Posts Tagged ‘The Guardian’
Why journalists need data and data needs journalists – or – how not to kill your readers with James Ball #bfong
Guardian data journalist James Ball is coming along to Brighton Future of News Group to talk about his adventures in data journalism with a talk titled Why Journalists Need Data and Data Needs Journalists – or – How Not to Kill Your Readers.
Before joining the Guardian James worked for Wikileaks and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. He has interesting stories to tell about finding the stories in data and how the information reached him.
BFONG meets on Monday, May 16 in the function room upstairs at The Eagle in Gloucester Road, at 7.30pm.
It is free to come along and a great chance to meet like-minded writers, bloggers, journalists and other media folk.
Please confirm if you are attending via the Meet Up group as space is limited.
A live blog will be published at the end of the meeting and Tweets can be followed using he #bfong.
If you can’t make BFONG James is also talking about data journalism at news:rewired – noise to signal on May 27.
Making their way in journalism – the @wannabehacks #bfong
Brighton Future of News Group April meeting with Ben Whitelaw and Alice Vincent, the student and the maverick at Wannabe Hacks.
Ben: “It’s coming to events like this you realise you’ve done something different.”
It started with five lads from Birmingham University who all wanted to work in journalism. They looked around for courses and sought advice. It was difficult to find a single view. Many older journalists had a different route into journalism.
Three guys had places at City University, and one had an internship and the other was freelancing.
They decided to start up a website. Looked into court reporting. Great advice from people including Paul Bradshaw and thought it would be good to write up stories and sell them via the website.
“It was too much hard work to sit in court without shorthand or media law.”
Got the Mad Men style images from a friend, and sought advice on how to make the website work. Martin Belam of the Guardian said not to worry about the way it looked but go for it.
In the week the trio started at City they had a feature in The Guardian and had 1,000 impressions on their two-year-old blog.
Ned, the detective, had to drop out, but they were joined by Alice, who was working in New York.
“It’s been a fast eight months”, Ben said.
Alice Vincent, the Maverick, “I checked them out and thought it was interesting.”
She got in touch with Matt, the Freelancer, and asked him how he managed while fresh out of uni. Asked to be a guest writer from New York as she was off.
The first post Alice wrote was about working at NYLon.
“It blew my mind, after several work experience placements in London, once working with Lady Gaga’s stylist.”
Alice was able to write a review of a novel and really get on with it.
She was called in to join the hacks, “It’s kept me sane, even though I’ve been employed for three weeks.”
Worked in a shop for a while, but writing for an online publication kept her sane.
“We get a daily thread of emails. It’s really nice to feel part of a community.”
“I’m always amazed by the amount of people who Tweet us about stuff.”
“It’s great to hear from other journalists who don’t know what they’re doing but, don’t know shorthand, we’re all in the same situation.”
Alice has been working at Wired.co.uk for three weeks.
Ben has passed his law exams at City and also has his 100 wpm shorthand.
“What we say to young journalists when they ask how we do it, we’re five journalists writing a blog together, we’re a mini collective with more force behind us.”
Alice: “Hacks isn’t a vanity project. It’s not selfish.”
“Ben’s posts always get the most hits, but he doesn’t milk it.”
As a team they appreciate each other’s writing. They support each other and share ideas and contacts.
Ben: “We didn’t think we’d get a job out of this, we did it to keep ourselves busy and learn from it.”
“Hopefully it will help people. You don’t know if it helps but the work Alice has done has probably helped her get work at Wired.co.uk.” Ben said.
“I’ve applied for a job working at the Independent, but they chose someone with little experience.”
“Not doing it to get the job, but because you love it and have fun talking to people.”
One girl wrote about taking cake in to the BBC. Taking cake into work is a good idea.
Ben finds himself writing at 1am.
Alice used to babysit for the chief sports writer at the Telegraph.
Best advice he gave was “you will lose your 20s”.
“You come home from doing your job, you get home, you’re writing, but you love it, it’s not a chore.”
Tom and Ben went to Kingston University to talk about Wannabe Hacks. They held an event where 80 people turned up.
“You get to meet interesting people. Meeting people comes full circle.”
They have received praise from Journalism.co.uk and FleetStreetBlues placed them as the second best journalism blog when it was just five months old.
Everyone’s very busy. Limited time for podcasting through work. Getting together renews their enthusiasm and ideas. It’s hard work.
Alice’s first post was slated by Fleet Street Blues, but “we’re still waiting for our point to hit the wall.”
Met a woman who worked at 5Live, encouragement to continues means they are doing to see how they can continue with it and see if they can develop into a business.
Different approaches to the job works well together. Nick Petrie (the intern) comes up with some of the great ideas.
Have to be practical with the big ideas. Hogwarts for Journalists is a long way off.
On May 20 the team is having its second meet up. There will be cup cakes from Cute as a Cupcake.
Questions time:
Cathy Watson: “How did you get your first 1,000 visitors.”
Ben: “Got in touch with the editor of Media Guardian, and wrote a piece about the student media awards.
“Wrote 700 words, cut to 300, with a little pictures of us and a bit about what we’d done.
“It was perfect for me and Tom (the Chancer) on our first day at City.
“Hope a few came back to us.”
Now they average between 3-500 visitors a day. A busy day is about 1,000.
“Tom working on the Guardian sports desk this week, but preferred work experience at The Forester.”
Deputy sport editor told him he’d read his post. Apparently they were quite surprised.
“Tom stuck up for himself, saying he had seen enough. It had gone”
They have organised themed weeks, production, magazine, local journalism etc.
Alice was surprised her interview with the editor of NYLon didn’t have as many hits as a piece by two students writing about women’s magazines.
Cathy Watson: Do you have a Facebook page?
“Yes.”
Here it is www.facebook.com/wannabehacksfb
They want to encourage younger journalists.
Alice has wanted to be a journalist since she was 16.
“There is a market out there to target 16-year-olds who want to be a journalist”.
Ben says they’re trying to get more people using Facebook using polls.
They also have a Tumblr account.
Rich Hook: How do you choose the hacks?
Ben: ” It was just five mates at university together moving to London.”
At City they already had the site. Some have taken the piss. Others have written pieces they know more about.
“Some are too proud to say they don’t want to become a hack. Others have seen it really helps raise your profile.”
Alice: “We have a really open policy for guest blogs.
“Style blogger the Sartorialist criticised a slim woman for being ‘chunky’.”
Alice sent a call out. They also ask for a pitch.
Rich – Some people seem to be afraid to put their work out there.
Ben “Today I wrote a piece about passing 100 wpm, some people thought it was a bit ‘preachy’.”
Rich – There must have been a time before it blew up.
Ben: “At the start, when someone tweets or comments they don’t agree, then worry.
“It’s not a bad thing. It’s more of a two way thing, it’s not just writing a news story or piece about shorthand for other’s to absorb, but people can say they disagree.”
“Journalism is becoming more about dialogue.”
Alice: “First time you write something controversial and get a reaction it’s great.
Ben congratulated Rich of the Brighton Lite team for getting something out there.
Personal posts are often the most popular.
Paul Watson: “There is no reason why you couldn’t set up as a Hogwarts Academy, other companies around the country do so.”
Alice: “We’re not established enough, but getting a team of tutors on board would be great.”
Paul: “You have the early stages of the brand.”
Rich: “Hacks finishing school.”
Alice: “One day when we’re all working, we want to get other people to take it on.”
Ben: “In a few month’s time our experiences will be irrelevant.”
“We want it to be an organic project to be passed on.”
Laura Oliver talks about Ed Walker, who passed on Blog Preston to other students. He created it to learn at university, got a job with WalesOnLine and now it is an award-winning blog.
There is discussion about advertising, sponsorship etc.
Ben says they have got some advertising from City.
They don’t know about advertising, but are learning as they go.
Have thought about charging for video, or helping people set up WordPress.
Today Ben read about small businesses going to evening classes learning how to use Twitter.
They have plans for an eBook.
“If it’s 50p for a chapter, it shows how it can be done.”
Sarah Marshall: “How have you divided up the tasks?”
Alice said Ben is the nicest person in the team, so he asks people nicely for money.
Ben: “It’s time consuming.”
Ben organised the pub, Tom organised the newsletter.
Whomever comes up with the idea gets to do it.
Sarah Marshall: “Do you sub each other’s stuff?”
They used to but they tidy up each other’s work. It’s not efficient, no post pending, it’s a bit rough and ready.”
Praise for Joseph Stashko as someone to watch, for young journalists.
Ben describes Joseph as a good story teller who introduced him to Storyfy.
Paul Watson then explains his own experience with Storyfy, which he used at last months’ BFONG and also has a long-running Uckfield spring blog.
They’re also looking at Bundlr, where you can highlight things and drag them together on a theme.
They blag and muddle their way through.
“Because we don’t know that much.”
We’re not an authority, we’re just wannabes.
Laura Oliver praises the Wannabes and Joseph Stashko as professional people who take it seriously and are efficient.
Live blog: It’s a great time to be a journalist – Open data, storytelling and more @greghadfield #bfong
Greg Hadfield came to Brighton Future of News Group on our first birthday.
Quotes George Orwell from Decline of the English Murder and other essays.
He explains he wants to talk about why we want to write, how painful it is.
It’s like pulling teeth with every deadline.
Why be a journalist?
Egotism
Get back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood.
Perception of beauty.
Sound on another, prose on a window pane.
When first decided to become a journalist thought of George Orwell. Wondered where George Orwell went in Barnsley, he stayed with NUM members working down the pit.
Greg went along 50 years later and found the granddaughter of the householder.
Sharing where I come from because it informs what we do.
Talking about data, but people think data journalism is cool and trendy, but in The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell tracked down the wages, the bills the earnings, he listed them in tables.
He did the same in Spain in Homage to Catalonia, it became journalism.
I came to journalism to change the world. Wanted to write a 4,000 word article to change the world.
Greg wrote about women’s right to choose for the Wakefield Express and met his wife at the rally where he researched.
Went to the prison, wrote about the NUM, the pit, Labour MPs, thought he was following George Orwell during his work at the Wakefield Express.
Working for the Western Morning News to cover nuclear test veterans.
Asked “who transcribed your recording?” No one, was the answer, and he found the envelope with his files on the story written in his own shorthand.
In those folders was data from every veteran Greg met who witnessed the Christmas Island nuclear tests he met in Plymouth.
There were hand-written surveys, shorthand notes, the lot, all the data on two envelopes. Back then the stories were typed up on carbon paper.
Greg produced copies of his original pages showing the articles he wrote about 600 people from Devon and Cornwall who suffered after witnessing the nuclear tests in the Pacific.
Through his interviews he discovered the children and grandchildren of the veterans have deformities. He drove up and down Devon and Cornwall to find the data and the story continues.
Think how much easier it would have been in the data was available. If there was a social network where people could share their experiences. The data was being amassed in academic and health journals and stories weren’t making it in to newspapers.
That data related to people’s lives, collating it. Imagine if there was a database.
It would be so much easier to do these stories these days.
The Christmas Island story goes on.
Greg commended Argus reporter Tim Ridgeway for his piece about empty homes in The Argus, how many people need a home while many people are homeless.
Orwell did the same thing looking at homelessness in Barnsley and Wigan.
One of the things Greg is interested in is using open data in Brighton and Hove to address social issues.
This week we’ve had crime maps. Putting out housing data is very important. The local authority has obligation over private landlords who don’t meet regulations.
Why not publish all that data? Why rely on The Argus printing it once? Curate it, come back to it.
Greg was responsible for the first league tables in The Sunday Times. The release of that data the government kept up with, now people knew where their schools stood.
The crime map doesn’t work in the same way as Chicago or New York police map. No data has been released, it’s closed. We can’t work with it. Police.uk is a single piece of central information.
If we had the data a variety of patterns could emerge, show crime near schools etc.
There is a mass of data about Brighton and Hove. Some of it is hidden away
There is a narrative and story to be told with that data.
Simon Rogers and the data blog at The Guardian is a great thing.
Journalism is better than that, it’s grabbing hold of the data and seeing meaning in it in prose that can change the world.
These days Greg does understand why The Argus doesn’t spend two pages of expensive newsprint on planning applications.
Why can’t we have a planning site similar to a My Society project for Brighton and Hove?
People talk about the internet as a global platform, it’s transformed my life.
He produced Soccernet when there were 600 websites on the internet.
Greg Hadfield with the computer used to create Soccernet
Brighton back in 1995 had two ISPs, and one of them was used by Greg’s 12-year-old son who came up with the idea to put football results online.
The site was written manually in HTML on an old computer, which Greg brought along to show everyone. Now he has set up his first WordPress blog in 10 minutes. How times have changed.
I think open data is changing our lives for good.
When there were 600 websites in the world, and Soccernet was one of them, people didn’t know what to do.
The semantic web will change things. It could be changed by a 12-year-old boy in Brighton or a tech ace in Bombay.
People living and loving in Brighton and Hove can create a new form of journalism using the semantic web and data and produce something George Orwell would have been delighted with.
Q&A
I do believe there’s never been a better time to be a journalist but it is a rubbish time for newspapers.
Brighton is a great place to be a journalist now.
(A little crash meant I couldn’t note Greg explaining how great the internet is for journalism, individuals working on their own or within organisations using data).
You have to have drive. Individuals can do their bit.
Work for a newspaper, work for an NGO and get information to do something world changing.
Working with HIV AIDS Alliance in Hove.
Can you setup a blog and change the world? It’s very difficult.
Looking at the miners then, now wonders where the journalism about the homeless, the marginalised living on council estates?
Greg would like to see embedded journalism within the community. Live the life of the community. Working at the Wakefield Express he was living and working with miners.
There are great causes to fight. Every generation of journalists has their campaigns to fight.
In Brighton it’s the housing and social housing situation. We need to shed light and publish data about it.
Who has the most to lose from open data?
The council and the police will gain from releasing data. It’s a weight off their backs. The democratically elected organisations have little to lose and everything to gain.
Those who exploit ignorance have something to lose.
Releasing information about exploitation means the exploiters will lose and everyone will gain. From bankers bonuses to Rackman style landlords, get the information out.
Data is the start but there’s the optimism to create something.
Brighton and Hove buses has one app built by a developer in his spare time when the information was released. to him Portland, Oregon, information released and numerous apps created.
Let’s release the data and have 1, 000 flowers blossoming.
Brighton Buses, Southern Rail, NCP, release the data and we could have an integrated transport system app.
With the information out there, will the data be rendered meaningless by spin?
Yes, it worries me. When we published one piece of information about a school told parents will take it out of context.
But we need to have more faith in the people in the street than the teachers, governors and politicians do
If you publish the immigration stats as open data, there would be different interpretations, graphics and opinions.
Whether the Daily Mail (have worked for) or The Guardian.
Different visualisation and commenting.
We live in a pluralistic society, not one or two media barons, we are thousands.
Data literacy is important. There are different perspectives.
Mentions Ben Goldacre Bad Science, as critical of misunderstanding data.
Today there was a debate about Free Schools. It turns out 76 per cent of schools are good or outstanding. The fact 24 per cent aren’t good can put a different twist on it.
I want to make sense of that data. Don’t want THEM to tell me I’m not intelligent enough to understand that data.
We can all debate that data if it’s out there.
Data isn’t about figures.
Everything can be out there from the trivial to the heavy stuff.
It’s about the individual choosing where they’ll find their helpful and fulfilling stuff.
Lack of outroar about Primark and sweatshops. Do we live in apathetic times?
Do not think we’re living in apathetic times. Don’t think we’re opiated by the mass of information to not be active.
Youth engagement in politics blame young people for not being engaged in politics. Look to thyself. Young people with access to information are fantastic, energetic and want to be engaged.
John Keenan mentions comments where people don’t get it.
Greg wrote Normanton news. Sit in a pub and listen to people talking about the newspapers. Those negative conversations have always gone on.
You don’t hear the conversations now you do hear them online.
On Twitter you’re in tune with people. Look at a hashtag out of your comfort zone and you see everything is out there.
Need to have citizen centred journalism, understanding them and helping people fill a gap to lead more informed lives.
People have always been trolling journalists. Don’t read the comments if you don’t like them.
Anyone can write on the web, would it be better to see a short bit about Wikileaks on BBC News?
Trusted authority of a band, journalists working for a title, is an overwhelming privilege, whatever the title is.
When you write something public there is tremendous issue to be public.
Criticism about big media is they haven’t made the most of human talent giving its all to work in a career to be proud of.
When journalists move their Twitter followers go with them. They’re loyal to the brand.
Get out of jail free card is “my tweets are my own”.
If media companies are lucky the new young journalists will stay with them.
If cities open up their data, make it easy to understand. Say transport data there’s money for people to make apps and sell them. Digital media businesses interested in that.
Who do you see taking on the burden of wading through great swaths of data? Local newspapers? Are people going to take on that responsibility?
Big national news organisations have teams to take it on, but outside of that not much has happened.
Who is going to take that responsibility? Joel Gunter asks
Conrad Quilty-Harper stayed up all night dealing with data for the Telegraph @coneee – Follow him, Greg says.
We, as journalists demand information, then there’s a huge tidal wave of data.
There’s MPs expenses, Wikileaks, miss it but it’s still there.
Need to curate the stuff we’ve got.
Need to say “I’m going to be the expert journalist on housing”.
Will it be journalists? Journalists in big media? NGOs, don’t know.
Now every morning can wake up and see in Google Reader and see a host of information.
Would encourage people to specialise. Think Global act local is the phrase, but Greg doesn’t agree, keep the global perspective, think local, act local, think global act global.
Greg is passionate about education, transport and housing data. Know we have the technology to do something special.
He would love to have tenant advice housing data. Have social recommendations for tenants and landlords.
Isn’t this working a different way around from tradition?Used to start with person. It’s great stuff about people who matter. It’s people telling story then dig out information. Seeking data is horrid. Cathy Watson
Don’t see data in a geeky sort of way. Do see information as data and seeing a patter. Nuclear test dates, son’s birth, granddaughter’s birth, it’s all data.
Good work done digitally and virtually. Google British Nuclear Test Veterans not a lot of stuff has been done since the web started. These stories could be found.
Met a detective who had access to 600 databases. He knew if you had county court orders. It was pre serious stuff. Now we all have access to multiple databases. It’s what we do with them that’s the trick.
Find all the people in Linked In in Brighton and Hove.
Used to go through Who’s Who finding the local people.
Got trainees to go through Who’s Who to find out schools and universities. Got a lead out of it that the majority went to Eton and Oxbridge. Went back 50 years and found it was no different.
It’s data but it’s about real people.
Woodward and Burnstein told to follow the money, still the same – John Keenan.
What skills do journalists need? Data mining rather than shorthand?
You need 120 wpm shorthand. With a recorder you waste so much time trying to find that quote.
Touch typing is good. Greg was the boy in a touch-typing class.
Got to love Excel.
Discovered the delights of Google Fusion.
Compared with how it used to be it’s phenomenal.
Love keynote, love visualising stuff.
Do you need to know PHP, nope.
Couldn’t do his PHD at Oxford, so went back to Barnsley. Went to the same school as Michael Parkinson.
Applied to work for the Barnsley Chronicle didn’t get it. Made apple pies until he went to the Wakefield Express.
JoshR asks what is journalism or reporting?
Reporting is of the moment. Something has happened.
The buzz is interesting, but it’s not the journalism that interests Greg.
Spent two weeks dealing with Rose and Fred West. There was the moving story, then there’s the story behind the story. That is what Greg enjoys.
The two-page spread with the mega headline gives texture to the story.
How is Tunisia these days? Who cares? We’re on to Egypt now. Next stop who knows. There’s a great story to come out of Tunisia. Now the spotlight’s off the journalists there don’t have to write it by 9am.
Rolling news, commodity news agenda. Then you have the iconic journalism.
Have these people on TV who are names. They don’t exist in isolation. Quality journalism is about supporting iconic journalists with people who can help them be who they are.
Sports journalist at the Telegraph asked what he should be doing. Greg response, be yourself in more channels.
Great to see journalists adapting to new environment. Keen to get the journalism out with media.
One of the four motivations of George Orwell, egoism.
Word Nerd viral by News International out today. It promotes something behind the wall.
It’s innovative and should be celebrated.
Whatever you think of The Daily or the pay wall, Word Nerd is something new and innovative.
What do you think about the pay wall?
Don’t like the word wall. Applaud a big media organisation which wants to know about its readers.
Daily Telegraph doesn’t know who its individual readers.
Been using the Telegraph website since 1994, but they wouldn’t know.
With a pay wall they know who I am, where I live and communicating.
The Guardian know who people are.
What do you think about journalists being paid for journalism? Frank LeDuc
Don’t think about business models. Don’t get paid to be a journalist, but part of a machine, bigger picture, bigger business mode.
Don’t write to get paid. Like to get paid, like to be valued.
Brighton Future of News blog 