The Migrants' Files
#MigrantsFiles unpacked
Jacopo Ottaviani – @JacopoOttaviani
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1st investigation (March, 2014): "Counting the dead"
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2nd investigation (18 June 2015): "The money trail"
#MigrantsFiles team
in numbers
- 2 main investigations
- Counting the dead
- The money trail
- 15+ media outlets involved in the co-publication
- 20+ data journalists and coders from 15 countries
- 1 centralised project management (Journalism++)
Key data sources for "Counting the dead"
- 3 data sources combined:
- Fortress Europe by Gabriele del Grande
- United for Intercultural Action network of NGOs
- Puls, a project run by the University of Helsinki
- On-going: the team continues to collect intelligence on the deaths of Europe’s would-be emigrants, mainly from news
Key insights from "Counting the dead"
- 31,478 dead and missing from 1/2000 to 11/2015
- Main (known) causes of death: Drowning and starvation
- 2011, 2014 and 2015 deadliest years
- Data: http://bit.ly/tmf-1-data
Some data sources for "The Money Trail"
- Eurostat & European institutions (e.g. Eulisa)
- National administrations
- Lunaria.org report
- Middle East Institute (mei.edu)
- News (for amounts paid to smugglers)
- Data: http://bit.ly/tmf-2-data
Key insights from "The Money Trail"
- 11.3 billion euro spent by EU to close deport migrants
- 1.6 billion euro spent by EU to develop technologies to protect its frontiers
- Over the past 15 years, refugees have paid a staggering 15.7 billion euro to travel to Europe (excluding flights)
- Project examples: drones, walls, boats given to the Libyan govt, robots and sniffing sensors
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TMF methodology and sourcecodes:
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Github:
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http://bit.ly/tmf-methodology
- https://github.com/jplusplus/themigrantsfiles.com
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Columbia Journalism Review
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- http://bit.ly/cjr-tmf
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NiemanLab
- bit.ly/niemanlab-cross-border-j
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Like a mosaic: took different pieces (data), composed them together (merge), removed those that did not fit (i.e. de-duplication)
and showed the result (visualisation)
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But also on Twitter @MigrantsFiles
All #MigrantsFiles are released under Open Database License.
Main audiences
- International media (multi-lingual, cross-european)
- NGOs
- European Union and EU institutions
- Aimed at raising awareness in the Global North and becoming a tool for advocacy
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Cecilia Malmström: Swedish politician who has served as EC for Trade since 2014, having previously served as European Commissioner for Home Affairs from 2010 to 2014
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www.TheMigrantsFiles.com
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Why TMF is good for the general audience too:
- Data helps to get the right sense of proportion
- Provides a bird's eye view on migration in Europe
- Moves the debate's axis from "opinions" to "facts"
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DESPERATE CROSSING – New York Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/03/magazine/migrants.html
All data, references and stories here:
Thank you!
Questions?
Twitter @JacopoOttaviani
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