As Zach Beauvais points out in his post for the ReadWriteWeb, it’s not new that facts are crucial to journalism.
“But as we move further into the 21st century, we will have to increasingly rely on ‘data’ to feed our stories, to the point that ‘data-driven reporting’ becomes second nature to journalists.”
“The shift from facts to data is subtle and makes perfect sense. You could that say data are facts, with the difference that they can be computed, analyzed, and made use of in a more abstract way, especially by a computer.”
Journalism.co.uk is extremely interested in the #datajourn discussion.
Computer-assisted reporting is also nothing new, the use of data in journalism is not particularly radical, but new developments in technology, mindset, and accessibility mean that data-sets will have a new place in the profession.
Join the conversation and please get in touch with your thoughts: judith@journalism.co.uk.