An epistemological experiment:

issue mapping, data journalism

and the public understanding of
complex issues
27th October 2014, Utrecht Data School, Utrecht University
Liliana Bounegru | lilianabounegru.org | @bb_liliana!
Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org | @jwyg

Gray, J., Bounegru, L. & Chambers, L. (2012) The Data Journalism Handbook.!
Available at: http://datajournalismhandbook.org/

Rogers, R. (2013) Digital Methods.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

An epistemological experiment

social
science
researchers

leading
new ways of
digital
=
covering
newsrooms
complex issues

social
+
science!
researchers

leading
new ways of
digital
=
covering
newsrooms
complex issues

Using digital traces to study the social:

actor-network theory, issue mapping,
digital methods

[T]here is nothing specific to social order; () there is no

social dimension of any sort, no social context, no distinct
domain of reality to which the label social or society could
be attributed; () no social force is available to explain
the residual features other domains cannot account for ()
and () society, far from being the context in which
everything is framed, should rather be constructed as one of
the many connecting elements circulating in tiny conduits
Bruno Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network
Theory (2005)

The social is visible only by the traces it leaves..

Bruno Latour, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network
Theory (2005)

The interest of electronic media lies in the fact

that every interaction that passes through them
leaves traces..
Bruno Latour & Tommaso Venturini, The Social Fabric:
Digital Traces and Quali-quantitative Methods (2009)

Digital methods are methods of the medium

designed to repurpose digital objects such as
tags, likes, links and hashtags to study issues.
Digital Methods Initiative,
University of Amsterdam

Three examples:!
1. climate change negotiations!
2. rise of the far right in Europe!
3. health worker migration

Example #1:!
mapping dominant topics and
countries in UN climate
negotiations

EMAPS (2014) Climaps: A Global Issue Atlas of Climate Change Adaptation!

Available at: http://climaps.org/

Adaptation turn

In what seems like a flash, the climate-change

debate has lurched from talk of mitigation to
one of adaptation.
Leo Hickman, Can carbon offsetting ever be truly green?,
The Guardian, 3rd September 2008.

The Atlantic (2014) The UN's New Focus: Surviving, Not Stopping, Climate Change.
Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/04/the-uns-new-focus-surviving-notstopping-climate-change/359929/

Can the shift from mitigation to adaptation be

observed in the UNFCCC negotiations?

Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) Three Maps and Three
Misunderstandings: A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy. Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/

Findings!
Mitigation is more dominant - the majority of
the clusters are about mitigation.
Mitigation is much more diverse and
distributed.
Adaptation is a much more tightly clustered
topic and highly connected to other topics.

Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) Three Maps and Three
Misunderstandings: A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy. Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/

Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) Three Maps and Three
Misunderstandings: A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy. Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/

Findings!
Both adaptation and mitigation are highly
visible in negotiations.

Adaptation financing has been central to

climate negotiations from the outset.
There is a noticeable shift towards adaptation
during the period we examined.

Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) Three Maps and Three
Misunderstandings: A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy. Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/

Which countries intervene most in UN climate

negotiations and how do these interventions
evolve over time?

Graphing the number of interventions in the

negotiations of the 21 most active countries
based on daily summaries from the Earth
Negotiations Bulletin (ENB)

Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) Three Maps and Three
Misunderstandings: A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy. Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/

Findings!
Notable stability in presence and intervention
of countries.
Notable exceptions include Bolivia and
Philippines who are becoming more prominent
in recent negotiations.
Most active are China (representing G77),
United States and Europe.
Countries tend to be more active when they
host the negotiations.

Venturini, T., Baya-laffite, N., Cointet, J., Gray, I., Zabban, V., & De Pryck, K. (2014) Three Maps and Three
Misunderstandings: A Digital Mapping of Climate Diplomacy. Big Data and Society, 2014, 1(1).
Available at: http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/publications/misunderstandings/

Wired Italia (2014) Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze. March 2014. No. 60.

Wired Italia (2014) Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze. March 2014. No. 60.

Wired Italia (2014) Cambiamenti del clima: 20 anni di conferenze. March 2014. No. 60.

Wired Italia (2014) Beautiful Information, in mostra le migliori infografiche di Wired.

Available at: http://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2014/03/04/beautiful-information-infografiche-wired/

Wired Italia (2014) Beautiful Information, in mostra le migliori infografiche di Wired.

Available at: http://www.wired.it/attualita/media/2014/03/04/beautiful-information-infografiche-wired/

Example #2:!
mapping the rise of the far right
in Europe with the web and
social media

The Guardian (2013) The rise of far right parties across Europe is a chilling echo of the 1930s.
Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/15/far-right-threat-europe-integration

Huffington Post (2014) Sudden Rise of Far Right Groups in EU Parliament Rings Alarm Bells Across
Europe. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elinadav-heymann/sudden-rise-of-far-right_b_5512961.html

New York Times (2014) Populist Party Gaining Muscle to Push Britain to the Right.
Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/world/europe/populist-party-gaining-muscle-to-pushbritain-to-the-right.html

What are the recruitment methods

of far right groups?

Are current recruitment counter-measures

proving effective?

What kinds of issues are most active

amongst far right groups?

How are far right extremist groups connected

to populist right and other right wing groups?

Profiles for 13 European countries.

1. List of links per country

2. Analyse links between them
3. Study issues and actors

Findings
New issues (e.g. environment, antiglobalisation and rights), principles and
recruitment techniques.

Counter-measures are outdated.

!

Islamophobia is located primarily in the North.

Greece: blood and soil and organic markets

Rogers, R. et al (2013) Right-Wing Formations in Europe and Their Counter-Measures: An Online

Mapping. Digital Methods Initiative. https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/RightWingPopulismStudy

Hungary: horse and yurt recruitment festivals

Rogers, R. et al (2013) Right-Wing Formations in Europe and Their Counter-Measures: An Online

Mapping. Digital Methods Initiative. https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/RightWingPopulismStudy

Taking back the yurt?

Counter-Jihadist groups on social media

The Guardian (2012) Far-right anti-Muslim network on rise globally as Breivik trial opens.
Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/14/breivik-trial-norway-mass-murderer

Hope Not Hate (2012) Counter-Jihad Report.

Available at: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/counter-jihad/

Are different Counter-Jihadist groups in

Europe connected? If so how?

Digital Methods Initiative. Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping

the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.

Digital Methods Initiative. Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping

the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.

Findings

Facebook is an important medium for extremist

groups.
!

Three main clusters based on geographical

proximity.
!

European Counter-Jihadist groups are networked

and transnational.

Digital Methods Initiative. Counter-Jihadist Networks: Mapping

the Connections Between Facebook Groups in Europe.

Who are the new leaders?

Findings!
!

Offline leaders are active on Facebook.

!

There are also new emerging online leaders.

!

New technique for identifying online leaders.

Example #3:!
whos talking about health
worker migration?

care drain

Mills et al (2008). Should active recruitment of health workers from !

sub-Saharan Africa be viewed as a crime?. Lancet 2008; 371: 68588.

The Guardian (2011). Assessing the cause and effect of health worker migration.!
Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/global-health-workers/health-workers-move-from-area-of-origin

Health worker migration is a big issue in

2005, it was widely reported that there were
more Malawian doctors in Manchester than
Malawi. Now, it seems, there are more Ethiopian
doctors in Chicago than in Ethiopia.
Sue George, Assessing the cause and effect of health
worker migration, The Guardian, 18th January 2011.

[a 2010 global code of practice] sets out

guiding principles and voluntary international
standards for recruitment of health workers, to
increase the consistency of national policies
and discourage unethical practices
Sue George, Assessing the cause and effect of health
worker migration, The Guardian, 18th January 2011.

Which actors in the UK health sector are

talking about the migration of health workers?

Rogers, R., Sanchez Querubin, N. & Kril, A. (2015) Ageing Places: A Digital Issue Mapping.
Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press.

Findings for UK!

Notable difference between sectors.
Most vocal are government and academia.

Less discussion amongst healthcare NGOs.

Next to no discussion in private sector.

Who is recruiting Polish health workers?

Findings for Poland!

!

Demand for Polish care workers greater

outside country than within.
!

Based on recruitment postings, Poland looks

to be susceptible to care drain.

Rogers, R., Sanchez Querubin, N. & Kril, A. (2015) Ageing Places: A Digital Issue Mapping.
Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press.

Digital tools and methods

Digital Methods Initiative (2014) DMI Tools.!

Available at: http://tools.digitalmethods.net

Sciences Po Media Lab (2014) Tools we develop and tools we use!

Available at: http://tools.medialab.sciences-po.fr/

Netvizz is a tool that extracts data from

different sections of the Facebook platform
(personal profile, groups, pages) for research
purposes.

Rieder, B. (2013). Studying Facebook via data extraction: the Netvizz application. In WebSci '13
Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference (pp. 346-355). New York: ACM.

Netvizz: https://tools.digitalmethods.net/netvizz/facebook/netvizz/

The Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset

(DMI-TCAT) captures tweets and allows for
multiple analyses (hashtags, mentions, users,
search, ...).

Borra, E. & Rieder, B. (2014) Programmed method: developing a toolset for capturing and analyzing
tweets. Aslib Journal of Information Management. Vol. 66 No. 3: 262-278.

TCAT: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolDmiTcat

TCAT: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolDmiTcat

The Issue Crawler is web network location

and visualisation software. It consists of
crawlers, analysis engines and visualisation
modules.

A software tool that locates and visualizes

networks on the web

Issue Crawler: https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/ToolIssueCrawler

Gephi is an interactive visualization and

exploration platform for all kinds of networks
and complex systems, dynamic and
hierarchical graphs.

Gephi: http://gephi.org

Which of these techniques might

be of interest in journalism?

i. Co-occurrence analysis to identify themes

!

ii. Network analysis to identify actors and

sources
!

iii. Hyperlink analysis to explore politics of

association
!

iv. Resonance analysis to identify source

partisanship

social
science
researchers

new ways of
leading!
+
=
covering
digital!
complex issues
newsrooms

Emerging practises and epistemologies

of data journalism

Geeks vs. pundits: !

The clash of two epistemological cultures

"Nate Silver says this is a 73.6 percent chance that the president
is going to win? Nobody in that campaign thinks they have a 73
percent chance they think they have a 50.1 percent chance of
winning. And you talk to the Romney people, its the same thing. .
. . Anybody that thinks that this race is anything but a toss-up
right now is such an ideologue, they should be kept away from
typewriters, computers, laptops and microphones for the next 10
days, because they're jokes." (Joe Scarborough, MSNBC, 2012)

I am Nate Silver, the Lord and God of the Algorithm! (Jon

Stewart, 2012)

The life of data in the newsroom

Objects, too, have agency

Bruno Latour, Reassembling the Social:
An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory (2005)

What journalistic practices, values and

visions are articulated around the use of
data as raw material for reporting?
How are traditional journalistic practices,
values and norms, transformed?

The politics of quantitative

methods in the newsroom

Where do journalists attachments to

particular forms of quantitative analysis
come from?
How are these commitments articulated?
How do they shape the process of
knowledge production and its outcomes?
What quantitative methods are being left
out? (the question of alternative histories)

Rieder, B (2013) Interactive visualization and exploration of network data with Gephi. Presentation from
DMI Summer School. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/digitalmethods/gephi-rieder-23834788

social
science
researchers

leading
new ways of!
digital
=
covering!
newsrooms
complex issues

How might digital and tools methods for

issue mapping be used in journalism to
improve coverage of complex issues?

Opportunities and challenges

Paper for Tow Center for

Digital Journalism

Interviews and discussions with journalists in

Europe and US about issue mapping and
digital tools and methods

Some preliminary findings and reflections

Some different potential uses of digital methods in journalism:

!
Story discovery (news desk/projects)
Internal reference resource (news desk/projects)
Preparation for live coverage (news desk/projects)
Quick/easy tools for journalists (news desk/projects)
Presentational device (interactive/graphics)
Interactive news toys for exploration (interactive)

Some challenges to using digital methods in journalism:

!
Time, resource and budget constraints
Resistance to change in (especially bigger) newsrooms,
hard to introduce new tools/methods
Social scientists often want to capture complexity,
journalists often want to simplify
Tension between traditional journalistic values (recency,
human interest, etc) and research values
Rendering complexity readable and accessible to broader
publics - not just issue experts/researchers
Keeping interactive projects about current events up to
date
Not just tool provision, but also training
Transparency of tools and interpretation of results
Some of tools are complex to install and no web version
available
Speed of using tools as events unfold
Efficiency of these methods compared to others
Hard to find stories in data

Some opportunities for using of digital methods in journalism:

!
Interest in using tools from interactive teams
More newsrooms have been experimenting with related
approaches, still at very early stage
Potential for researchers working with journalists (rather
than issue experts) to help with selection, filtering, framing
and narration
Introducing robust methodology around use of social
media data in newsrooms
Identifying human sources for interviews.
New forms of analysis and verification of sources.
Hyperlink analysis and web data currently very rarely used
in journalism
Low uptake of text-mining and scientometrics tools and
methods
Input/feedback from journalists could feed into existing
software development
New web versions of existing tools (e.g. Gephi)
Using social media and web as data, not just content (to
look at relationships and interactions)

Next steps:
Preliminary report for Tow Center
Embedded experiments in newsrooms
Pilot around Paris 2015 climate negotiations
Toolkit and handbook for journalists

Thank You!
Liliana Bounegru | lilianabounegru.org | @bb_liliana
Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org | @jwyg
Digital Methods Initiative
https://digitalmethods.net

Digital Methods Initiative - Tools

https://tools.digitalmethods.net

Sciences Po mdialab
http://www.medialab.sciences-po.fr/

Sciences Po mdialab - Tools

http://tools.medialab.sciences-po.fr/