Open data can bring much value to China, especially with regard to government efficiency and effectiveness, data-informed decision-making, and increasing the public’s trust through greater engagement. Although there have been improvements in the quality and availability of government open data in China, data expert Yolanda Ma states that there are still many more challenges to overcome.
Too often, inexperienced data users accept the data they receive at face value. Data scientist Heather Krause cautions that data should be treated similar to a human source. Just as you’d do a background check on a human source before publishing what they told you, you need to understand your data.
The old news business model has been serving advertisers and investors at the expense of the most important people in the media equation — the public, the readers, the users. But now that digital media have broken up that arranged marriage of advertising and news content, publishers are rediscovering the importance of focusing on serving readers.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for March 13-19, per our NodeXL mapping: #NICAR17 resources (@MacDiva); Breitbart network analysis (@CJR); climate change calculator (@FT); Trump’s Budget (@washingtonpost); Berlin pickpockets (@berlinerzeitung); Caracas jobless (@CamburYMedio); & more.
De Correspondent, a Dutch member-funded journalism platform, leverages on the shared knowledge and experience of their 55,000 paying members as much as possible in their reporting. Here’s their 3-step workflow incorporating reader engagement, which helped them land their scoop on Shell.
The media, civil society, and democracy are under unprecedented duress around the world. Protecting the independent media and the public sphere presents an “epic challenge,” but there is great opportunity for philanthropy to step up and help. Bruce Sievers and Patrice Schneider detail five avenues worth pursuing in funding news media and argue that charitable donors should significantly increase their investment in the media.
Here are the top data journalism tweets for March 6-12, per our NodeXL mapping: ski resorts & climate (@SPIEGELONLINE); science reporting grants (@ddjournalism); chart chooser (Andrei Pandre); #Tapestryconf recap (@catmule); scraping MP data (@marcelpauly); US middle class fail (@nytimes); & more.
When he was laid off from Folha de S. Paulo in 2014, political reporter and columnist Fernando Rodrigues did not stop his behind-the-scenes coverage of power in Brasilia. He continued to write for his blog, which he had kept for 14 years, and to participate in a radio show. Shortly thereafter, he launched his own company, an innovative startup that has been growing, making profits and hiring journalists.
The boom of internet technology and social media networks have allowed journalists to access information which had previously been out of reach. Apps, sites and devices let ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances become reporters. However, internet research expert Paul Myers cautions that investigative journalists need to be incredibly sensitive when running stories and never expose innocent people to attack and ridicule.
