Data Journalism:An ExplicationCindy Royal, Associate Professor - @cindyroyalDale Blasingame, Lecturer - @daleblasingameTexas State University

Data Journalism: An Explication

What is Data Journalism?Process or Product?

Roles or Skills?

Who does it affect?

Is it really anything new at all?

All of the above

Data Journalism: An Explication

MethodConcept explication with grounded theory

Identification of sources

Identification of assertions

Word frequency analysis

Coding of dimensions

Development of conceptual definition

Data Journalism: An Explication

Video Interviews

Data Journalism: An Explication

Data Journalism: An Explication

Data Journalism: An Explication

Data Journalism: An Explication

Process [Data journalism is] “a reporting process that uses

spreadsheet programs to generate statistics from public records and data sets" (Hackett, 2013)

[Data journalism is] “the aggregating, filtering, and visualizing of large sets of data, based on statistical methods of data analysis” (Dreyfus, S., Lederman, R., & Bosua, R., 2011).

"I would say data journalism is such a wide range now of styles - from visualisation to long form articles. The key thing they have in common is that they're based on numbers and statistics - and that they should aim to get a 'story' from that data. The ultimate display of that story, be it words or graphics, is irrelevant, I think - it's more about the process" (Rogers, 2012).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Product“Data journalism can help a journalist tell a

complex story through engaging infographics” (Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).

“Data journalism — interactives, infographics, charts and tables — were tapped to convey factual aspects like historical timelines and status of gun control policy” (Xie, 2013).

“Some stories are just better told as databases and interactive web apps” (Betancourt, 2009).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Convergence of Fields “Data journalism is ‘incomprehensibly enormous,’ in part

because it represents the convergence of several fields — programming, design, statistics and investigative research, to name a few” (Bradshaw, 2010).

“In the hands of the most advanced practitioners, data journalism is a powerful tool that integrates computer science, statistics, and decades of learning from the social sciences in making sense of huge databases” (Howard, Art and Sciences, 2014).

“Data journalism is currently an emerging form of storytelling, where traditional journalistic working methods are mixed with data analysis, programming and visualization techniques” (Appelgren & Nygren, 2014).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Traditional “Data journalism and its practice are not new, along with

existing critiques of its practices or of programming in journalism generally “(Howard, Debugging the Backlash, 2014).

“One of the editors points out that analyzing data is not in itself something new for journalists, however, the new tools that are currently available speed up the process of working with large data sets” (Appelgren, E., & Nygren, G., 2014)

"What makes data journalism different to the rest of journalism? Perhaps it is the new possibilities that open up when you combine the traditional ‘nose for news’ and ability to tell a compelling story, with the sheer scale and range of digital information now available” (Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Outside Influence “It can help explain how a story relates to an individual”

(Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).

"Data-driven journalism” improves the way journalism can contribute to democracy – especially at a time when a growing number of data sets are released by governments" (Parasie & Dagiral, 2013).

“After all, programming and data are journalism. And it can be practiced in such a way that it can create interaction, user engagement, and more information in terms of seeking the truth. Especially when you talk about Freedom of Information access to government data — if the public can have access to that in a way that makes sense to them, or in a way that’s easy for them to use, then that’s just really powerful” (Royal in Garber, 2010).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Skills “I think schools are making a better effort to train young

journalists in many of the skills that fall under the umbrella of data journalism: data wrangling, analysis, visualization; statistics; digital literacy (how does the Web work?); Web development” (Howard, Profile of the Data Journalist, 2014).

Data journalism is a new set of skills for searching, understanding and visualizing digital sources in a time that basic skills from traditional journalism just aren’t enough (Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).

"Emergence of a new generation of web-based technologies that have made the presentation and visualization of data-driven stories easy even for those with no database or web development experience" (Vallance-Jones, F., 2013).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Hybrid“Data journalism is bridging the gap between

stat technicians and wordsmiths, locating outliers and identifying trends that are not just statistically significant, but relevant to de-compiling the inherently complex world of today.” (Gray, J., Bounegru, L., & Chambers, L., 2012).

“Sourcing, reporting and presenting stories through data-driven journalism, and visualising and presenting data (including databases, mapping and other interactive graphics)" (Arthur, 2010).

Data Journalism: An Explication

Comprehensive DefinitionData journalism is a process by which analysis and presentation of data are employed to better inform and engage the public. Its roots are in the fields of computer-assisted and investigative reporting, but data journalism products may add engagement through customization and user contribution made possible by Web development and programming techniques.