The Mobile Challenge for Data Journalism
- 1. The Mobile Challenge for Data Journalism NODA17, Odense 27.1.2017 Ville Manninen & Turo Uskali Department of Languages and Communication University of Jyväskylä Finland
- 2. Introduction • “In the next 12–18 months, many news organizations will cross the 50 percent threshold where more users are visiting on phones and tablets than on desktop computers and laptops.” (Fiona Spruill/New York Times, 2012, Nieman Lab)
- 3. Introduction • “Data journalism needs to go mobile” (Simon Rogers, 2014, Simonrogers.net)
- 4. Introduction • Many newsrooms announced for the first time during 2014 that over 50 percent of their traffic came from mobile devices. (Journalism.org) • Also Google told that more searches are being made on mobile devices than on desktop computers in 2015. (Search Engine Land)
- 5. Introduction • The starting point for this paper is in the claim that journalism research focusing on mobile journalism is still in its infancy. • In similar vein, it can be argued that academic research on data journalism has so far (2010– 2016) mainly focused on data journalism in the desktop era.
- 6. Main concepts • For this paper mobile journalism was defined as journalism tailored for small screens, especially for smartphones. • Data journalism is journalism based on large data sets.
- 7. Main questions and method • Does mobile data journalism exist in the newsrooms? What kind of practices there are? • Interviews of leaders of data journalism teams, data visualisation experts, and data journalism trainers from eight countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US, N=20) during 2016.
- 8. Results
- 9. “Mobile data journalism” • The initial responses to our inquiries regarding “mobile data journalism” were puzzled, or even openly antagonistic. • Several interviewees were either unfamiliar with the concept, or they questioned its usefulness.
- 10. Problems in producing data journalism for mobile devices • Smaller screen size restricts the amount of data that can be fitted onto a single screen. • Fewer data points means fewer and simpler elements. “The more pixels you have available, the more you can show.” (Jan Willem Tulp)
- 11. Problems in producing data journalism for mobile devices • The touchscreen interface restricts the amount of data points and/or the use of interactive features. • Elaborate interactive features can create a problem for information discovery.
- 12. Problems in producing data journalism for mobile devices • Device and setting variety cause some problems with back end development. • What technology can be utilized to enhance the user experience? First and foremost, everything has to work on the mobile platform.
- 13. Opportunities in producing data journalism for mobile devices • Only few interviewees saw the mobile platform to provide new opportunities for the production or presentation of data journalism. • Some points of interest: – Personalisation options – Geolocation – Crowdsourcing – Playfulness
- 14. Opportunities in producing data journalism for mobile devices Personalisation Uutisvahti (News Watch) By Yleisradio
- 15. Opportunities in producing data journalism for mobile devices Geolocation Ålesund Brenner (Ålesund Burns) By Sunnmørsposten
- 16. Opportunities in producing data journalism for mobile devices Crowdsourcing: Suomen leppoisin kunta (Finland’s most easygoing town) by Yleisradio
- 17. In conclusion • The mobile challenge has not yet changed much of the journalistic practices in data journalism - only the end product must be made to conform to the mobile platform. • Data journalists accept mobile devices as the future, but they do not seem to be very excited about it.
- 18. Next • What has happened since spring 2016 in the newsrooms in terms of ”mobile data journalism”. (More interviews during NODA17). • Content analysis of sample of ”mobile data journalism” stories. (So far, N=4). Based on Hans Bredow Institute’s codebook (Loosen et al. 2016)