How do you get your news? Paper, internet, twitter?
The word data inevitably creates image of numbers and statistics but those numbers are now able to tell a story. In the past many would argue newspapers were the way forward, but not today, with our many digital media, news stories are rolling as events happen from sources through networks of social connections. This is why today we have 'Data Journalism'. The increase of digital technologies allow numerical data to be used for information distribution through Infographics.
Infographics are presentations of data intending to show complex information in a clear, and understanding way. They also present the information in a more interesting manor than just long winded text. In newspapers, Infographics are commonly used to show the weather, as well as maps, site plans, and graphs for statistical data.
A journalists job is to provide the correct information to the public, however, they are also in competition to find the best, newest and most newsworthy stories first before their colleagues or rivals. Using data can help perform this investigation. Knowing the data of information can give another angle on a story. We are always after a new angle, therefore, we need to know our data.
Las Vegas Sun’s 2010 Do No Harm series on hospital care
The
Sun news found more than 2.9 million hospital bill records, which revealed 3600
preventable injuries, infections and surgical mistakes and identified more than
300 cases in which patients died. It is easy to understand the information this
way, and had real impact on the public.
Although data is hard to
understand and quite difficult to place into visualization however,
journalists are able to look beyond the confusion to find the secret stories.
Data journalism could be the future of news.
