data journalism: are you a unicorn or a racehorse?
TRANSCRIPT
Are you a unicorn or a racehorse?
@PaulBradshaw, Online Journalism Blog, HelpMeInvestigate Birmingham City University and City University London
School of Data, Thessaloniki, June 2015http://www.flickr.com/photos/30804458@N08/3316400889/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/6990109980/
3 things…• What are unicorns and racehorses? • Why are we seeing a split? • How the work gets done
1967: Phillip Meyer
2005: Adrian Holovaty
Meyer was a racehorse. Holovaty was a unicorn.
Racehorses look for the story.
Unicorns help users tell the story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpaglSOj9OU#t=0m56s
‘Data journalism’ is becoming meaningless
• Who says ‘computer assisted reporting’ any more?
• You will never know all the tools • News organisations choosing their direction: do we build tools, or do we find stories?
• Enlightenment polymaths (university) vs industrial specialists
“A courtier should have a detached, cool, nonchalant attitude, and speak well, sing, recite poetry, have proper bearing, be athletic, know the humanities and classics, paint and draw and possess many other skills.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath
“A data journalist should have experience with cleaning, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data, familiarity with financial documents, familiarity with JavaScript, experience with R…”
http://chooseyourownadventure.tumblr.com/post/80260931984/mummyshark-its-ripped-but-there-still-arent#notes
Choose your own adventure…
Learn code.
Learn code.
Learn code.
Javascript can help tell the story
http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/2014/02/21/wayne-rooney-earnings/
Learn the tools
Learn the tools
http://chooseyourownadventure.tumblr.com/post/80260931984/mummyshark-its-ripped-but-there-still-arent#notes
What organisations can do
Templates
A data unit
A datastore
Flexible CMS
Flexible CMS
A career path
Unicorns and racehorses can work
together.
3 things…• Identify the objectives - and whether you need unicorns or racehorses
• Solve problems, don’t learn languages - I don’t care if you know PHP
• Collaborate and share - everyone else thinks they’re catching up too
Thank you.
@paulbradshaw Online Journalism Blog
Help Me Investigate