INTRO to

Data Journalism

Agustin Armendariz and Kendall Taggart

(h/t Jennifer LaFleur)

At the University of South Carolina, March 2014

Why should you care?

13 percent unemployment rate for 20-24 year olds

Basic data analysis skills will help get you a job

#Nicar14 job board

Why data journalism?

Powerful figures are in the data

EXAMPLE: Wasted in Wisconsin

EXAMPLE: ESPN examines stadium food

Finding: At 28 percent of the venues, more than half of the concession stands or restaurants had been cited for at least one "critical" or "major" health violation.

WHy data journalism?

Powerful figures are in the data

Pattern recognition: it takes you beyond an anecdote

EXAMPLE: Associated press follows stimulus money

Combining datasets: Bridge inspections + stimulus funding

FINDING: Some of the nation's worst bridges did not get stimulus funding.

EXAMPLE: PRIME HEALTHCARE

There is news in the outliers.

Caution: this slide contains extreme nerdiness - it's Lafleur's fault

WHY Data Journalism?

Powerful figures are in the data

Pattern recognition: it takes you beyond an anecdote

Test assumptions

EXAMPLE: NPR

EXAMPLE: California Watch

California has the toughest building regulations.

Schools must be safe.

why data journalism?

Powerful figures are in the data

Pattern recognition: it takes you beyond an anecdote

Test assumptions

A key skill to be able to hold government accountable

EXAMPLE: THE Center for investigative Reporting

Press releases disproportionately highlight Mexican citizens

4 of 5 Border Patrol drug busts involve US citizens

WHY Data Journalism?

Powerful figures are in the data

Pattern recognition: it takes you beyond an anecdote

Test assumptions

A key skill to be able to hold government accountable

Enable people to make stories relevant to their own situation

EXAMPLE: Opiate Prescriptions

eXAMPLE: California watch

Schools in our area with faulty construction

eXAMPLE: Propublica

Developing A data Frame of mind

If something is:

inspected
licensed
purchased
enforced

...there is probably a database

DEVELOPING DATA FRAME OF MIND

If there is:

a form
a report

...there is probably a database

Example:

DEVELOPing a data frame of mind

Sun Sentinel looks at speeding cops

Is there a sensor?

Where do you find data?

Online: easy to download or requires scraping

SOME DATA AVAILABLE ONLINE:

WHERE do you find data?

Online: easy to download or requires scraping

Sometimes you have to create your own data

example: creating your own data

University of California Los Angeles expense report

EXAMPLE: CREATING YOUR OWN DATA

Where do you find data?

Online: easy to download or requires scraping

Sometimes you have to create your own data

Usually, it requires a request to a government agency

Requesting data

Sample state and federal FOIAs are available at:

All states: http://www.nfoic.org/state-sample-foia-request-letters
Federal: http://www.nfoic.org/sample-foia-request-letters

NFOIC also has a list of FOIA experts in each state available on its website.

requesting data

Dealing with pushback

Common excuses:

• It’ll be really expensive.

• It’s too complicated for you to understand.

• It’s too big a dataset.

• It contains private information.

• Privatization – a third party company controls the database.

Requesting data

Strategies:

Know the law
Speak nerd
Request an itemized breakdown of costs
Write about it:

Tools for data analysis:

Spreadsheets (Excel)
Databases (Access, SQlite, MySQL)
Statistics (Excel, R, SPSS, Pandas)
Mapping (Fusion Tables, QGIS, ArcGIS)
Programming (Python, Ruby)

Questions?

Augie:

email: aarmendariz@cironline.org

phone: 510.809.3173

@agustincir

Kendall:

email: ktaggart@cironline.org

phone: 510.809.2204

@KendallTTaggart