Blog Post

ICFJ Organizes “CodeCamp for the Globe” to Strengthen Citizen Voices Through Data

From May 19 through 30, 2014, ICFJ brought together experts from around the world to the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy to find ways to use data to advance quality journalism. Ben Colmery helped organize this key summit.

His report:

There is no question that open data is opening new doors to improve people’s lives. Initiatives by governments, multilateral organizations, NGOs and hacker groups have bolstered its potential by creating a flood of data and apps.

But what, of it all, has shown tangible success? What works, what doesn’t?

Calling All Journalism Professors!

The International Center for Journalists is on to something big with its Back in the Newsroom Fellowship. As one of five professors from historically black colleges selected to participate in the program, the benefit of the exposure just in the first few weeks alone has been immeasurable.

The fellowship draws educators out from behind the walls of their institutions of higher learning and pushes them into the open universe of digital content generation.

São Paulo’s Mural Blog Helps Citizens Shed Light on Neglected Communities

For more than three years, the blog Mural has practiced collaborative journalism, run away from stereotypes and sought quality in local coverage.

Community journalism, citizen journalism, hyperlocal journalism, nonprofit journalism. I do not accept any of these labels. In my assessment, what the correspondents for the blog Mural have done for more than three years is good-quality journalism. Good journalism. Period.

How HacksLabs Will Accelerate Data-Driven News Startups in Latin America

The idea for HacksLabs, a new platform to accelerate data-driven journalism startups, comes from years of frustration and wasted energy.

At every meeting, hackathon or workshop, startups and ideas were born and quickly faded. Traditional media were in crisis because of falling print revenues and an unwillingness to produce interactive and data-driven journalism.

How To Make Open Data Relevant to the Public

It’s time to transform open data from a trendy concept among policy wonks and news nerds into something tangible to everyday life for citizens, businesses and grassroots organizations. Here are some ideas to help us get there:
**1.

To Cover Health Effectively, Journalists Must Look at the Big Picture

When a new health initiative is announced, journalists too often think they have an easy story to tell. They can quote officials on what the project will do and how quickly they expect it to eradicate a disease or improve the health of the people.

But if reporters think they are telling the whole story, they need to think again. These initiatives do not exist in isolation. Placing the new plan in context, and especially explaining where it fits within the overall health system, is critical to informing the public.

Women in Tech Seek Solutions to Shortage of Drinkable Water

There is nothing more essential to life than water. Yet in Costa Rica, potable water is in short supply, even for people living close to the country’s world-famous beaches.

I thought, what better way to help the media find out why water-distribution systems fail and identify solutions than by bringing journalists, data-visualization experts and developers to a place that struggles to maintain a regular supply of clean water? So we held Chicas Poderosas on the Beach, a meetup in Nicoya, Costa Rica.

Brazilian Data Journalists Shed Light on Amazon Rainforest Development

The prediction of two icons of the communications field—that journalists would become data wranglers—is rapidly becoming a reality.

Why Journalists Need to Understand “The Data on our Data”

Now that we know that Dropbox snoops in our files and that Google shares our data with the NSA and the FBI, journalists must acquire new skills to avoid leaving a trace behind or let others track anonymous sources.

Why Data Ownership Matters to Journalism

The narrative about big data often focuses on their vigor and potential. The possibilities of using big data for civic good are, in fact, exciting. Big data are used for everything from improving crisis response during natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy to providing mobile banking to Africa’s poorest citizens.