Course Description

The course deals with the topics of data and participatory journalism. Today there is a significant availability of data in digital form, which makes necessary the introduction of this form of journalism. Thus, the journalist must be able to find, extract, adapt, visualize and interpret data. In order to succeed in such a task he must possess all the theoretical knowledge concerning data manipulation as well as the necessary ICT skills in order to create data visualizations (static or interactive) that will be embedded in his news articles. As journalism is often approached in theory and research through the lens of audience participation in news production, this course approaches the concept of participation in the media and examines the existing tools in the context of news organizations. Examples of participatory journalism in Greek and international media are analyzed, while the issues that arise and the management methods applied in practice are also studied. Finally, the course provides the opportunity of empirical use and familiarization with participatory applications.

Course Objectives

• Acquire the basic skills in finding and cleaning data sets.
• Comprehend the basic concepts of data visualization.
• Acquire the basic skills of using data visualization web tools.
• Comprehend the role of audience participation in journalism
• Identify media, journalists’ and users’ perceptions on participatory journalism
• Familiarize with participatory environments

Learning Outcomes

1.Define the core concepts of data journalism
2.Working efficient with data sets
3.Build on data visualization with advanced web tools
4.Define the core concepts of participatory journalism
5.Recognize participatory tools and applications
6.Manage user-generated content in a media environment

Course Format

This course will employ seminar lectures, laboratory presentations, discussions, laboratory exercises and a final data project.

Workload

Assessment

Recommended Reading

• 1. • The Data Journalism Handbook 2, Jonathan Gray Liliana Bounegru, https://bit.ly/DataJournalismHandbook2_EN
     • Data Journalism Handbook, Jonathan Gray, Liliana Bounegru, Lucy Chambers, https://bit.ly/DataJournalismHandbook1_EN
     • Interactive Data Visualization for the Web, Scott Murray, O Reilly 2010.
     • Data Journalism: Mapping the future, John Mair, Richard Lance Keeble, Abramis Academic Publishing, 2014.
     • Data Journalism Heist, Paul Bradshaw, LeanPub 2013. Scraping for Journalists, Paul Bradshaw, LeanPub 2014.
     • Finding Stories with Spreadsheets, Paul Bradshaw, LeanPub, 2015
     • Ahva, L. (2019). Five things we should learn from the messiness of participation. Journalism Practice, 13(8), 936-940. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1647115
     • Borger, M., van Hoof, A., & Sanders, J. (2016). Expecting reciprocity: Towards a model of the participants’ perspective on participatory journalism. New Media & Society, 18(5), 708-725. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814545842
     • Carpentier, N. (2016). Beyond the ladder of participation: An analytical toolkit for the critical analysis of participatory media processes. Javnost – The Public, 23(1), 70-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2016.1149760
     • Engelke, Κ. M. (2019). Online participatory journalism: A systematic literature review. Media and Communication, 7(4), 31-44. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i4.2250
     • Saridou, T. & Veglis, A. (2021). Exploring participatory journalism through the integration of user-generated content in media organizations. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, 5th edition, (pp. 1152-1163). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3479-3
     • Singer, J. B., Hermida, A., Domingo, D., Heinonen, A., Paulussen, S., Quandt, T., Reich, Z., & Vujnovic, M. (2011). Participatory journalism. Guarding open gates at online newspapers. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.