[ddj] [Q] Difference between CAR and DJ

[mirko.lorenz at gmail.com]

Hi there,
actually, not sure whether there is such a huge difference between CAR and
DDJ. Maybe one was the practice for the last twenty years and now grows
into the other one as a lot of resources have changed.

One way how the term "data-driven journalism" came into use: I had read an
article by Zach Beauvais (who was then in Open/Linked Data) titled
"Journalism Needs Data in the 21st Century" (
http://readwrite.com/2009/08/04/journalism_needs_data_in_21st_century). At
the time we organized a round-table with the European Journalism Centre, a
kind of first time meeting for an new type, new group of data journalists
in Amsterdam and where lucky because many speakers came, from Guardian,
NYT, Times London, etc. (video here: https://vimeo.com/14800572). That was
August 2010. Since then #ddj or data-driven journalism kind of sticks. But
we would be hard pressed to come up with an academic justification or
clarification.

Partially the term "data-driven journalism" was coined because it was "in
the air" to describe a new type of using data for journalism. There is a
strong connection to older, but essentially similar practices to inquire
into data, which in the US was done under the acronym "CAR" and went
through a few namings as well (see: Philip Meyer, Precision Journalism).

In Academia, there is a stronger need for clear definitions, but being a
journalist the best definition I ever found is the one by Adrian Holovaty
:-)

Seriously: I would argue that data-driven journalism might be a fitting
term to describe newer practices of CAR, where more data, open data, open
source and maybe even open journalism are drivers for reliable, data-based,
data-aware reporting with or without visualizations. In trainings I kind of
artificially separate three levels/types: "Data Stories", which might be
produced around one notable number or data fact, written by a trained
journalist under deadline. "Data Interactives" which are the field where
the NYT is leading, but with many examples from The Guardian, Economist,
and many others. There is a willingness in newsrooms to invest time (and
some money) into these projects, because they sometimes tell stories
better, make a point, deliver a surprising insight. The third and last
level would be a "Data App", an application, database, larger project, but
not a software per se. A good example is "Dollar for Docs" from ProPublica.
Another one "Reading the Riots" from the Guardian. Quoting NYT and Guardian
is a bit unfair as many other newsrooms produce great stuff by now in this
particular field.

Hope this not totally confuses the answer to the question, but that's my
take.

Best,
Mirko


2013/5/19 whisky CHANG <whisky at ystaiwan.org>

>  Hi guys,
>
> Let me introduce myself first, I am from Taiwan, and working for a NPO :
> Youth Synergy Taiwan Foundation. Also I am running the website :
> http://www.opendata.tw/
> There has been almost 3 years that we are advocating Open data in Taiwan
> with different activities such as our lastest Open Campus camp<http://www.opendata.tw/open-campus-2013/>at 50.25/26, a two days workshop on Data journalisim (sorry link only in
> Taiwanese Chinese).
>
> In the preparation to our camp/workshop, I find a few questions on data
> journalism that I hope someone here would be kind to give me an answer.
>
> What is the main difference between Computer assisted reporting and
> data-driven journalism?
> From Wikipedia we can see now there is "data journalism" and "data-driven
> journalism", can I say that the difference is in that data journalism is a
> data-driven journalism + data visualization?
>
> So the correct definition for the data journalism, if we have to choose
> one, might be using data as source to news, but also using data to tell a
> story?
>
> tks
>
> regards,
>
> whisky
>
> -------
> Weitze CHANG
> Chief Information Officer at Youth Synergy Taiwan Foundation
> http://www.ystaiwan.org/
> http://www.opendata.tw/
>
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