JournalismNext Chapter 9: Data-Driven Journalism and Digitizing Your Life

Clay Shirky said, “There is no such thing as information overload, only filter failure.”

This onslaught of information requires one to approach utilizing it both on a personal and professional basis.

Personal: learn to take advantage of digital tools and services to manage your day without drowning in e-mails, status updates, blogs and other information.

Professional: seize opportunities that new technology offers.

Your Digital Life

Organize your e-mail: use filters and folders to bring order to chaos.

-Limit the time your e-mail program is on screen so you can focus on other tasks for a few hours.

-Spend no more than 2 minutes on every e-mail. If you can reply in less than 2 minutes then do it. If you can’t, file it.

Find the right personal productivity tools

-Develop a strategy: list what needs to be managed, consider if you are willing to pay, consider if it must be integrated for a job or mobile device and if an offline solution is necessary.

-Tools: Google (contacts, e-mail, documents, calendar, sharing) Office Live (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) Zoho (full site of productivity and collaboration tools mostly free)

-Specialized tools: Instapaper (saves web pages) Remember the Milk (to-do and task lists) Backpack (info organizing and document sharing, notes, task lists, calendar)

Bring order to your contacts: Learn to use the contacts function in your e-mail program or use a spreadsheet or database.

• The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington began using a database of e-mail addresses for what it called a “reader network” in 2001. Other newspapers have utilized this innovation as a resource for journalists and have even invited readers to join.

Bring order to your work: Try a project management program to assign tasks, share files, establish deadlines and include notes.

• Basecamp (requires a subscription)
• Zoho (basic services for free)

Data-Driven Journalism

Many newspapers have launched event calendar databases where event info can be accessed and contributed. www.usatoday.com/sports/salaries/index.htm

“With database journalism, perilous or hopeful trends and conditions can become worthy of storytelling and comment.” Adam Levin

Newspapers have begun using API (application program interface) to allow anyone to tap into their data and build tools and web pages.

Building Spreadsheets and Databases

•  Include as many fields as possible
• Use Excel or Google Docs

-A spreadsheet may be the first step to creating a database.

-To build a database try Microsoft Access or Filemaker

• Online database builders include Socrata, Zoho, or Grubba

See example of data-driven journalism and find links to instructional resource at

http://data.nicar.org

Map Mashups

Take physical location data  and organize it based on a category or information type.

http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com

LA Times’ Homicide Map

www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/homicidemap

The Salt Lake Tribune built a collaborative map after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred in the region so that users could share their experiences.

www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=138368

Build an interactive map with data

If you are comfortable with HTML and want full control over your mashup.

www.google.com/apis/map

If you don’t want to mess with code try MapBuilder.net, ZeeMaps, MapAlist.com, Umapper, My Maps with Google.

Think beyond single-use maps

More news organizations are discovering the power of building entire data ecosystems from geographically based journalism, data and user-submitted content. ( see The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Cinci Navigator)

Location-aware devices are changing the game

Organizing information geographically opens up new possibilities to deliver news, information and even advertising tailored to a neighborhood, town or region.

Check out

http://lojoconnect.com/2008/06/26/locative-journalism-recommendations-for-journalists-news-organizations-and-media-companies

http://lojoconnect.com/2008/06/25/locative-storytelling-findings-from-our-project

Everyone needs to leverage existing resources to get the most out of their data. Storing data electronically is a good place to start. Then convert, organize, update and enhance the data.

After you experience the power and ease of working with structured data, you will want to open yourself up to the possibilities of data-driven journalism.

Keeping Up

My efforts to stay informed of the new techniques used in the news industry have led me to pick up some very enlightening books.

The first of these books was The Vanishing Newspaper. I loved this book for one reason; it identified the problems newspapers are facing and offered solutions. This book helped me realize that as a future journalist I need to have a diverse set of skills. Before reading The Vanishing Newspaper, I had realized that newspapers were changing but I had no idea how I would have to change my focus as well.

I have read other books in between, but the newest book I picked up is one of the most beneficial I have ever read. JournalismNext by Mark Briggs gives future journalists a clear view of how they should be preparing themselves to enter an industry that is combining the old with the new. Briggs uses each chapter to show how news outlets are integrating the traditional news models with new technologies. The chapters explain what each technological advance is, how the news industry has begun using it, and how future journalists should become acquainted with it. I have found the book to be a great resource for both the explanation of new technology and the look at how news outlets are using each one.

As I make my way through each chapter, I will be adding a blog summarizing each and providing the links to resources the book offers.