The expanding world of open data journalism

By Alex Howard

From healthcare to finance to emergency response, data holds immense potential to help citizens and government. Putting data to work for the public good, however, will require data journalists to apply the powerful emerging tools in the newsroom stack to the explosion of information from government, business and their fellow citizens. The promise of data journalism has been a strong theme throughout the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting’s (NICAR) 2012 conference.

It was in that context that I presented upon “Open Data Journalism” this morning, which, to paraphrase Jonathan Stray, I’d define as obtaining, reporting upon, curating and publishing open data in the public interest. My slides, which broadly describe what I’m seeing in the world of open government today, are embedded below.

NICAR: Open government, Gov 2.0 and open data journalism

View more PowerPoint from Alexander Howard

About Alex Howard

Alexander B. Howard is a DC-based a technology writer and editor. Previously, he was the Washington Correspondent at O'Reilly Media, where he covered the voices, technologies and issues that matter in the intersection of government, technology and society. If you're feeling social, you can follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook or circle him on Google Plus In addition to corresponding for the O’Reilly Radar, he has contributed to the Huffington Post, Govfresh, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, National Journal, The Atlantic, CBS News and Forbes. He graduated from Colby College with a bachelor's degree in biology and sociology. Currently, he is a resident of the District of Columbia, where he lives with his greyhound, wife, power tools, plants and growing collection of cast iron pans, many of which are frequently used to pursue his passion for good cooking.

1 Response

  1. Policy update Feb 2012

    […] Updating a story we have been following – Google, Facebook Censor Themselves in India After Court Order.  Globally though, the Internet is making a deep impact.  Internet protests could be equalizer . In the EU, there is a call for a single open data licence: we want a single #opendata license   And in New York, since 2010, New York City has strived to become a global digital leader. How New York City Went Digital in 2011 is a great overview of what NY city is doing. And Open data journalism becomes significant – The expanding world of open data journalism […]

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