Paper by Mathias Felipe de Lima-Santos, Aljosha Karim Schapals, and Axel Bruns, presented at ANZCA 2019, Canberra, 5 July 2019.

1. Mathias Felipe de Lima-Santos, Aljosha Karim Schapals & Axel Bruns
Canberra, 5 July 2019
Out-of-the-box vs in-house tools:
How are they affecting data journalism in Australia?

2. Introduction
• Scholarly research into data journalism a growing field ever since The
Guardian’s launch of its Datablog (2009)
• Existing research focusses on its implementation in early-adopter
nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Nordic
countries (Parasie & Dagiral, 2013; Young & Hermida, 2015; Borges-
Rey, 2016; Appelgren & Nygren, 2014)
• Gap in literature:
 Australia as a case study significantly under-researched
 Lacking emphasis on out-of-the-box solutions deployed in data
journalism practice (e.g. Datawrapper, Infogram, Tableau) vs. tools
developed in-house: business models, limitations, opportunities +
production and archiving mechanisms (Broussard & Boss, 2018)
@aljoshakarim

3. Example
(ABC News, 2 July 2019)

4. Literature Review
• Data journalism as the union of programming and storytelling (Ojo & Heravi,
2018): deployment of third-party tools, seen as advantageous due to their off-
the-shelf functionalities which match a need that would otherwise require a
special programming effort (Nordheim & Päivärinta, 2006)
• Challenging digital preservation efforts (Rosenzweig, 2003; Hansen & Paul,
2015): unless maintained by the content proprietor, restrictive archiving
mechanisms in place (Weber & Napoli, 2018)  data loss incurring, specifically
in relation to multimedia elements
• Challenging business model: third-party platforms operating on a ‘freemium’
model, working on the assumption that subscription to advanced versions
occurs in the long-run (Xu et al., 2017)  sustainable in light of a resource-
depleted industry?
 Example: Datawrapper – allowing access to produced visualisations for only a
limited number of users  move to in-house solutions?
@aljoshakarim

5. Methodology
• Mixed-methods approach:
(1) Close reading of n = 299 data journalism stories retrieved during January 2017 and May 2018
across ABC News, Fairfax Media, The Guardian Australia, SBS, News Corp., and identify tools
used (cf. Ojo & Heravi, 2018)
(2) In-depth interviews with n = 18 journalists, designers and developers in May 2018 across above-
mentioned outlets, including Bloomberg and Small Multiples
(3) Online survey with n = 16 journalists, designers and developers in May 2019 across Australia
known to be working in the field of data journalism
 Subscription to Cision Media Database to identify relevant staff working in the field, further
supplemented by contacting relevant data journalists through LinkedIn and the Australian data
journalism Slack channel
 Questions asked include (1) limitations and opportunities of use of out-of-the-box vs. in-house
tools; (2) perceptions of archiving mechanisms currently deployed; and (3) future strategies
moving forward
@aljoshakarim

6. Findings: Extent of use
• Significant use of out-of-the-box solutions across 299 retrieved data journalism stories, especially
Carto, Datawrapper, MapBox and Tableau – only exception: The Guardian Australia – use of in-
house tools
• 94% of survey respondents say they currently deploy out-of-the-box tools, ease of use seen as
advantageous:
 “What I am seeing with a lot of these tools, like Tableau, is that they are becoming easier to
use, and a lot of producers have access to them” (developer).
 “Out-of-the-box solutions are limited in what they can do. In saying that, they can be very
useful if you can get the editorial team to use them as is” (developer).
• 88% of survey respondents already use (or intend to use) in-house tools in the future:
 “You’ve got to try and figure out what your mix is going to be between doing completely
bespoke stuff that takes a long time but you can make it do exactly what you want it to do or
settle for the tools that you’ve got that are more readily usable and quick to turn around. We
struggle with that mix all the time, and every story is different when we make those decisions on
a case-by-case basis” (developer).
@aljoshakarim

7. Findings: Archiving mechanisms
• Whilst ease-of-use seen as advantageous, technological
limitations (e.g. poor user experience, static graphics, limited
interactivity) of out-of-the-box tools perceived as problematic,
particularly regarding digital preservation:
 “We ran out of the space on the [budget] plan we had with
Carto and had to delete projects to get more space. Losing
dozens of maps wasn’t great” (developer).
 “[Google] Fusion Tables is being decommissioned, which is a
real disappointment as it will mean lots of maps and sheets
have created will probably break or be lost” (editor).
• 69% of survey respondents lacking any mechanism to ensure
digital preservation of data journalism stories using of out-of-the-
box solutions
@aljoshakarim

8. Findings: Moving forward
• Sole reliance on out-of-the-box tools in the long run seen as
unsustainable, strong preference voiced towards use of
in-house tools in the future
• Reason: ‘Freemium’ business model not fit for purpose +
range of technological limitations mentioned earlier:
 “The problem are third-party companies: they start out
free and then they change their business model – [and]
then we can’t afford to spend money on it. I mean,
sometimes we can, but we can just build our own chart
tool [instead], which means we wouldn’t ever have to pay
for it again” (editor).
@aljoshakarim

9. Discussion
• Public broadcasters (ABC, SBS) at the forefront of producing data journalism
stories, often with designated, in-house teams with the necessary skillsets
 Future research (1): newsroom observations (e.g. ABC Sydney, ABC
Brisbane with their ‘Digital Story innovations’ team) to gather how creative
collaborations in particularly diverse teams affect contemporary journalism
practice in Australia
• Contrary, heavy reliance by Fairfax Media on out-of-the-box solutions despite
concerns regarding limitations
• At the forefront of these limitations lie concerns regarding digital preservation,
and the resulting sense of a ‘lack of control’ if not maintained by the content
proprietor  feeling of ‘dependence’ / ‘reliance’ seen as not welcome
 Future research (2): analysis of digital preservation techniques (31%) and
how the longevity of data-intensive material can be secured in the years to
come
@aljoshakarim

10. Thank You!