digital methods and tools for hacking journalism

Digitale methoden en tools

voor datajournalistiek

Anne Helmond, PhD bij het Digital Methods

Initiative, Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Hacking Journalism @SETUP, Utrecht 23 maart 2011

The Digital Methods Initiative is a contribution to

doing research into the "natively digital" where the

focus is on how methods may change, however

slightly or wholesale, owing to the technical

specificities of new media.

nieuwe methoden en tools

voor cultureel en sociaal

onderzoek met het web

digital methods initiative tool database:

tools.digitalmethods.net

digital methods initiative tool database:

tools.digitalmethods.net

research question -> operationalization &

method: often a chain of tools

cablegate

Question: Do the sources acknowledge cablegate?

The Response of the Source

1. Get all links for US embassy websites:

http://www.usembassy.gov/

2. Compile list of embassies mentioned in

cables: http://wikileaks.ch/cablegate.html

3. Compare lists

4. Query mentioned embassies for: wikileaks

"Julian Assange"

Assange

cablegate

5. Get number of cables per embassy

6. Visualize output

aim: get links

tool: link ripper

result: links!

repeat & paste in spreadsheet

aim: get mentioned

us embassies in cables

tool: compare lists

aim: get #nr mentions

tool: googlescraper

result: tagclouds

aim: get most leaked embassy

tool: build on leakfeed API

further analysis

mapping the dutch blogosphere

tool: issuecrawler

tool: issuecrawler

result: map

the historical dutch blogosphere

NL Blogosphere

deceased blogs

tool: linkrippertool: URL responder

A2K Network Geography, April 2007. Data by the Issuecrawler. Visualization by the Issuegeographer. Annotated southern organizations and places.

tool: issuegeographer

tool: wikipedia bot edits scraper

tool: dorling map generator

#iranelectionproject by Esther Weltevrede et al.

tool: twitterscraper

censorship explorer

anne@digitalmethods.net

kthnxbai!

tool wizzard: erik borra

kthxbai!

www.digitalmethods.netanne@digitalmethods.net

tool wizzard: erik borra