Online Journalism Blog: 10 principles for data journalism in its second decade. “In 2007 Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel published The Elements of Journalism. With the concept of ‘journalism’ increasingly challenged by the fact that anyone could now publish to mass audiences, their principles represented a welcome platform-neutral attempt to articulate exactly how journalism could be untangled from the vehicles that carried it and the audiences it commanded. In this extract from a forthcoming book chapter* I attempt to use Kovach and Rosenstiel’s principles (outlined in part 1 here) as the basis for a set that might form a basis for (modern) data journalism as it enters its second and third decades.”
data analysis
The Atlantic: Huge DNA Databases Reveal the Recent Evolution of Humans
The Atlantic: Huge DNA Databases Reveal the Recent Evolution of Humans
. “When we talk about human evolution, we usually talk about how we evolved into humans: how we lost body hair, gained brain mass, started to walk on two feet—in short, things that happened millions of years ago. But evolution did not stop when the first modern humans emerged. A new study of two massive genetic databases—one in the United Kingdom and one in California—suggests genetic mutations that shorten lifespans have been weeded out since, and are possibly still in the process of being weeded out today.”
Rice University: Mapping Tool Helps Neighborhoods Better Understand Harvey, Houston
Rice University: Mapping Tool Helps Neighborhoods Better Understand Harvey, Houston. “In the wake of Harvey, there’s been a need for good data: whether its emissions information from industries along the port, maps of the flooding to see which areas were hardest hit or information about students who have been shuffled around after their schools suffered damage from the storm. As part of an ongoing effort with its roots well before storm, the Kinder Institute is unveiling its Houston Community Data Connections dashboard. After gathering and geocoding a number of datasets, the Kinder Institute’s data team, led by Jie Wu and Mingming Zhang, created a visualization tool that allows users to visualize several layered datasets at once.”
Newswise: Scientists Want to Study Your Tweets; Is It Ethical?
Newswise: Scientists Want to Study Your Tweets; Is It Ethical?. “Did you know researchers are reading and analyzing your tweets and Facebook posts in the name of science? If so, how do you feel about it? If you feel unsettled, what would make you feel better? What’s legal and what’s not in the age of big-data research? And even if it is legal, is it ethical?”
Northwestern: Want to Improve Your Sales Forecast? Check Your Company’s Facebook Feed.
Northwestern: Want to Improve Your Sales Forecast? Check Your Company’s Facebook Feed.. ” In a recent study, Antonio Moreno, an associate professor of operations at Kellogg, found that social media data can improve sales forecasts. When researchers incorporated information about a clothing company’s Facebook interactions into prediction models, they could more accurately estimate purchases the following week. Using advanced algorithms was key to the improvements, meaning simply collecting social media data is not enough: companies should also upgrade their forecasting techniques.”
Google: Analyze your business data with Explore in Google Sheets, use BigQuery too
Google Blog: Analyze your business data with Explore in Google Sheets, use BigQuery too. “A few months back, we announced a new way for you to analyze data in Google Sheets using machine learning. Instead of relying on lengthy formulas to crunch your numbers, now you can use Explore in Sheets to ask questions and quickly gather insights. Check it out.”
Vice: You Can Now Download Information From Every Congressional Session Since 1973
Vice: You Can Now Download Information From Every Congressional Session Since 1973 . “Since 2009, developers have been able to use the ProPublica Congress API (first developed by The New York Times) to retrieve data about the thousands of bills introduced during every two-year session in the House of Representatives. Until now though, you had to download each piece of information separately, and you needed to know how to write API calls…. That’s no longer the case. Wednesday, ProPublica announced that you can now download all the information about all of the bills in each legislative session using its new bulk bill data set.”
