PhDigital Data Journalism

Thursday, May 17, 9 a.m. – noon

Instructors: Daniel Carter & Kelly Kaufhold

Description:

Data Journalism isn’t new (as we discussed on #Slack and as we’ll touch on in class) but there are three substantial differences in Data Journalism in the digital era:

1) The easy availability of substantial amounts of data;

2) How data is generated (including through our own behavior) and how we can capture that;

3) How we interpret and show/share data

Outline:

  1. Introduction to Data Journalism
  2. Evolution of Data Journalism

(Coddington article: Computer-Assisted Reporting; Data Journalism; Computational Journalism)

III. A few examples

(Individual vs. aggregate-level data)

  1. Data searching
  2. Data cleaning
  3. Some tools for visualizing data

Data Journalism data sources and FOIA requests

VII. How Data Journalism differs from other data disciplines, like social science

VIII. Issues in teaching Data Journalism

  1. Time to work with visualization tools
  2. Examples (if time allows)

=== From the online module ===

Discussion Assignment:
What are some of the tensions created by the availability/use/ubiquity/openness/secrecy of data in news (and in society where it intersects with news, like the current Facebook/Cambridge Analytica saga);

  1. How might you measure or study that? Where might you find relevant data?
  2. What are your favorite data projects?
  3. What questions do you have about Data Journalism?

Resources

  1. Data Collection, Cleaning and Visualization Slides
  2. Tableau Training Resources
  3. Tableau Academic Programs