Another Word For It Patrick Durusau on Topic Maps and Semantic Diversity

May 10, 2016

Panama Papers and “radical sharing” (Greed By Another Name)

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:03 pm

Alicia Shepard in A few weeks after the Panama Papers’ release, The New York Times and Washington Post start digging in caught me off guard with:

Many newspapers aren’t comfortable with ICIJ’s “radical sharing” concept.

Suspecting Alicia was using “sharing” to mean something beyond my experience, I had to read her post!

Alicia explains the absence of the New York Times and the Washington Post from the initial reporting on the Panama Papers saying:

Why weren’t the Times or the Post included originally? Walker said that, in general, many newspapers are not comfortable with ICIJ’s “radical sharing” concept, in which all journalists who agree to collaborate must promise to share their reporting, protect confidentiality, not share the data, and publish when ICIJ gives the go-ahead.

I see. “Radical sharing,” means collaborating on research, a good thing, protecting confidentiality, another good thing, then being bound to not share the data (restricting the data to ICIJ approved participants), a bad thing, and publishing when allowed by the ICIJ, another bad thing.

Not what I would consider “radical” sharing but I can see why newspapers, like many traditional publishers, fear the sharing of research. Even though sharing of research in other areas has been proven to float all boats higher.

The lizard brain reflex against sharing still dominates in many areas of human endeavor. News reporting in particular.

Alicia also quotes Marina Walker saying:

“We are excited to be working with The New York Times and The Washington Post, two of the world’s best newspapers,” said Marina Walker, deputy director of the Washington, D.C.–based ICIJ. “Both of them signed up at more or less the same time, two or three weeks ago. Both teams were recently trained by ICIJ researchers and reporters on how to use the data and we continue to assist them as needed, like we do with other partners. So far, so good.”

The “smoking gun” for my suggestion in Panama Papers – Shake That Money Maker that the ICIJ are hoarding the Panama Papers for their own power and profit.

The ICIJ wants control over the data, realizing that training and assistance are never free, to dictate who sees the data and when they can publish using the data.

Combine that with the largest data leak to date and the self-service nature of the claim the data might reveal the leaker becomes self-evident.

Hoarding data for profit is, as I have said, understandable and to some degree even reasonable.

But let’s have that conversation and not one based on specious claims about a leaker’s or public’s interest.

PS: Getting to dictate to the Washington Post and the New York Times must be heady stuff.

PPS: Any Panama Paper secondary leakers yet?

May 6, 2016

Hoarding of Panama Papers Weakens – Prosecutors, Maybe …

Filed under: Journalism,News,Panama Papers,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 3:11 pm

Panama Papers Source Offers Documents To Governments, Hints At More To Come

From the post:

The anonymous whistleblower behind the Panama Papers has conditionally offered to make the documents available to government authorities.

In a statement issued to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the so-called “John Doe” behind the biggest information leak in history cites the need for better whistleblower protection and has hinted at even more revelations to come.

Titled “The Revolution Will Be Digitized” the 1800-word statement gives justification for the leak, saying that “income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time” and says that government authorities need to do more to address it.

Süddeutsche Zeitung has authenticated that the statement came from the Panama Papers source. The statement in full:

As I pointed out in Panama Papers – Shake That Money Maker and $230 Billion Impact of Partial Use of Panama Papers, doing more than profiting Süddeutsche Zeitung and others requires releasing the Panama Papers to legal authorities.

My suggestion did not influence the relaxing of the hoarding of the Panama Papers but I welcome the move.

The full statement of “John Doe” throws Süddeutsche Zeitung a bone and says they have rightly refused to release the leak to authorities.

I’m sure you are as curious as I am about that statement.

BTW, if and when the Panama Papers are leaked to one or more governments, be on guard for fake Panama Papers which are infectious, etc. Possibly even those leaked by governments.

Leaks can always have malicious content but purported high visibility leaks perhaps more than others.

May 5, 2016

$230 Billion Impact of Partial Use of Panama Papers

Filed under: Journalism,News,Panama Papers,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 3:17 pm

The Value of Offshore Secrets – Evidence from the Panama Papers by James O’Donovan, Hannes F. Wagner, Stefan Zeume.

O’Donovan and colleagues find the keyhole view of the Panama Papers has erased $230 Billion in market capitalization among the firms exposed by those papers.

Imagine the impact if:

  • The Panama Papers were released to prosecutors charged with enforcing laws violated by the named firms and people.
  • Thousands of people, not < 400, were combining the Panama Papers with data on the named firms and individuals.

Until there is a full release, or a secondary leak, of the Panama Papers, we may never know.

Abstract:

We use the data leak of the Panama Papers on April 3, 2016 to study whether and how the use of offshore vehicles affects valuation around the world. The data leak made transparent the operations of more than 214,000 shell companies incorporated in tax havens by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The Panama Papers implicate a wide range of firms, politicians, and other individuals around the globe to have used secret offshore vehicles. Allegations include tax evasion, financing corruption, money laundering, violation of sanctions, and hiding other activities. We find that, around the world, the data leak erased an unprecedented risk-adjusted US$230 billion in market capitalization among 1,105 firms with exposure to the revelations of the Panama Papers. Firms with subsidiaries in Panama, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, or the Seychelles – representing 90% of the tax havens used by Mossack Fonseca – experienced an average drop in firm value of 0.5%-0.6% around the data leak. We also find that firms operating in perceivably corrupt countries – particularly in those where high-ranked government officials were implicated by name in the leaked data – suffered a similar decline in firm value. Further, firms operating both in Mossack Fonseca’s primary tax havens and in countries with implicated politicians experienced the largest negative abnormal returns. For instance, firms linked to Mossack Fonseca’s tax havens and operating in Iceland experienced negative abnormal returns of -1.4%; the data leak revealed that Iceland’s Prime Minister failed to disclose beneficial interest in a British Virgin Islands incorporated shell company. Overall, our estimates suggest that investors perceive the leak to destroy some of the value generated from offshore activity.

Want your leak hoarded for personal gain?

I think you know the lesson the Panama Papers teaches.

April 29, 2016

Privacy Protects Murderers

Filed under: Journalism,News,Privacy,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 9:06 pm

What a broad shadow “privacy” can cast.

A week or so ago, Keeping Panama Papers Secret? Law Firms, Journalists and Privacy, I was pointing out the specious “we’re protecting privacy claims” of Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Now, the United States cites “privacy concerns” in not revealing the identities of sixteen military personnel who murdered 42 people and wounded 37 others in an attack on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan last year. US: Afghan MSF hospital air strike was not a war crime

The acts of aircraft crews may not be war crimes, they can only function based on the information they are given by others, but the casual indifference that resulted in wholly inadequate information systems upon which they relied, certainly could result in command level charges of war crimes.

Moving war crimes charges upon the chain of command could well result in much needed accountability.

But, like the case with Suddeutsche Zeitung, accountability is something that is desired for others. Never for those calling upon privacy.

April 28, 2016

Reporting U.S Industry’s Tantrum-By-Proxy

Filed under: Government,Journalism,News,Politics,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 8:41 pm

Captured U.S. Trade Agency Resorts to Bullying Again in 2016 Special 301 Report by Jeremy Malcolm.

Jeremy does a great job dissecting the latest tantrum-by-proxy of U.S. industry, delivered by the United States Trade Representative. But, it’s hardy news that the USTR is a captive of the U.S. entertainment and Big Pharma.

No, the news waits until the last paragraph of Jeremy’s post:

… the foreign press often wrongly reports on the Special 301 as if it were more than just a unilateral wish-list from certain U.S. industries. The result is foreign governments coming under unfair pressure to amend their laws and to divert enforcement resources, without any international obligation for them to do so….

That’s news and it is something that can be addressed, by ordinary readers.

First, readers fluent in languages other than English should seek out non-U.S. news reporting on the most recent U.S. industry tantrum-by-proxy report.

You can refer to it by its formal title, 2016 Special 301 Report, but always include (U.S. industry tantrum-by-proxy report) as an alternative title.

Second, use the Jeremy’s post and compare the resources he cites to non-U.S. press reports. Contact reporters to correct stories that don’t point out entertainment or big pharma origins of those claims.

Reporters are always over-worked and under-resourced so be polite, brief and specific about your corrections and how they can verify the correctness of your statements.

It may well be that the same actors who have corrupted the United States Trade Representative (USTR) are the same ones putting pressure on a foreign government. Which makes reporting of undue influence on trade issues even more important.

Third, remember that taking legal advice from the world’s largest arms dealer, the architect of trade agreements that favor corporations over natural persons, the tireless servant of U.S. business interests, is like getting career counseling from a pimp. Your best interest isn’t upper most in their mind.

Panama Papers – Shake That Money Maker

Filed under: Journalism,News,Panama Papers,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 2:28 pm

ICIJ to Release Panama Papers Offshore Companies Data by Marina Walker Guevara.

From the post:

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists will release on May 9 a searchable database with information on more than 200,000 offshore entities that are part of the Panama Papers investigation.

While the database opens up a world that has never been revealed on such a massive scale, the application will not be a “data dump” of the original documents – it will be a careful release of basic corporate information .

ICIJ won’t release personal data en masse; the database will not include records of bank accounts and financial transactions, emails and other correspondence, passports and telephone numbers. The selected and limited information is being published in the public interest.

Meanwhile ICIJ, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung which received the leak, and other global media partners, including several new outlets in countries where ICIJ has not been able to report, will continue to investigate and publish stories in the weeks and months to come. (emphasis added)

A teaser from ICIJ.

ICIJ is shaking the Panama Papers as a money maker.

Here a video depiction:

I don’t object to ICIJ and its 400 or so blessed journalists making money from the Panama Papers.

A lot of money has been invested in making the data dump useful and profits here will support more investigations in the future.

Admitting profit is driving the concealment of the Panama Papers enables a rational discussion on releasing the data dump.

For example, when law enforcement authorities request copies of data relevant to their jurisdictions, they should have to pay for the research to segregate and package those files, along with agreements to not post publicly post them for some set time.

In terms of public access, Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)/ICIJ has had these documents for more than a year. Two years from the first publication, how much low-lying fruit could be left? Especially given the need to re-process the raw data to explore it.

Reasonable profits are necessary and just, hoarding (think monopoly/anti-trust) and avoiding accountability are not.

April 26, 2016

Open Data Institute – Join From £1 (Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), “Nein!”)

Filed under: Journalism,News,Open Data,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:28 pm

A new offer for membership in the Open Data Institute:

Data impacts everybody. It’s the infrastructure that underpins transparency, accountability, public services, business innovation and civil society.

Together we can embrace open data to improve how we access healthcare services, discover cures for diseases, understand our governments, travel around more easily and much, much more.

Are you eager to learn more about it, collaborate with it or meet others who are already making a difference with it? From just £1 join our growing, collaborative global network of individuals, students, businesses, startups and organisations, and receive:

  • invitations to events and open evenings organised by the ODI and beyond
  • opportunities to promote your own news and events across the network
  • updates up to twice a month from the world of data and open innovation
  • 30% discount on all our courses
  • 20% reduction on our annual ODI Summit

Become a member from £1

I’d like to sign my organisation up

If you search for Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), the hoarders of the Panama Papers, you will come up empty.

SZ is in favor of transparency and accountability, but only for others. Never for SZ.

SZ claims in some venues to be concerned with the privacy of individuals mentioned in the Panama Papers.

How to judge between privacy rights of individuals, parties to looting nations, against the public’s right to judge reporting on the same? How is financial regulation reform possible without the details?

SZ is comfortable with protecting looters of nations and obstructing meaningful financial reform.

You can judge news media by the people they protect.

One Data Journalism Toolkit

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 7:58 am

A Data Journalism Expert’s Personal Toolkit by Duc Quang Nguyen.

From the post:


I was interested to review my own toolkit. Spoiler alert — this post is code-centric and will mention R a lot. This is just because I am familiar with it. I do not think everybody should necessarily use my workflow. I will not discuss much Excel, Python, Javascript, … I am well aware, however, that they are more typically used in ddj.

Before I dive into my typical workflow and tools for 2016 so far, I should mention that I work as the sole data journalist in my newsroom. It is more common in news outlets to have data/visual journalism teams, with people specialized in specific sub-areas of data-driven journalism. My workflow is pretty much data journalism on a shoe string.

Also, by ideology and because I am a nerd, I use (nearly) solely open-source free tools. Again, it is just because these are what I am more familiar with. But if there was a proprietary framework with which I can do things faster and better, I would switch in a heartbeat.

Your starting toolkit may not have all the capabilities of Nguyen’s toolkit but it is a good target to grow towards.

Start from your everyday needs and workflow and then select tools that meet those needs and workflow. Many fine tools won’t suit your present needs and there’s no shame in that. You will be far better off mastering tools that do meet your current needs.

Enjoy!

April 25, 2016

Peda(bot)bically Speaking:…

Filed under: Journalism,Machine Learning,News,Reporting,Twitter — Patrick Durusau @ 8:32 pm

Peda(bot)bically Speaking: Teaching Computational and Data Journalism with Bots by Nicholas Diakopoulos.

From the post:

Bots can be useful little creatures for journalism. Not only because they help us automate tasks like alerting and filtering, but also because they encapsulate how data and computing can work together, in service of automated news. At the University of Maryland, where I’m a professor of journalism, my students are using the power of news bots to learn concepts and skills in computational journalism—including both editorial thinking and computational thinking.

Hmmm, bot that filters all tweets that don’t contain a URL? (To filter cat pics and the like.) 😉

Or retweets tweets with #’s that trigger creation of topics/associations?

I don’t think there is a requirement that hashtags be meaningful to others. Yes?

Sounds like a great class!

Panama Papers: Süddeutsche Zeitung’s (SZ) Claims “National Security,” Press Plays Dead

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 7:29 pm

“National security” is the battle cry of governments seeking to conceal materials from the public.

In an odd turn of events, Süddeutsche Zeitung‘s (SZ), the recipient of the Panama Papers leak, claims the equivalent of national security to withhold the leaked data.

No one doubts the obligation of Süddeutsche Zeitung to protect the identity of the leaker, but specious logic leads SZ astray:

“As journalists, we have to protect our source: we can’t guarantee that there is no way for someone to find out who the source is with the data. That’s why we can’t make the data public,” the team said during an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit, which included journalist Bastian Obermayer, who was first contacted by the anonymous source.

“You don’t harm the privacy of people, who are not in the public eye. Blacking out private data is a task that would require a lifetime of work – we have eleven million documents,” the unit added.

Change SZ to the United States government, any government, and play back the argument:

Out of 11.5 million documents “…we can’t guarantee that there is no way for someone to find out who the source is with the data. That’s why we can’t make the data public….

A twitter storm of mockery would follow along with Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

Süddeutsche Zeitung makes such an absurd claim and the press responds with:

(dead air)

All Süddeutsche Zeitung can guarantee is their secrecy:

… prevents the general public from checking government abuses of power and participating in democratic deliberation over the optimal [financial regulation] policies. page 817 Secrecy and National Security Investigations by Nathan Alexander Sales.

And the public cannot hold Süddeutsche Zeitung and others responsible for who have not been named in current reports.

Has anyone mentioned Süddeutsche Zeitung remains in possession of a treasure trove that will see present cub reporters past retirement?

One of the righteous 400 journalists with access to the Panama Papers needs to complete the leaking process. Empower the public to reach its own conclusions. Aided by the independent press but not dependent upon it.

Leak the leak!

April 24, 2016

Criticizing Erdoğan

Filed under: Free Speech,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 8:31 pm

Dutch journalist arrested in Turkey for criticising Erdoğan.

From the post:

A Dutch journalist was arrested early on Sunday at her home in Turkey for tweets deemed critical of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to her Twitter account.

“Police at the door. No joke,” wrote Ebru Umar, a well-known atheist and feminist journalist of Turkish origin.

If the story wasn’t disturbing enough, it concludes:


Trials in Turkey for insulting Erdoğan have multiplied since his election to the presidency in August 2014, with nearly 2,000 such cases currently open.

I started this post to ask for suggested criticisms of or insults for Erdoğan in Turkish.

But my criticisms and/or insults, in English and/or Turkish, aren’t going to burden Erdoğan or those using big data to track all the criticisms/insults. What’s one more?

Saying that I support those who criticize and/or insult Erdoğan is true, but again, that’s no skin off of Erdoğan and his overworked criticism/insult trackers. They must have NSA-sized cloud space just to keep up with the ones in Turkish.

Whatever the Turkish equivalent of “asshole” is, every occurrence in print or speech is likely a direct and/or indirect reference to Erdoğan. That is by definition a big data problem.

With his sensitivity to criticism and insults, how would Erdoğan react to all the banks in Turkey going dark? All of them. Turkish and foreign.

The banking/business community would take that to reflect unfavorably on Erdoğan. Yes?

Therefore, avoiding that sort of problem, would be good planning on the part of Erdoğan. Which would include ending and apologizing for all the past and present insult/criticism charges.

It isn’t the case that “…business as usual…” is an absolute, “…business as usual…” is an indulgence of those who control the switches and hubs of modern communication and networking.

Erdoğan has voluntarily departed from the norms expected for “…business as usual….” Let’s all hope that he quickly and voluntarily returns to expected norms of civilized behavior. For the banks sake if no one else’s.

PS: It would require more planning and expertise than defacing a KKK website (or Denver’s) but where’s the challenge in twitting racists?

April 22, 2016

Uniting Journalists and Hackers?

Filed under: Crowd Sourcing,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 9:59 am

Kevin Gosztola’s post: US News Editors Find It Increasingly Difficult to Defend First Amendment is very sad, especially where he covers the inability to obtain records/information:


Forty-four percent of editors indicated their news organization was less able to go on the offense and sue to open up access to information.

“Newspaper-based (and especially TV-based) companies have tougher budgets and are less willing to spend on lawyers to challenge sunshine and public records violations,” one editor acknowledged.

Another editor declared, “The loss of journalist jobs and publishers’ declining profits means there’s less opportunity to pursue difficult stories and sue for access to information.” The costs of litigation constrain organizations.

“Government agencies are well aware that we do not have the money to fight. More and more, their first response to our records request is, ‘Sue us if you want to get the records,’” one editor stated.

What if the journalism and hacker communities can unite to change:

‘Sue us if you want to get the records’

into a crowd-sourced:

‘Hack us if you want to get the records’

The effectiveness of crowd-sourcing requires no documentation.

Public service hacking by crowds of hackers would greatly reduce the legal fees expended to obtain records.

There are two elements missing for effective crowd-sourced hacking in support of journalists:

  1. Notice of what records journalists want.
  2. Disconnecting hackers from journalists.

Both elements could be satisfied by a public records request board that enables journalists to anonymously request records and allows anonymous responses with pointers to the requested records.

If subpoenaed, give the authorities the records that were posted anonymously. (One assumes hackers won’t leave their fingerprints on them.)

There may be such a notice board already frequented by journalists and hackers so please pardon my ignorance if that is the case.

From Kevin’s post I got the impression that isn’t the case.

PS: If you have ethical qualms about this approach, recall the executive branch decided to lie at will to judicial fact-finders, thereby rendering judicial review a farce. They have no one but themselves to blame for suggestions to by-pass that process.

April 20, 2016

Are Your Users Idiots?

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:59 pm

Here is a flowchart designed to prove to the news industry their audiences aren’t idiots:

newspaper-flowchart

Apologies, you will have to select the image to see a legible view of it.

The article, A serious problem the news industry does not talk about by Jennifer Barndel, has this section heading:

The culture of journalism breeds disdain for the people we’re meant to be serving, i.e., the audience.

While I recommend this article to journalists, programmers, lawyers, judges, agency heads, etc., could all profit from reading it and substituting their stories and vocabularies into it.

It really isn’t the case that your “audience” is stupid, in the overwhelming majority of the cases they don’t know what you know. Either specific facts or context in which to understand those facts.

Of course I should listen to my own advice when I chide the EU, but I despise provincialism almost as I do willful ignorance. That’s an excuse, not a justification.

Read Jennifer’s post as though it is speaking of your audience/users. It may present opportunities for growth you (and I) have overlooked.

April 17, 2016

Keeping Panama Papers Secret? Law Firms, Journalists and Privacy

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 3:55 pm

Panama battle looms as HMRC demands leaked data is handed over to pursue tax fraudsters by Alex Hawkes.

From the post:

British tax authorities are heading for a showdown with the media groups behind the Panama Papers exposé, demanding they hand over the cache of documents.

The Government has pledged £10million for a task-force to investigate the Panama data, but it is understood the authorities have so far only managed to get hold of some of the 11.5million documents.

Revenue & Customs told The Mail on Sunday it was ‘determined’ to get hold of the leaked information to pursue criminal investigations against tax fraudsters and would ‘explore every avenue, nationally and internationally’.

t said: ‘While we appreciate that the media is not an arm of law enforcement, given the seriousness of the allegations that they have published and the calls they have made for action to be taken, we would reasonably expect them to co-operate in giving us access to the Panama data.’

The documents were leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to organisations including The Guardian and the BBC, leading to headlines around the world alleging widespread tax evasion and to calls for a crackdown.

I hate to side with tax authorities anywhere, for any reason, but the Panama Papers should be publicly posted for everyone to see.

The claim that the estimated 400 or so journalists who worked on the Panama Papers have some right to withhold the papers to protect the privacy of those named therein is entirely specious.

If you credit that claim, then you also have to credit the privacy claim of Mossack Fonseca on behalf of its clients, in which case, the journalists should have deleted the files upon receipt.

The point is that secrecy of the files, whether in the hands of Mossack Fonseca or the 400 or so journalists, inures to the financial benefit of those making the claim.

Mossack Fonseca, with privacy intact, could continue to make arrangements beneficial to both its clients and to Mossack Fonseca.

If the journalists are successful in withholding the leaked files, they benefit from mining this treasure trove for who they deem worthy of exposure and not incidentally, making money from their media outlets.

All without anyone holding their reporting accountable as compared to the leaked documents.

Privacy, at least in the Panama Papers case, is about power and benefits from having that power.

So long as Suddeutsche Zeitung and others can dole out snippets and tidbits of information from the Panama Papers, they enjoy the same status as having say the Snowden leaks.

Information is power!

The journalists in question merit kudos for their hard work but being the chance recipient of a leak should not translate into a life long privilege.

Or the ability to dictate unaccountable media coverage based on information the reading public can never see.

Personally I don’t trust governments, based on long experience of journalists demonstrating governments lie, cover up, etc.

Why should I suddenly turn into a gullible Gus when given unaccountable reporting from a news outlet?

If you are going to leak, leak as widely as possible!

I would say leak to Wikileaks but they are as bad as the media about holding information back from the public based for undisclosed reasons.

Where can/should people leak to assure unfettered access to all leaked materials?

I’m asking because I honestly don’t know and have no clue where to start looking.

I have exactly zero interest in empowering anyone as the censor of leaked information.

It leaks, it flows.

April 14, 2016

First Draft – Observational Challenge

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting,Verification — Patrick Durusau @ 7:40 pm

First Draft – Observational Challenge by Jenni Sargent.

From the webpage:

Can you identify these locations based on the visual clues in the pictures? Think about street signs, the language of shop signs, the landscape and architecture to get an idea of where it might be.

To learn more about identifying locations, see this article on ‘Piecing together visual clues for verification‘.

From the challenge:

Each photograph in this challenge contains visual clues to help you identify where it was taken.

You have four chances to get each one right.

Helpful hints appear with every wrong answer but you will lose 1 point with each attempt.

Sorry! No spoilers!

I’m surprised that someone doesn’t have a daily photo-id twitter stream.

They may, if you run across one ping me!

Enjoy!

April 11, 2016

Knights of Ignorance (Burr and Feinstein) Hold Tourney With No Opponents

Filed under: Cryptography,Government,Journalism,News,Privacy,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 8:27 pm

Burr And Feinstein Plan One Sided Briefing For Law Enforcement To Bitch About ‘Going Dark’ by Mike Masnick.

From the post:

With the world mocking the sheer ignorance of their anti-encryption bill, Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein are doubling down by planning a staff “briefing” on the issue of “going dark” with a panel that is made up entirely of law enforcement folks. As far as we can tell, it hasn’t been announced publicly, but an emailed announcement was forwarded to us, in which they announce the “briefing” (notably not a “hearing“) on “barriers to law enforcement’s ability to lawfully access the electronic evidence they need to identify suspects, solve crimes, exonerate the innocent and protect communities from further crime.” The idea here is to convince others in Congress to support their ridiculous bill by gathering a bunch of staffers and scaring them with bogeyman stories of “encryption caused a crime wave!” As such, it’s no surprise that the panelists aren’t just weighted heavily in one direction, they’re practically flipping the boat. Everyone on the panel comes from the same perspective, and will lay out of the argument for “encryption bad!”

An upside to the approaching farce is it identifies people who possess “facts” to support the “encryption bad” position.

Given fair warning of their identities, what can you say about these “witnesses?”

Do you think some enterprising reporter will press them for detailed facts and not illusory hand waving? (I realize Senators are never pressed, not really, for answers. Reporters want the next interview. But these witnesses aren’t Senators.)

For example, Hillar C. Moore, III, has campaigned for a misdemeanor jail to incarcerate traffic offenders in order to lower violent crime.

“He said Wednesday that he believes the jail is an urgent public safety tool that could lower violent crime in the city. “This summer, we didn’t have the misdemeanor jail, and while it’s not responsible for every murder, this is responsible for the crime rate being slightly higher,” Moore said. “Baton Rouge could have done better than other cities, but we missed out on that. It’s time for everyone to get on board and stop looking the other way.”

Moore’s office asked the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council in recent weeks for authorization to use dedicated money to open a misdemeanor jail on a temporary basis, two weeks at a time for the next several months, to crack down on repeat offenders who refuse to show up in court.

The request was rejected by the council, after opponents accused law enforcement officials of using the jail to target nonviolent, low-income misdemeanor offenders as a way to shake them down for money for the courts. More than 60 percent of misdemeanor warrants are traffic-related offenses, and critics angrily took issue with a proposal that potentially could result in jailing traffic violators.”

Evidence and logic aren’t Hillar’s strong points.

That’s one fact about one of the prospective nut-job witnesses.

What’s your contribution to discrediting this circus of fools?

April 6, 2016

UnVerified (By You) Data and Computational Journalism – Panama Papers

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:27 pm

Jonathan Gray has started a tread to capture the unfolding stories around the #PanamaPapers leak: Best examples of data journalism and computational journalism projects around tax?.

You are at the disadvantage with these visualizations because you don’t have access to the underlying data.

It’s akin to accepting an accountant’s summary of accounts without being able to examine the details on which those summaries are based.

You may be comfortable with putting that much faith in a summary, but I’m not.

That’s not a slur on the reporters or even accountants.

You know the motto:

In God We Trust, With All Others, Verify.

Any questions?

Transparency/Accountability and Investigative Journalists

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 2:35 pm

Let me start by saying that I applaud and support all of the work done by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The recent Panama Paper story illustrates the one point of departure that I have with the ICIJ.

Rather than providing everyone with equal access to the leaked documents, it is my understanding that the ICIJ will continue to limit access to those documents to “investigative journalists.”

I don’t question the role or work done by these “investigative journalists” on this story. They have observed remarkable operational security and produced much fuller account than the bare information would have supported.

Having said that, I have these questions:

  1. How do I know these journalists found the same story I would read in the original documents?
  2. How do I know these journalists made the same connections I would make for the people mentioned in the documents?
  3. How is their reporting “transparent” if I can’t compare both their stories and the original documents?
  4. How are journalists held “accountable” if the basis for that accountability, the original documents, remain forever secret?

Governments argue that national security, privacy, etc., are always at stake, but the history of leaks in the United States shows all those concerns to be false.

The true concerns true out to be concealment of illegality, incompetence, vanity, and a host of other unsavory motives.

From the Pentagon Papers to the Afghan War Diaries, the sky has never fallen, the Republic has not collapsed, milk has not soured across the land, etc.

I am not suggesting that reporters ever, under any circumstances, be compelled to reveal their sources, but with the Panama Papers there is a document trove with no such implications.

If I am going to inveigh for the government to be transparent in its decision making, on what basis should I hold investigative reporters to a lesser standard?

BTW, the withholding information to protect “privacy” rings just a bit hollow, considering that if anything, it was an invasion of privacy for the journalists to obtain the information. Should have been deleted on receipt if privacy was a concern.

April 5, 2016

Data Journalism Fundamentals – Focus on Asia

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 9:27 am

Data Journalism Fundamentals (MOOC).

From the courses page:

The Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC) at the University of Hong Kong will offer a five-session Massive Open Online Course on the fundamentals of data journalism in the spring of 2016 in partnership with Google. The MOOC will target journalists at all levels of experience as well as students. The data journalism course will be offered as one of a series of Asia-based MOOC’s on digital tools for journalism, including data journalism, interactive design and visualization.

The course began 4 April 2016 so you still have time to jump on board!

Finding data is only the first step.

Discovering relationships between people, events, actions, what we call associations in topic maps, are the flesh of your story.

April 4, 2016

Cherry Picking Panama Papers? Like Wikileaks, NYT, Guardian on Afghanistan War Diaries?

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 9:39 am

The “cherry picking” implications of this tweet:

Cherry-picking-panama

surprised me.

Wikileaks, the New York Times and the Guardian “cherry picked” the Afghanistan War Diaries, as just one example:

Most of the material, though classified “secret” at the time, is no longer militarily sensitive. A small amount of information has been withheld from publication because it might endanger local informants or give away genuine military secrets. WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, obtained the material in circumstances he will not discuss, said it would redact harmful material before posting the bulk of the data on its “uncensorable” servers. (Afghanistan war logs: Massive leak of secret files exposes truth of occupation)

How that for privilege? Not only can you participate in activities that blight the lives of others but the “independent” press will protect you from exposure. Now that’s Privilege with a capital P.

I admit there is an appalling lack of coverage of major Western governments, corporations and individuals, thus far in the Panama Papers reporting but if access to the leak spreads, that should be quickly corrected.

Ahem, yes, “…if access to the leak spreads…” being the operative condition.

Not access to some of the leak. Not access to the leaks with “…harmful material…” redacted. Not access to “…relevant…” part of the leaks.

Access to all of the leaked material. No exceptions.

If we are unable to effectively participate in government without government transparency, how are we to judge media reporting without media transparency?

April 3, 2016

Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore

Filed under: Government,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:06 pm

From the description:

The Panama Papers is a global investigation into the sprawling, secretive industry of offshore that the world’s rich and powerful use to hide assets and skirt rules by setting up front companies in far-flung jurisdictions.

Based on a trove of more than 11 million leaked files, the investigation exposes a cast of characters who use offshore companies to facilitate bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, financial fraud and drug trafficking.

Behind the email chains, invoices and documents that make up the Panama Papers are often unseen victims of wrongdoing enabled by this shadowy industry. This is their story.

For more, go to panamapapers.icij.org

As you might expect, the The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with further details, The Panama Papers: Politicians, Criminals and the Rogue Industry That Hides Their Cash, is just a tad over-loaded at the moment.

Specifics about the investigation to date and the data + methodology are available at this site.

When the site and data become more accessible, curious what extensions to the existing investigations will be made?

April 2, 2016

A social newsgathering ethics code from ONA

Filed under: Ethics,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:17 pm

Common ground: A social newsgathering ethics code from ONA by Eric Carvin.

From the post:

Today, we’re introducing the ONA Social Newsgathering Ethics Code, a set of best practices that cover everything from verification to rights issues to the health and safety of sources — and of journalists themselves.

We’re launching the code with support from a number of news organizations, including the BBC, CNN, AFP, Storyful and reported.ly. You can see the complete list of supporters at the end of the code.

We’re constantly reminded of the need for best practices such as these. The recent bombings in Brussels, Ankara, Lahore and Yemen, among others, provided yet another stark and tragic reminder of how information and imagery spread, in a matter of moments, from the scene of an unexpected news event to screens around the world.

Moments like these challenge us, as journalists, to tell a fast-moving story in a way that’s informative, detailed and accurate. These days, a big part of that job involves wading through a roiling sea of digital content and making sense out of what we surface.

There is one tenet of this ethics code that should be applied in all cases, not just user-generated content:

Being transparent with the audience about the verification status of UGC.

If you applied that principle to stories based on statements from the FBI would read:

Unconfirmed reports from the FBI say….

Yes?

How would you confirm a report from the FBI?

Ask another FBI person to repeat what was said by the first one?

Obtain the FBI sources and cross-check with those sources the report of the FBI?

If not the second one, why not?

Cost? Time? Convenience?

Which of those results in your parroting reports from the FBI most often?

Is that an ethical issue or is the truthfulness of the FBI assumed, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding?

Discrimination Against Arabs In Death As Well As In Life

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 3:41 pm

Adam Johnson reminds us in For U.S. Media, Victims of ISIL Terror in Europe Are 1,200 Percent More Newsworthy Than Those in Middle East, that Arabs don’t matter much to the U.S. media, in life or death.

From the post:

Since the back-to-back ISIL attacks in Beirut and Paris last in November of last year, many in media have noted the disparity in the outpouring of grief and coverage when ISIL attacks happen in Europe versus the Middle East. Recent attacks in Brussels have led others, including Salon’s Ben Norton and The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald to note a similar phenomenon: The U.S. media simply values European lives over those in the Middle East. And because neither Brussels or France are English-speaking nations or are in the greater United States, this can only lead to one conclusion: race is an essential factor when U.S. media determine what terror attacks to cover. Predominantly white countries simply matter more.

This racism is heavily informed by the U.S.’ ongoing wars in the Middle East. Since President Obama has taken office, he has launched seven bombing campaigns of Muslim-majority countries. This decades-long war positioning against the “other” has helped normalized deaths in the Middle East even beyond that of routine racism. But how wide is this disparity? I have attempted to quantify the gap in coverage using two comparable examples from Europe and the Middle East in the past six months.

Adam gives a thumb-nail sketch of attacks over the past six months and the resulting media coverage to arrive at his conclusion that ISIL (sic, Islamic State) attacks in Europe are 1,200 percent more newsworthy than in the Middle East.

I find Adam quite persuasive but from a critical analysis perspective, have some suggestions that would strengthen his case.

For example, expanding his six months to cover the last five years and not limit attacks to those by ISIL (sic, Islamic State).

From memory (you need to check me on this), attacks in Arab countries, in particular attacks by the United States and a number of other Western powers, receive almost no coverage at all. Attacks in some countries, not necessarily by the Islamic State, become international hype storms.

Most Western press discriminates against Arabs and their legitimate concerns in both life and death. Then wonders why anyone would become “radicalized?”

Suggestions on how to build a “discrimination against Arabs” index for pubic media?

If the Western media continues to discriminate against Arabs, it should wear that badge openly.

March 30, 2016

World’s Biggest Bribe Scandal: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Filed under: Government,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 8:50 pm

Part 1: The Company That Bribed The World.

From the post:

A massive leak of confidential documents has for the first time exposed the true extent of corruption within the oil industry, implicating dozens of leading companies, bureaucrats and politicians in a sophisticated global web of bribery and graft.

After a six-month investigation across two continents, Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post can reveal that billions of dollars of government contracts were awarded as the direct result of bribes paid on behalf of firms including British icon Rolls-Royce, US giant Halliburton, Australia’s Leighton Holdings and Korean heavyweights Samsung and Hyundai.

The investigation centres on a Monaco company called Unaoil, run by the jet-setting Ahsani clan. Following a coded ad in a French newspaper, a series of clandestine meetings and midnight phone calls led to our reporters obtaining hundreds of thousands of the Ahsanis’ leaked emails and documents.

The trove reveals how they rub shoulders with royalty, party in style, mock anti-corruption agencies and operate a secret network of fixers and middlemen throughout the world’s oil producing nations.

Corruption in oil production – one of the world’s richest industries and one that touches us all through our reliance on petrol – fuels inequality, robs people of their basic needs and causes social unrest in some of the world’s poorest countries. It was among the factors that prompted the Arab Spring.

Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post today reveal how Unaoil carved up portions of the Middle East oil industry for the benefit of western companies between 2002 and 2012.

In part two we will turn to the impoverished former Russian states to reveal the extent of misbehaviour by multinational companies including Halliburton. We will conclude the three-part investigation by showing how corrupt practices have extended deep into Asia and Africa.

Truly awesome story!

After six months of work, both Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post deserve all the traffic and kudos that can be driven to them!

However, after some suitable time period, say six months to a year, this treasure trove of criminality should be released to the public.

I have little doubt about the non-pursuit of potential American defendants, especially those associated with Halliburton (can you say “Dick Cheney?”)

Public release of this data leak, as I said after both Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post have been rewarded for their great work, may help grease frozen wheels of justice for some defendants.

If grease doesn’t work, perhaps extra-judicial justice will find some of the more “untouchable” criminals named in the data leak.

Personally I would be very interested in mapping from the known relationships (a/k/a associations) to presently unknown associations with public officials in the US, both appointed and elected.

There would be a particular joy in seeing sitting members of Congress tagged with criminal misconduct.

No club Fed for then former members of Congress. Recommend rendering them to Zambia or similar places.


Update 31 March 2016:

Part 2: Unaoil: Police Launch Joint Global Investigation

Part 2 of this extraordinary story is up!

Apologies but I omitted the credits for this reporting in my original post:

REPORTERS Nick McKenzie (chief reporter), Richard Baker, Michael Bachelard & Daniel Quinlan EDITOR ​​Michael Bachelard COPY EDITORS Michael Coulter & Kate Cole-Adams DESIGN Mark Stehle & Joe Benke BUILD Matthew Absalom-Wong, Nathanael Scott & Soren Frederiksen VIDEO Tim Young & Kelly Bergsma CONSULTANT Luke McMahon

Kudos to one and all!


Update 03 April 2016:

Part 3: UNAOIL: Dark Secrets of Asian Powers.

From the post:

Asian companies such as Hyundai, Samsung, Sinopec and Petronas are household names. But they have dark secrets. In the latest in Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post’s global bribery expose, these firms and more are implicated for paying kickbacks, money laundering and corruption.

Here’s a taste of the key players to pique your interest in following this story in your country.

March 22, 2016

Logan CIJ Symposium Videos 2016

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 3:18 pm

All of the recordings from the Logan CIJ Symposium 2016 have been uploaded to YouTube, but in its usual minimal value format.

With the exception of Edward Snowden’s address, I have organized the presentations by title, reasoning that session numbers are forgotten quickly whereas a title may persist a bit longer.

I have pasted in the summaries from sessions page to assist you in choosing which videos to view. (I recommend viewing all of them.)

Edward Snowden addresses the audience 36:22

Sessions:

Anas Aremeyaw Anas 23:33

Anas Aremeyaw Anas employs anonymity and impersonation to enter into dangerous environments to capture stories of great power and impact at enormous personal risk. This award-winning journalist exposed injustice and cruelty all over Africa and Asia and will share insights about his world-changing work.

Challenge Power I 1:14:55

We live in an era of social, economic and environmental crises; an era where war rhetoric and fear are being used to justify and increase control and surveillance. Physical and digital barriers are being erected both publicly and in secret to obscure the truth, so it is absolutely necessary to challenge power. Although highly technical research is often the methodology of choice for investigators, the acquisition of critical evidence also relies on methods both intensely personal and unique.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas employs anonymity and impersonation to enter into dangerous environments to capture stories of great power and impact at enormous personal risk. This award-winning journalist exposed injustice and cruelty all over Africa and Asia and will share insights about his world-changing work.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas, P. Sainath, moderator Gavin MacFadyen

Challenge Power 2 34:22

Investigating crimes and wrongdoing even in nominal democracies requires independence and courage. Two of the world’s most successful journalists still experience difficulties in publishing their work in the mainstream media.

Seymour Hersh investigated the US Mỹ Lai massacre of civilians, which more than any other piece of journalism helped to bring the Vietnam War to an end. Later in Iraq, he exposed torture, murder and crimes against humanity at the US military prison at Abu Ghraib. Despite countless prizes and awards, he has found himself excluded from most mainstream outlets. His latest investigation will be published this December (2015) in the London Review of Books.
Sainath Palagummi single handedly and courageously exposed major crimes in the Indian countryside where over 285,000 farmers have committed suicide. His work is widely read in Asia and he is the recipient of major awards for journalism. His work has included studies of the ignored and forgotten foot soldiers of the Indian independence movement.

Seymour Hersh, moderator Gavin MacFadyen

Can you hear me now? 1:27:47

Sources and whistleblowers have provided many of the most important scoops in recent decades. Having exposed critical information that the authorities have obscured or kept secret, these people have become the targets of intense and sustained attacks by governments, corporations and even criminal organisations. These speakers will reveal the dangers and consequences of their courageous actions.

William Binney, Duncan Campbell, Thomas Drake, Annegret Falter, Holger Stark, moderator Gavin MacFadyen

Difficult Targets 1:29:09

The NSA, BND, GCHQ, the Mafia, the Narcos and multinational corporations are all powerful targets that require especially creative and innovative investigative methods. These organised power structures have inexhaustible resources that cannot be competed with financially or technically. To have a chance to defeat these systems of power, we need to act with creativity, tenacity and courage. Effective ways to reveal the truth and outperform illegitimate power are key to reclaiming our fundamental rights to freedom, privacy and dignity. Our panelists have extraordinary stories to tell and will present their projects to inspire the audience.

Tim Jenkin, Matt Kennard, Stefania Maurizi, Paul von Ribbeck, Matthias Spielkamp, moderator Caroline Nevejan

Fighting the Global Arena 1:20:39

From journalists to techies, from artists to activists, from experts to entertainers; everybody is needed to fight for the right to privacy, transparency and revolution. Our special guests will present a spectrum of spectacular actions.

More than five years ago Julian Assange built a sophisticated submission system that both promised and delivered security for whistleblowers around the world. It has led to a virtual explosion of publicly accessible information that governments and corporations have desperately tried to conceal. Disclosures of corruption, mass murder and illegal governmental activities on a huge scale are now irretrievably in the public domain.

The battle began with WikiLeaks and expanded dramatically with the Snowden revelations. Sadly, the universality of surveillance has meant that conventional computer systems are so compromised and vulnerable that radical new solutions are required.
In defence of personal freedom and privacy, the Subgraph team has built a highly secure new operating system that will be launched at this session. This long awaited new OS will hopefully provide a framework of protection for the future.
Last but not least, Giordano Nanni will introduce the riotous cult satirical online series Juice Rap News which has helped expose hypocrisy and lies with rhymes and a humor that is recognised across the globe. For the first time in Europe, Giordano will be accompanied by NSA spokesperson General Baxter and conspiracy guru Terrence Moonseed who will perform some of their most popular episodes live on stage – in what will be Juice Rap News’s first (and possibly last) European live performance.

Diversity is key!

David Mirza Ahmad, Julian Assange, Giordano Nanni, Juice Rap News Live Show, moderator Jérémie Zimmermann

Future of OS 1:12:58

In an era of mass surveillance the need for independent, reliable and usable Operating Systems is fundamental. In previous times, political movements needed their own printing press for circumventing propaganda and repression. In the digital age we need independent Operating Systems to protect our freedom of speech and freedom of action. The creation of independent OS is both a technological challenge and a social, political and economic challenge. To protect and encrypt yet offer transparency of control, and make it easy to use for all of us, is a great challenge. Trusting hardware, software and organisational structure is an issue from building all the way to using the OS.

David Mirza Ahmad, Joanna Rutkowska, Tails, moderator Jacob Appelbaum

Juice Rap News Live 29:16

Highlights from Juice Rap News Live at the Logan Symposium, Berlin 11 March 2016. With: Giordano Nanni @thejuicemedia, Mantra and Jeremedy (Grey Ghost)

Methods and Tools for Visual Investigations 1:00:03

The Forensic Architecture group at Goldsmiths University in London is revolutionising investigative analysis. They will give a ‘roadshow’ of new and unique tools and methods. Building on architectural knowledge of the 3D physical world, the group demonstrates how the newest technologies can be used to deconstruct lies and myths by creating simulations that prove a specific argument or fact is false. Students and PhD candidates in forensics present a variety of research tools they are developing for unveiling truth in highly sensitive political situations.

Steffen Krämer, Ana Naomi de Sousa, Christina Varvia, moderator Eyal Weizman

Reports from the Front 1:31:55

While most mainstream newspapers are no longer committed to finance investigative journalism, new entities focused on revealing uncomfortable facts have managed to establish themselves and contribute significantly to the critical and charged debate. With a myriad of backgrounds and approaches, investigative enterprises are constantly being challenged to provide access to new information. Speakers from Africa, South America and Europe will demonstrate and discuss radical new methods to bring important disclosures to the public.

Nafeez Ahmed, Jacob Appelbaum, Eveline Lubbers, Natalia Viana, Martin Welz, moderator John Goetz

Today’s investigative platforms 1:32:34

Seemingly every week, new platforms are emerging on the internet both sponsored by established media, as well as new organisations supported by philanthropy and/or novel revenue models. For the first time in years of decline, serious independent reporting is being seen again. A whole new journalistic repertoire is being developed in which people can inform each other and so unite in fighting injustice. Local or global, professional or grassroots, the actions of those who experiment with new ways of reporting have vital impact and often punch above their weight. In this session the actors will present the challenges they face.

Markus Beckedahl, Simona Levi, Edwy Plenel, Rob Wijnberg, moderator Bernd Fix

Transparency vs. Protection 1:29:42

How can journalists deal with increased surveillance? Governments and corporations are investing heavily in new intrusive surveillance capabilities. Those who challenge power are being directly targeted – be they hackers, journalists or activists. Strategies to counter increased surveillance include new technologies for transparency and new technologies for protection. Also, such strategies need to include a specific structuring of organisations, use of legal frameworks, and specific media strategies.

MC McGrath, Ibrahim Mohamoud, Jesselyn Radack, Marcel Rosenbach, Richard Tynan, moderator Andy Müller-Maguhn

I wasn’t able to find a video for the closing keynote:

From History to the Future

After two days of intense focus on current and previous practices of journalism, activism and hacktivism, Gavin MacFadyen elaborates in this closing session on insights that emerged during the symposium and translates these, with help from the audience, into shared efforts and directions in the near future.

Gavin MacFadyen

Enjoy!

March 21, 2016

Logan CIJ Symposium 2016 – Speaker Contacts

Filed under: Conferences,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 7:30 pm

For some reason, conference organizers appear to abhor gathering speaker contact information to a common location. Or in such a way that it could be quickly re-purposed, say for creating a twitter list of those speakers.

The Logan CIJ Syposium 2016 was no different.

But, rather than complain to the conference organizers, I have collated the contact information (if any), for each speaker:

Some had weblinks only, while others only had Twitter accounts.

William Binney, Bernd Fix, John Goetz, Seymour Hersh, Caroline Nevejan, Ana Naomi de Sousa, and Christina Varvia had no contact information listed at all.

I started to ferret that out but then decided perhaps it wasn’t listed for a good reason.

Two requests:

First, pass this list along to others interested in journalism, news and reporting.

Second, point out to conference organizers that presenting author/presenter contact information in a re-usable format benefits everyone in their community.

Re-usable author/presenter contact information in a single location should be the default, not the exceptional case.

Pssst. Have You Got Five Minutes? 10 NICAR lightning talks… (New Conference Idea)

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:36 pm

10 NICAR lightning talks to guide you through cats, statistical resampling, fear of math, and more by Shan Wang.

From the post:

This year’s NICAR conference was in sunny Denver, and as promised, the sessions offered a little (or a lot) for everyone, from journalists looking for guidance on a stalled FOIA processes to those in search of advanced Python training to those who need advice on refining their interactives for mobile.

To break up the intensity of the sessions, NICAR also puts on the delightful lightning talks: five-minute presentations from attendees on topics of their choice, voted on by the NICAR community. The ten talks this year ran the gamut, and despite their length, were packed with useful tips and practical tools (cats featured prominently), as well as ideas for broadening how we think about data-driven journalism. Below are the talks from this year.

The page I link to above has links for the authors and the videos embedded.

Here’s a quick list:

  1. I Improved My Math Fluency, And So Can You by Ryann Grochowski Jones
  2. Solve Every Statistics Problem with One Weird Trick by Jonathan Stray
  3. Let lookup save you from the boring, repetitive work you’ve forgotten you’re even doing by Chris Groskopf
  4. Automation in the newsroom by Ariana Giorgi
  5. Regular Regular Expression Exercises for Regular People by Dan Nguyen
  6. Map tiles are dead; Long live (vector) tiles! by Ken Schwencke
  7. How to read 52 books in 52 weeks by Nicole Zhu
  8. What I learned working on Failure Factories by Adam Playford
  9. Let’s Talk About the Future of Interactive News Content by Gregor Aisch
  10. Cats and Stats by Jennifer LaFleur

New conference idea:

What if the presentations at a conference were all lighting talks? With full papers and longer videos posted to YouTube?

So that speakers would skip the history, which you likely already know. Skip the lead up to what they are about to show you. And basically cut to the most interesting bits of their presentation in five minutes!

If you are captivated by the “lighting” version, then you can watch the video, read the paper, etc.

You could cover more lighting talks in a day and thus increase the value of the travel dollar for every attendee.

If that sounds too short for your idea, remember:

If you can’t fit your idea on the back of a business card, you don’t have a clear idea.

If that sounds unfair, remember that Richard Feynman demonstrated why the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch with an O-ring and a glass of ice.

It took Feynman 47 seconds to do that demonstration.

If anything, 5 minutes to explain your idea is overly generous.

Yes?

March 14, 2016

The Best Five Podcasts About Data Journalism

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:27 pm

The Best Five Podcasts About Data Journalism by Carla Pedret.

Carla has assembled five source of podcasts about data and data journalism in particular.

I’m not the biggest fan of podcasts.

I can read several times faster than taking in audio input and I have to turn off Metal Nation Radio in order to listen.

Still, I have heard podcasts that are quite compelling and when reduced to writing, seem to have lost something essential.

Make it a point to follow up on these podcast sources and to send Carla news of any new ones.

Podcasts may not be your favorite medium either but the question is what is the best means to reach your audience.

Yes?

March 12, 2016

NICAR 2016 Slides, Links & Tutorials #NICAR16

Filed under: Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 3:41 pm

NICAR 2016 Slides, Links & Tutorials #NICAR16

Chrys Wu has posted a great listing of resources from NICAR 2016 (National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting).

At the very bottom of the page you will find links to tutorials, videos, presentations and tips from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Enjoy!

March 10, 2016

Defense against the dark arts…

Filed under: Cybersecurity,Journalism,News,Reporting — Patrick Durusau @ 4:01 pm

Defense against the dark arts: Basic cyber-security for journalists by Prof. dr. Dariusz Jemielniak.

One of the better non-technical guides I have seen for basic cyber-security.

One big point in its favor: it’s realistic. You can make yourself “less vulnerable” but against the resources of a nation state, you are only less vulnerable.

Even with the solutions mentioned in this guide, good cyber-security requires effort on your part. It is better to choose a lesser level of cyber-security that you practice every day than to be sloppy and create a false sense of security (IMHO).

From the post:

This guide aims to provide basic cyber-hygiene for journalists. When we talk about this, participating journalists often tell us: we have nothing to hide. Or: I don’t write about anything sensitive. But we’re not per se worried that journalists get into fights with the NSA or army divisions. It could happen of course, but consider this: will you ever write about something that can possibly make someone upset? Because what happens much more often is that adversaries will try to intimidate you or disgrace you by throwing your personal data on the street, photos of you holiday, photos of your children, the school address of your children, your financial information and so on. It’s hard to completely avoid it, but you can make it damn hard.

And then there’s the revelations of Snowden and the current struggle between Apple and the FBI, that increased the overall public interest in the subject of privacy. All the while, most of us don’t have the knowledge, experience or time to really get into the technical details of our privacy. This guide goes over some of the more accessible measures and solutions that at least make you less vulnerable. Because privacy often works the same as locking your bike: just make sure you’re better locked than the bike next to you.

Beyond the software mentioned in this guide, always remember Rule No. 1:

Never put anything in writing or say before witnesses, anything you don’t want published on the front page of the New York Times or read to a federal grant jury.

Being journalists, however, the value of information is delivering it to others so Rule No. 1 may not always be useful.

In those cases, consider the first rule of regicide:

Leave no walking wounded.

“Speaking truth to power” is a great aphorism but prophets in the Hebrew Bible found that to be a dangerous occupation.

Informing power of truth is ok, but I like seeing information used to alter balances of power.

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