As an official blogger for the news:rewired digital journalism conference in London on Friday 19 April, I attended a talk on data-inspired stories.
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Speaking on this panel were several prominent individuals from the field of data journalism: Emily Cadman, head of interactive at the Financial Times; Claire Miller, data journalist at Media Wales, Deborah Cohan, investigations editor at the British Medical Journal; and Antonio Acuña, head of data.gov.uk at the Cabinet Office.
Here are a sample of their tips on the best practice for digging into data…
- Data journalism does not need to be the job of one designed person. It can and should be involved in everybody’s role as the output can be in the form of anything from a news story to a blog, graphic or interactive.
- At it’s core, reporting with data is about problem-solving, asking questions and searching for their answers.
- Fundamentally the best way to start is with Excel. More time is spent in Excel than on any other programme at the Financial Times.
- Geographic information system QGIS is an open source that allows you to take shape files, simplify them and model the data yourselves- highly recommended for mapping.
Excel is the gateway drug for getting into data journalism. (Emily Cadman)
- Ask yourself what you or your readers would like to know that they currently do not. Next, figure out how best to answer that question for them.
- Never underestimate the power of Google Search. It’s an indispensable resource for finding out how to do things and learning from others.
- The National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) in the United States are very helpful and supportive. You can sign up to their mailing list and scan their database library online.
Share your data- it’s all the rage. (Deborah Cohan)
- Tracking down shape files and merging them into Google Fusion can take time so use Shape Escape to help speed the process up a little.
- Roughly know what story you are looking for but remember that you never know quite what you will end up with. Look at previous data releases in the same series and make educated guesses as the more time you have to prepare the better- things can go wrong.
- Data by itself isn’t often very interesting; people want to hear about human stories.
Data journalism is just a trendy name for good, fact-based reporting. (Emily Cadman)
- Do not extrapolate your findings. If you get a whole number, that is what it is. Use meaningful numbers as a springboard for further investigation and team up with academics if you can.
- Many expect otherwise, but some clinical medical data is publically available from regulators via Freedom of Information requests.
- You will never find the perfect data set. You can do your homework but there is always more work to do from there.
Filed under: Dataplay Tagged: Antonio Acuna, British Medical Journal, Claire Miller, Deborah Cohan, Emily Cadman, Excel, Financial Times, Freedom of Information, Media Wales, NICAR, QGIS, Shape Escape Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
