DataN is a project that lowers the barrier for smaller newsrooms to integrate data journalism into their daily operation. This project was jointly conducted by New York University's Studio 20 graduate program and Foreign Policy. Please visit http://bit.ly/1AlgaEo for a more detailed write-up of the project.
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DataN - Big Data, Small Newsroom
1. #studio20
Kuang KENG Kuek Ser | Partner: Foreign Policy
DataN
Big Data, Small Newsroom
Visit http://bit.ly/1AlgaEo for a more detailed write-up on the project
10. #studio20
Easy-to-use, Customizable,
Open Source Tools
Will be used
in FP stories
Minimal
time
Coding skill
not required
Customized to
fit house style
Findings
Visit http://bit.ly/1AlgaEo for a more detailed write-up on the project
14. #studio20
Person1
Their title
Person 2
Their title
Etc.
Thank you to:
Person
Their title
Person
Their title
Etc.
http://bit.ly/1AlgaEo (more detailed write-up)
@kuangkeng
kuangkeng@gmail.com
Emma Carew Grovum
Homepage Editor, FP
Ben Pauker
Executive Editor, FP
Prof Jay Rosen
Program Director, Studio 20
Zoe Fraade-Blanar
Adjunct Professor, Studio 20
Li Li Liew
my wife
Editor's Notes
Today, data journalism has become a buzzword in the media industry, and many newsrooms are scrambling to use data in their stories.
However it doesn't mean everybody can produce good data journalism.
Let's look at some of my favorite data charts.
I'm not sure cutting a head into slices helps to present data.
And I’m pretty sure chart does not help when your math is wrong.
How do we avoid these bad charts? Of course we need people who know data journalism in the newsroom, however currently the way to produce data journalism is very resource intensive. Big newsrooms like NYT have over 1,200 editorial staff, and the graphic department that produces data components alone has about 40 members, but for small newsrooms like Foreign Policy, the whole newsroom has only 40 people, equal to only one department in the Times.
There's a huge gap in the industry. To narrow this gap, I develop DataN.
Data N is a program that lowers the barrier for smaller newsrooms to integrate data journalism into their daily operation. It helps them to produce more credible, engaging and comprehensible journalism.
Together with Foreign Policy, we developed training modules, selected and customized a set of tools, and prepared documentation for each tool. We integrated all these material into a website that the journalists can refer to when they want to work with data.
Here’s a quick view of what we've built.
How we build this program?
First we asked the journalists, what do they need and what problems they face?
Most of them told us 2 problems: time and visualization of data.
With these feedback in mind, we designed and ran the project.
Tonight I want to share 2 key findings in this project.
The first is flexible and customized training modules.
In a small newsroom, time is an issue, it is extremely hard to gather everyone at the same time for training.
We broke our training material into small pieces that can be mixed and matched into different modules for different groups of journalists. We conducted quick training sessions in small groups.
Second is tools.
Journalists are not only busy, most of them don't like coding. So we need to select tools that
- are easy to use and require minimal time
- don't require coding skill
- can be customized to fit the housestyle
- will be frequently used in future stories
After the training, some of the journalists put the tools and skills in use almost immediately. Here are some examples.
From the feedback, out of 13 journalists we trained, almost half said they've have learned something useful, 4 said they still have questions, which I think is good, and 3 of them felt that it was too basic, that's even better.
Also, 90% of the journalists were interested to have more advanced training. That's very very positive feedback.
From here, we can see that a one-time training is never enough. We need long term support. That's something I want to develop after graduation.
DataN is not just designed for Foreign Policy.
It could be applied to other small newsrooms, not only in US but other parts of the world.
It lowers the barrier to produce DJ, and accelerates the development of DJ in the newsroom. I believe every newsroom should have its own DataN.
If you want to build a DataN for your newsroom, I would be more than happy to help. You can visit my homepage for more details about the program.
I want to thank Emma, Ben, Jay, Zoe, and all my classmates in Studio 20 for your support, thank you.