Institute

Institute
for
for
Anlytic
Anlytic
Journalism
Journalism

Durban, South Africa

11 September 2006

Analytic Journalism:
Investing in an Intellectual Portfolio
to Secure Journalism's Financial
Future

Prof. Tom Johnson

Institute for Analytic Journalism
Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
tom@analyticjournalism.org

Journalism is

The central purpose of

journalism is to provide
citizens with accurate and
reliable information they
need to function in a free
society.'
Bill Kovach
Committee of Concerned Journalists

IAJ
IAJ

What journalists do
The job of journalists is
"to monitor the centres of power."

Israeli
journalist Amira Hass

IAJ
IAJ

Todays objectives
Discuss journalism (and journalists) as a

species existing in the Datasphere

Review the changes in the information
environment
Suggest steps journalism can (Should?
Must?) take to adapt to those changes if
we are to survive
Suggest the possible disappearance of the
species journalist serioso
4

IAJ
IAJ

Analytic thinking/journalism

What is it?
Where did it come from?
How does it work?
What are the necessary variables?

IAJ
IAJ

Frame the appropriate question

Find and retrieve appropriate data
Use appropriate analytic tools
Show what you know with storyappropriate media

The why and the wherefore of

Analytic Journalism

Dramatic change in info environment

Changes in how modern societies
relate to datainformation
What is Analytic Journalism?
Objectives of the Institute for
Analytic Journalism

IAJ
IAJ

ry
o
t
hi s

The Changing
Datasphere
of

Law
s

Al l

News

Econ
Demographics

Cultural
knowledge

En

IAJ
IAJ

in
a
t
te r

n
e
m

The Datasphere:
that conceptual
environment
where all data
exists in all forms,
all media

an
i
r
o DatasphereJournalist
tthe
Species in
s
i
H

Lawyer
Economis
t
Teache
r
e
c
n
ra r
u
s
In juste
ad

Cop
8

IAJ
IAJ

Driver of
garbage truck

The Datasphere:
that conceptual
environment
where all
information-

Communications Revolution
1st Era =

2nd Era =

3rd Era =
9

IAJ
IAJ

Symbols Print
Paper Ink
Writing
10101010
10101010
10101010
00101110
0101

How big is the change?

93% of ALL information audio, video, print
produced worldwide in 2003 was originally in
digital format

See UC-Berkeley study on Datasphere

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info/index.html

10

IAJ
IAJ

Major trends in dynamic

Datasphere
Definition of literacy expands
Transparency
Global
Governments, NGOs, corporations
Data acquisition power shift to individual
Available Data Index &
Journalism Info/Utility Index

11

IAJ
IAJ

ADQ: Available Data Index

High

ADI

Low

12

IAJ
IAJ

Digital Revolution

Time

JIQ: Journalism Info/Utility Index

High

Avail.
Data
Index

Digital Revolution

JII
Low

13

IAJ
IAJ

Time

JIQ: Journalism Info/Utility Index

High

Avail.
Data
Index

Low

14

IAJ
IAJ

Digital Revolution

JII

Citizens Zone
of Contempt,
Disregard,
Irrelevance,
for the press

High

Journalism and pre-Digital Revolution

Canon of Ethics
Constitutional freedoms/
legal restrictions
History of Profession
PreDigitalRev,
Traditional
Journalism

Journalism education: To serve the

profession, not lead
RW-P process

Reporting Writing Publishing/Producing

Good at description; far less good at

analysis
Journalist as white-hunter poet
(aka General Assgn. Reporter)
Driven by adrenalin, not intellect

15

IAJ
IAJ

Attributes of Digital Revolution

Data -- public and private -- in 1s and 0s
divorced from physical media
Cheap, powerful desktop &
communications hardware
Cheap, powerful analytic tools
Constant, rapid change in Datasphere

16

IAJ
IAJ

Effects of Digital Revolution

Fluid, ubiquitous data and results
Reproducible data and info without cost.
How to add value?
New definitions of literacy
RRAW-P Process
ResearchReporting Analysis
Writing Publishing/Producing
Need for constant teaching/learning
How did journalism respond?
17

IAJ
IAJ

Journalism and post-Digital Revolution

Post-Digital Revolution
Changes
010101001
0011010110101010100101010
1001010101010010101010101
Pre100100101100101010001010
DigitalRev,
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
Traditional
1001010101010010101010101
Journalism
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
010100101010

Various circulation and

marketing strategies,
e.g. zoning, newspaper-TV ties,
etc.
Eventually, PCs/I-net in offices
& newsroom
Soft news
Shovelware web sites
CAR (Computer-assisted
Reporting)

18

IAJ
IAJ

Leading-edge journalism in Digital Age

CAR (Computer-assisted
Reporting)
Acquiring or creating
digital data sets
Learning/utilizing new
for journalism
knowledge/analysis tools,
i.e. sprdsheets, DBF,
simple stats, GIS to make
maps

19

IAJ
IAJ

010101001
0011010110101010100101010
1001010101010010101010101
Pre100100101100101010001010
DigitalRev,
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
Traditional
1001010101010010101010101
Journalism
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
010100101010

Analytic Journalism in Digital Age

Retrieve/adapt

methodologies from
other disciplines
Anthropology

Geography
Biology
20

IAJ
IAJ

010101001
0011010110101010100101010
1001010101010010101010101
Pre100100101100101010001010
DigitalRev,
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
Traditional
1001010101010010101010101
Journalism
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
1001010101010010101010101
010100101010

Data Mining
Accounting
Criminology

AJ borrowed methodologies
GIS
Epidemiology; Urban planning; Enviro-sciences;

Crime analysis; Cyberspace; Mapping of Concepts

Computational Linguistics
(King and Lowes Rare Events in International Conflict)
http://gking.harvard.edu/files/infoex.pdf

ThemeRiver http://www.pnl.gov/infoviz/infoviz/themeriver.pdf

Forensic Accounting

http://www.forensicaccounting.com/home.html

Visual Statistics & Complex Adaptive Systems

-

Web Map http://www.webmap.com/

- Epstein, Steinbruner and Parker. Modeling Civil Violence: An Agent-Based
Computational Approach http://www.brook.edu/es/dynamics/papers/cviolence/cviolence.pdf

21

IAJ
IAJ

Analytic Journalism in Digital Age

Focus always international
Retrieve/adapt methodologies from

other disciplines
IAJ: hinge between other disciplines/
methodologies and journalism
Adopt new analytic tools appropriate
for journalism, e.g. AskSam, Cartagio,
ArcGIS

Focus on making data broadly

defined available for user
customization and analysis

22

IAJ
IAJ

Hunter College-NYTimes
satellite maps of WTC
disaster

23

IAJ
IAJ

John Snows aledged cholera map- London - 1854

24

IAJ
IAJ

John Snows alleged

cholera map
London - 1854

Urban Planning Sat. Pics-Lotlines

Urban Planning
Tax assessments
Public utilities/services
Traffic
Planned growth? Sprawl?
25 Educational planning
IAJ
IAJ

Environmental Planning watershed map

26

IAJ
IAJ

English River Watershed Study

by students in
Mid-Prairie Middle School
Kalona, Iowa

Portland, Oregon Crime mapping

Note how database
produces graph and map.
Portland, Oregon site at http://www.
portlandpolicebureau.com/
crimemapper.html

27

IAJ
IAJ

Conceptual mapping of cyberspace

VR visualization of Web traffic

28

IAJ
IAJ

Mapping power relationships

PowerPlayers1
http://theyrule.orgo.org/

29

IAJ
IAJ

ThemeRiver computational linguistics and resulting

visualization of news story themes.
Curves indicate tension
index over time

30

Theme River
computational linguistics and
resulting visualization of
news story topics.
IAJ
IAJ

Source: http://www.pnl.gov/infoviz/graphics.html

Online enterprise
Dynamic system model

31

IAJ
IAJ

Source: http://www.simventure.com/models.html

Data mining advanced

Business Intelligence software

http://www.pcmag.com/articl
e/0,2997,s
%253D1738%2526a
%253D7640,00.asp

32

IAJ
IAJ

Database software online and

shrinkwrapped

http://www.pcmag.com/articl
e/0,2997,s%3D400%26a
%3D14601,00.asp

33

IAJ
IAJ

Some Analytic Journalism

teaching materials
Statistics - http://people.bu.edu/ssr3/stat2.htm
E-mail tracing - http://people.bu.edu/ssr3/tracing.htm
Middleberg/Ross survey

34

IAJ
IAJ

http://people.bu.edu/ssr3/cyber7.htm
Covering the Census, with GIS http://www.columbia.edu/~ssr3/census.htm
Basic numbers skills http://www.columbia.edu/~ssr3/NUMBER12.htm
Evaluating what you find http://www.columbia.edu/~ssr3/eval.htm
Calculator for confidence levels in polls http://www.columbia.edu/~ssr3/confross.htm

Inst. for Analytic Journalism

Our Cornerstones
General Systems Theory
Statistics
Visual Statistics and
Infographics
Simulation modeling
35

IAJ
IAJ

Institute
Institute
for
for
Anlytic
Anlytic
Journalism
Journalism

Durban, South Africa

11 September 2006

Analytic Journalism:
Investing in an Intellectual Portfolio
to Secure Journalism's Financial
Future

Prof. Tom Johnson

Institute for Analytic Journalism
Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
tom@analyticjournalism.org