vulnerable according to
different indices.
• The assessment of climate change vulnerability by means
of indicators continues to be a contentious issue divide in
both policy and academic communities.

76. Wired Italia (2014) “Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze”. March 2014. No. 60.

77. Wired Italia (2014) “Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze”. March 2014. No. 60.

78. Wired Italia (2014) “Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze”. March 2014. No. 60.

79. Wired Italia (2014) “Beautiful Information, in mostra le migliori infografiche di Wired”.
Available at: http://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2014/03/04/beautiful-information-infografiche-wired/

80. Wired Italia (2014) “Beautiful Information, in mostra le migliori infografiche di Wired”.
Available at: http://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2014/03/04/beautiful-information-infografiche-wired/

81. Mapping the influence of
climate change sceptics

82. BBC News (2007) “BBC switches off climate special”. Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6979596.stm

83. – Richard Rogers, Digital Methods, MIT Press, 2013
“The skeptics were increasingly at the top of the
news. […] Are the skeptics at the top of the
web too?”

84. Climate Sceptics!
!
S. Fred Singer
Robert Balling
Sallie Baliunas
Patrick Michaels
Richard Lindzen
Steven Milloy
Timothy Ball
Paul Driessen
Willie Soon
Sherwood B. Idso
Frederick Seitz

85. Climate Sceptic Organisations!
!
American Enterprise Institute
American Legislative Exchange Council
Center for Science and Public Policy
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Frontiers of Freedom
Marshall Institute
Heartland Institute
Tech Central Station

88. Digital Methods Initiative (2007) “Climate Change Sceptics”.
Available at: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ClimateChangeSkeptics

89. Climate change sceptics appeared to have
disproportionate influence in the media relative
to their influence with other prominent climate
science organisations on the web.

90. TerraEco (2010) Kit de Survie pour un Diner avec des
Climatosceptiques

91. Are climate skeptics mainstream or fringe in
climate science?
Do the skeptics and their co-authors publish
articles in the same disciplines and journals
as other climate scientists?

92. Sabine Niederer, “‘Global warming is not a crisis!’: Studying climate
change skepticism on the Web”, Necsus, 2013

93. Findings
• Sceptics are part of the mainstream of climate
change science research.
• Skeptical climate science is not positioned outside
the field but is part of climate science (ecology,
meteorology and atmospheric sciences,
environmental sciences, plant sciences, agronomy,
etc.)
• The skeptics publish in the top climate journals
including Nature and Science.

94. Mapping climate publics on the web

95. How may we map debates around
socio-technical issues with the web?

96. Climate change policy and activism
organise distinct publics
Digital Methods Winter School (2015)

97. Mapping the rise of the far right in
Europe with the web and social media

98. The Guardian (2013) “The rise of far right parties across Europe is a chilling echo of the 1930s”.
Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/15/far-right-threat-europe-integration

99. Huffington Post (2014) “Sudden Rise of Far Right Groups in EU Parliament Rings Alarm Bells Across
Europe”. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elinadav-heymann/sudden-rise-of-far-right-
_b_5512961.html

100. New York Times (2014) “Populist Party Gaining Muscle to Push Britain to the Right”.
Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/world/europe/populist-party-gaining-muscle-to-push-
britain-to-the-right.html

101. What are the recruitment methods
of far right groups?

102. Are current recruitment counter-measures
proving effective?

103. What kinds of issues are most active
amongst far right groups?

104. How are far right extremist groups connected
to populist right and other right wing groups?

105. Profiles for 13 European countries.

106. 1. List of links per country
2. Analyse links between them
3. Study issues and actors

107. Findings
New issues (e.g. environment, anti-
globalisation and rights), principles and
recruitment techniques.
Counter-measures are outdated.
!
Islamophobia is located primarily in the North.

108. Greece: blood and soil and organic markets

109. Rogers, R. et al (2013) “Right-Wing Formations in Europe and Their Counter-Measures: An Online
Mapping”. Digital Methods Initiative. https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/RightWingPopulismStudy

111. Hungary: horse and yurt recruitment festivals

112. Rogers, R. et al (2013) “Right-Wing Formations in Europe and Their Counter-Measures: An Online
Mapping”. Digital Methods Initiative. https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/RightWingPopulismStudy

114. Taking back the yurt?

115. Counter-Jihadist groups on social media

116. The Guardian (2012) “Far-right anti-Muslim network on rise globally as Breivik trial opens”.
Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/14/breivik-trial-norway-mass-murderer

117. Hope Not Hate (2012) “Counter-Jihad Report”.
Available at: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/counter-jihad/

118. Are different Counter-Jihadist groups in
Europe connected? If so how?

119. Digital Methods Initiative. “Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping
the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.”

120. Digital Methods Initiative. “Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping
the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.”

121. Findings
Facebook is an important medium for extremist
groups.
!
Three main clusters based on geographical
proximity.
!
European Counter-Jihadist groups are networked
and transnational.

122. Digital Methods Initiative. “Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping
the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.”

123. Who are the new leaders?

125. Findings!
!
Offline leaders are active on Facebook.
!
There are also new emerging online leaders.
!
New technique for identifying online leaders.

126. Questions or thoughts?

127. 3. Networks in Journalism

128. The rise of networks

129. Mark Lombardi’s “Narrative Structures” (1990-2000)

130. Josh On’s “They Rule” (2005)

131. Muckety: http://www.muckety.com/

132. Little Sis: http://littlesis.org/

133. Networks have yet to have their
“breakthrough moment” in journalism

134. “Follow the Networks” project at!
Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University.

135. How are networks concepts and analysis
being used in journalism?

136. A proposed classification of narrative
functions for networks in journalism

137. Five different ways in which networks have
been used in journalism

138. 1. Showing networks around a single actor

139. Washington Post, “Top Secret America” (2010)

140. Thomson Reuters, “Connected China” (2013)

141. 2. Revealing hubs or authorities (key actors)

142. New Scientist, “The Stem Cell Wars” (2010)

143. JoongAng Ilbo, “Park Young-joon at the Center of!
President Lee Myung-bak’s Human Resources Network” (2002)

144. 3. Showing scale, complexity and topology
of a network

145. Thomson Reuters, “Connected China” (2013)

146. New York Times, “Among the Oscar Contenders, a Host of Connections” (2013)

147. 4. Showing alliances and oppositions

148. Le Monde, "2007-2011 : la cartographie de la blogosphère politique" (2012)

149. Global News, “Visualizing the split on Toronto City Council” (2012)

150. 5. Showing evolution of networks over time

151. Le Monde, "2007-2011 : la
cartographie de la blogosphère
politique" (2012)

152. Global News, “Visualizing the split on Toronto City Council” (2012)

153. How might networks concepts and analysis
be used in journalism in the future?

154. Functions of network analysis in the
newsroom!
!
• Presentational or storytelling device
• Story discovery
• Exploratory analysis of complex networks
and big databases
• Newsroom knowledge management
• Internal reference resource

155. Opportunities
!
• New insights into large and complex
systems
• More network analysis, rather than just
network mapping
• New data and methods for tracing networks
using social media and hyperlink analysis
• Identifying new sources for interviews
• Researchers and journalists collaborating to
tell stories about complex topics

156. Challenges
!
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of flagship projects
• Time, resource and budget constraints
• Lack of technical capacity and tooling
• Speed of tools and methods
• Lack vocabulary for talking about network
analysis

157. Questions or thoughts?

158. Ideas for data sources, methods, approaches
and narrative structures.

159. Design your own!

160. If you’re interested in learning more…

161. Digital Methods Winter/Summer Schools
http://digitalmethods.net/

162. Join the School of Data (online or offline):
http://schoolofdata.org/

163. School of Data Journalism at the
International Journalism Festival in Perugia

164. Data Journalism Mailing List:
http://bit.ly/ddj-list

165. #ddj hashtag on Twitter

166. Thank You!
Liliana Bounegru | lilianabounegru.org | @bb_liliana
Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org | @jwyg