periodismo de datos

Valencia City Council has launched a call to reward projects that promote the culture of open information and open data in the city. Specifically, it seeks to promote the culture of government transparency and good governance through the reuse of open data.

If you are thinking of participating, here are some of the keys you should take into account (although do not forget to read the complete rules of the call for more information).

What do the prizes consist of?

The awards consist of a single category that encompasses projects that demonstrate the potential of the reuse of public open data , and may also include private data. Specifically, applications, technological solutions, services, works, etc. may be presented. that use public data from the city of Valencia to benefit the community.

The requirements that must be met are the following:

• To present an innovative character and highlight its impact on improving the lives of people and their environment.
• Be current  and be implemented in general, in the territorial area of the municipality of Valencia. The final projects of bachelor's, master's or doctoral theses can have been carried out at any university, but it is mandatory that they refer to and base their research on areas of transparency in the city of Valencia.
• Use inclusive and non-sexist language.
• Be written in Spanish or Valencian.
• Have a single author, which may be a legal entity or association.
• Be written in accordance with the terms and conditions of the call, and articles previously published in journals may not participate.
• Not have received a subsidy from the Valencia City Council for the same purpose.

Who can participate?

The contest is aimed at audiences from wide sectors: students, entrepreneurs, developers, design professionals, journalists or any citizen with an interest in open data.

Both natural and legal persons from the university field, the private sector, public entities and civil society can participate, provided that they have developed the project in the municipality of Valencia.

What is valued and what do the prizes consist of?

The projects received will be evaluated by a jury that will take into account the following aspects:

• Originality and degree of innovation.
• Public value and social and urban impact.
• Viability and sustainability.
• Collaborative nature.

The jury will choose three winning projects, which will receive a diploma and a financial prize consisting of:

• First prize: 5,000 euros.
• Second prize: 3,000 euros.
• Third prize: 2,000 euros.

In addition, the City Council will disseminate and publicize the projects that have been recognized in this call, which will be a loudspeaker to gain visibility and recognition.

The awards will be presented at a public event in person or virtually in the city of Valencia, to which all participants will be invited. An opportunity to engage in conversation with other citizens and professionals interested in the subject.

How can I participate?

The deadline for submitting projects is 7 July 2025. The application can be made in two ways:

• In person, presenting the standard form and Annex 1 of the declaration of responsibility.
• Digitally through the Electronic Office, where an online application form (which includes the responsible declaration) will be completed.

In both cases, in addition, an explanatory report of the project will have to be presented. This document will contain the description of the project, its objectives, the actions developed and the results obtained, detailed in a maximum of 20 pages. It is also necessary to review the additional documentation indicated in the rules, necessary according to the nature of the participant (natural person, legal entity, associations, etc.).

For those participants who have doubts, the email address sctransparencia@valencia.es has been enabled. You can also ask any questions on the 962081741 and 962085203 phones.

You can see the complete rules at this link.

General ethical frameworks

The absence of a common, unified, ethical framework for the use of artificial intelligence in the world is only apparent and, in a sense, a myth. There are a multitude of supranational charters, manuals and sets of standards that set out principles of ethical use, although some of them have had to be updated with the emergence of new tools and uses. The OECD guide on ethical standards for the use of artificial intelligence, published in 2019 but updated in 2024, includes value-based principles as well as recommendations for policymakers. The UNESCO Global Observatory on Ethics and Governance of AI published in 2021 a material called Recommendation on the Ethics of AI adopted in the same year by 193 countries, and based on four basic principles: human rights, social justice, diversity and inclusiveness, and respect for the environmental ecosystem. Also in 2021, the WHO specifically included a document on Ethics and Governance of AI for Health in which they indicated the need to establish responsibilities for organisations in the use of AI when it affects patients and healthcare workers. However, various entities and sectors at different levels have taken the initiative to establish their own ethical standards and guidelines, more appropriate to their context. For example, in February 2024, the Ministry of Culture in Spain developed a good practice guide to establish, among other guidelines, that works created exclusively with generative AI would not be eligible for awards.

Therefore, the challenge is not the absence of global ethical guidelines, but the excessive globality of these frameworks. With the legitimate aim of ensuring that they stand the test of time, are valid for the specific situation of any country in the world and remain operational in the face of new disruptions, these general standards end up resorting to familiar concepts, such as those we can read in this other ethical guide from the World Economic Forum: explainability, transparency, reliability, robustness, privacy, security. Concepts that are too high, predictable, and almost always look at AI from the point of view of the developer and not the user.

Media manifestos

Along these lines, the major media groups have invested their efforts in developing specific ethical principles for the use of AI in the creation and dissemination of content, which for now constitutes a significant gap in the major frameworks and even in the European Regulation itself. These efforts have sometimes materialised individually, in the form of a manifesto, but also at a higher level as a collective. Among the most relevant manifestos are the one by Le Figaro, which editorial staff states that it will not publish any articles or visual content generated with AI, or that of The Guardian which, updated in 2023, states that AI is a common tool in newsrooms, but only to assist in ensuring the quality of their work. For their part, the Spanish media have not issued their own manifestos, but they have supported different collective initiatives. The Prisa Group, for example, appears in the list of organisations that subscribe to the Manifesto for Responsible and Sustainable AI, published by Forética in 2024. Also interesting are the statements of the heads of innovation and digital strategy at El País, El Español, El Mundo and RTVE that we found in an interview published on Fleet Street in April 2023. When asked whether there are any specific red lines in their media on the use of AI, they all stated that they are open-minded in their exploration and have not limited their use too much. Only  RTVE, is not in the same position with a statement: "We understand that it is something complementary and to help us. Anything a journalist does, we don't want an AI to do. It has to be under our control.

Global principles of journalism

In the publishing context, therefore, we find a panorama of multiple regulations on three possible levels: manifestos specific to each medium, collective initiatives of the sector and adherence to general codes of ethics at national level. Against this backdrop, by the end of 2023 the News Media Alliance published the Global Principles for AI in Journalism, a document signed by international editorial groups that includes, in the form of a decalogue, 12 fundamental ethical principles divided into 8 blocks:

Figure 1. Global principles of AI in journalism, News Media Alliance.

When we review them in depth, we find in them some of the major conflicts that are shaping the development of modern artificial intelligence, connections with the European AI Regulation and claims that are constant on the part of content creators:

• Block 1: Intellectual property. It is the first and most comprehensive block, specifically developed in four complementary ethical principles. Although it seems the most obvious principle, it is aimed at focusing on one of the main conflicts of modern AI: the indiscriminate use of content published on the internet (text, image, video, music) to train learning models without consulting or remunerating the authors. The first ethical principle expresses the duty of AI system developers to respect restrictions or limitations imposed by copyright holders on access to and use of content. The second expresses the ability of these authors and publishing groups to negotiate fair remuneration for the use of their intellectual property. Third, it legitimises copyright as a sufficient basis in law to protect an author's content. The fourth calls for recognising and respecting existing markets for licensing, i.e. creating efficient contracts, agreements and market models so that AI systems can be trained with quality, but legitimate, authorised and licensed content.
• Block 2: Transparency. The second block is a logical continuation of the previous one, and advocates transparency in operation, a feature that brings value to both content authors and users of AI systems. This principle coincides with the central obligation that the European Regulation places on generative AI systems: they must be transparent from the outset and declare what content they have trained on, what procedures they have used to acquire it and to what extent they comply with the authors' intellectual property rights.  This transparency is essential for creators and publishing groups to be able to enforce their rights, and it is further established that this principle must be universally adhered to, regardless of the jurisdiction in which the training or testing takes place.
• Block 3: Accountability. This word  refers to the ability to be accountable for an action. The principle states that developers and operators of AI systems should be held accountable for the outputs generated by their systems, for example if they attribute content to authors that is not real, or if they contribute to misinformation or undermine trust in science or democratic values.
• Block 4: Quality and integrity. The basis of the principle is that AI-generated content must be accurate, correct and complete, and must not distort the original works. However, this superficial idea builds on a more ambitious one: that publishing and media groups should be guarantors of this quality and integrity, and thus official suppliers to AI system developers and providers. The fundamental argument is that the quality of the training content will define the quality of the outcomes of the system.
• Block 5: Fairness. The word fairness can also be translated as equity or impartiality. The principle states in its headline that the use of AI should not create market unfairness, anti-competitive practices or unfair competition, meaning that it should not be allowed to be used to promote abuses of dominance or to exclude rivals from the market. This principle is not aimed at regulating competition between AI developers, but between AI developers and content providers: AI-generated text, music or images should never compete on equal terms with author-generated content.
• Block 6: Safety. It is composed of two ethical principles. Building on the above, the first security principle states that generative AI systems must be reliable in terms of the information sources they use and promote, which must not alter or misrepresent the content, preserving its original integrity. The opposite could result in a weakening of the public's trust in original works, in authors and even in major media groups. This principle applies to a large extent to new AI-assisted search engines, such as the new Google Search (SGE), the new SearchGPT or Microsoft's own Copilot, which collect and recast information from different sources into a single generated paragraph. The second point unifies user data privacy issues into a single principle and, in just one sentence, refers to discriminatory bias. Developers must be able to explain how, when and for what purpose they use user data, and must ensure that systems do not produce, multiply or chronic biases that discriminate against individuals or groups.
• Block 7: By design. This is an overarching meta-principle, which states that all principles should be incorporated by design in all AI systems, generative or otherwise. Historically, ethics has been considered at the end of the development process, as a secondary or minor issue, so the principle argues that ethics should be a significant and fundamental concern from the very process of system design. Nor can ethical auditing be relegated only to cases where users file a complaint.
• Block 8: Sustainable development. It is apparently a global, far-reaching principle that AI systems should be aligned with human values and operate in accordance with global laws, in order to benefit all of humanity and future generations. However, in the last sentence we find the real orientation of the principle, a connection to publishing groups as data providers for AI systems: "Long-term funding and other incentives for providers of high-quality input data can help align systems with societal goals and extract the most relevant, up-to-date and actionable knowledge

The document is signed by 31 associations of publishing groups from countries such as Denmark, Korea, Canada, Colombia, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Japan or Sweden, by associations at European level, such as the European Publishers Council or News Media Europe, and associations at global level such as WAN-IFRA (World Association of News Publishers). The Spanish groups include the Asociación de Medios de Información (AMI) and the Asociación de Revistas (ARI).

Ethics as an instrument

The global principles of journalism promoted by the News Media Alliance are particularly precise in proposing grounded solutions to ethical dilemmas that are very representative of the current situation, such as the use of authored content for the commercial exploitation of AI systems. They are useful in trying to establish a solid and, above all, unified and global ethical framework that proposes consensual solutions. At the same time, other conflicts affecting the profession, which would also be included in this Decalogue, are conspicuously absent from the document. It is possible that the omnipresence of the constantly referenced data licensing conflict has overshadowed other concerns such as the new speed of disinformation, the ability of investigative journalism to verify authentic content, or the impact of fake news and deepfakes on democratic processes. The principles have focused on setting out the obligations that the big tech companies should have regarding the use of content, but perhaps an extension could be expected to address ethical responsibilities from the media's point of view, such as what ethical model the integration of AI into newsroom activity should be based on, and what the responsibility of journalists is in this new scenario. Finally, the document reveals a common duality: the channelling, through the ethical proposal, of the suggestion of concrete solutions that even point to possible trade and market agreements. It is a clear reflection of the potential capacity of ethics to be much more than a moral framework, and to become a multidimensional instrument to guide decision-making and influence the creation of public policy.

Content prepared by Carmen Torrijos, expert in AI applied to language and communication. The contents and points of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

There is never an end to opportunities to discuss, learn and share experiences on open data and related technologies. In this post, we select some of the upcoming ones, and tell you everything you need to know: what it's about, when and where it takes place and how you can register.

Don't miss this selection of events on cutting-edge topics such as geospatial data, accessible data reuse strategies and even innovative trends in data journalism. the best thing? All are free of charge.

Let's talk about data in Alicante

The National Association of Big Data and Analytics (ANBAN) is organising an open and free event in Alicante to debate and exchange views on data and artificial intelligence. During the meeting, not only will use cases that relate data with AI be presented, but also a part of the event will be dedicated to encourage networking among the attendees.

• What is it about? let's talk about data' will start with two talks on artificial intelligence projects that are already making an impact. Afterwards, the course on AI organised by the University of Alicante together with ANBAN will be explained. The final part of the event will be more relaxed to encourage attendees to make valuable connections.
• When and where? Thursday 29 February at 20.30h at ULAB (Pza. San Cristóbal, 14) in Alicante.
• How do I register? Book your place by signing up here: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-hablemos-del-dato-beers-alicante-823931670807?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_source=rrss&utm_medium=colaborador&utm_campaign=HDD-ALC-2902

Open Data Day in Barcelona: Re-using data to improve the city

Open Data Day is an international event that brings together open data activities around the world. Within this framework, the barcelona Open Data initiative initiative has organised an event to discuss projects and strategies for the publication and reuse of open data to make a clean, safe, friendly and accessible city possible.

• What is it about? Through open data projects and data-driven strategies, the challenge of security, coexistence of uses and maintenance of shared spaces in municipalities will be addressed. The aim is to generate dialogue between organisations that publish and reuse data to add value and develop strategies together.
• When and where? On 6 March from 5 to 7.30 p.m. at Ca l'Alier (C/ de Pere IV, 362).
• How do I register? Through this link: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-open-data-day-2024-819879711287?aff=oddtdtcreator

Presentation of the "Good Practice Guide for Data Journalists"

The Valencian Observatory of Open Data and Transparency of the Universitat Politècnica de València has created a guide for journalists and data professionals with practical advice on how to turn data into attractive and relevant journalistic stories for society. The author of this reference material will talk to a data journalist about the challenges and opportunities that data offers in journalism.

• What is it about? It is an event that will address key concepts of the Good Practice Guide for Data Journalists through practical examples and cases to analyse and visualise data correctly. Ethics will also be a theme of the presentation.
• When and where? Friday 8th March from 12h to 13h in the Assembly Hall of the Faculty of ADE of the UPV (Avda. Tarongers s/n) in Valencia.
• How do I register? More information and registration here: https://www.eventbrite.es/e/entradas-presentacion-de-la-guia-de-buenas-practicas-para-periodistas-de-datos-835947741197

Geodata Conference of the Madrid City Council Geoportal

Madrid hosts the sixth edition of this event which brings together heads of institutions and benchmark companies in cartography, geographic information systems, digital twin, BIM, Big Data and artificial intelligence. The event will also be used as an opportunity to award the prizes of the Geodata Stand.

• What is it about? Followingin the footsteps of previous years, the Madrid Geodata Conference will present case studies and new developments in cartography, digital twinning, reuse of georeferenced data, as well as the best papers presented at the Geodata Stand.
• When and where? The event starts on 12 March at 9am in the Auditorio de La Nave in Madrid and will last until 2pm. The following day, 13 March, the session will be virtual and will present the projects and new developments in geo-information production and distribution via the Madrid Geoportal.
• How do I register? Through the event portal. Places are limited https://geojornadas.madrid.es/

3rd URJC Free Culture Conference

The Free Culture Conference of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos is a meeting point, learning and exchange of experiences about free culture in the university. Topics such as open publishing of teaching and research materials, open science, open data, and free software will be addressed.

• What is it about? The two-day event will feature presentations by experts, workshops on specific topics and an opportunity for the university community to present papers. In addition, there will be an exhibition space where tools and news related to culture and free software will be shared, as well as a poster exhibition area
• When and where? 20 and 21 March at the Fuenlabrada Campus of the URJC
• How do I register? Registration is free of charge via this link: https://eventos.urjc.es/109643/tickets/iii-jornadas-de-cultura-libre-de-la-urjc.html

These are some of the upcoming events. In any case, don't forget to follow us on social media so you don't miss any news about innovation and open data. We are on Twitter y LinkedIn you can also write to us at dinamizacion@datos.gob.es if you would like us to add another event to the list or if you need extra information.

The coming days will see the beginning of a season of sun, heat, beach and, in many cases, more free time, which makes this season a perfect opportunity to expand our training on a wide variety of subjects, among which data, a cross-cutting subject in different sectors, cannot be missing.

There are an increasing number of courses related to Big Data, science, analytics and even data journalism that we find in the summer offers of training centres. There is a growing interest in further training in these subjects due to the high demand for professional profiles with these skills.

Whether you are a student or a working professional, here are some examples of summer courses that may be of great interest to broaden your knowledge during these weeks:

Data science

The University of Castilla-La Mancha is offering the course "Data science: impact on society" on 22 and 23 June at the Albacete campus, where the new ways of acquiring and using data resulting from advances in technology and artificial intelligence will be discussed.

This summer, the University of Deusto will offer online training on "Data analysis and applied machine learning". This course, which will begin on 27 June, will teach you to master the main technologies for analysing and processing large amounts of data, as well as some techniques to increase the value of the data analysed, promoting optimal decision-making.

The University of Alicante focuses on artificial intelligence with the course "Introduction to Deep Learning" from 11 to 15 July 2022, in classroom mode. The course will begin by explaining basic concepts and the use of basic and advanced packages such as NumPy, Pandas, scikit-learn or tf.Keras, and then continue to delve deeper into neural networks.

The University of Alcalá de Henares will talk about "Introduction to financial data science with R" in an on-site course from 20 to 24 June. The aim of the course is twofold: to familiarise students with the use of the statistical language and to show some of the techniques linked to advanced statistical calculation, as well as its practical applications.

Open data

The Complutense University of Madrid offers, once again this year, its course “Big & Open Data. Analysis and programming with R and Python” from 4 to 22 July 2022 (mornings from 9:00 to 14:00, Monday to Friday). The course will cover the data life cycle, examples of Big Data use cases and ethics applied to the management of massive data, among other topics.

Geographic Information Systems

If you are passionate about geographic data, the University of Santiago is offering the course "Introduction to geographic information systems and cartography with the R environment" from 5 to 8 July 2022. In classroom format and with 29 teaching hours, it aims to introduce students to spatial analysis, visualisation and working with raster and vector files. The main geostatistical interpolation methods will be covered during the course.

The University of Alcalá de Henares, for its part, will give the course "Applications of GIS to Hydrology", from 6 to 8 July, also in classroom format. This is a practical course that covers everything from the different sources of hydro-meteorological data to carrying out evapotranspiration and runoff analyses and obtaining results.

Data journalism

El Institut de Formació Contínua – IL3 de la Universitat de Barcelona organizará del 4 al 7 de julio de 2022 el curso online en castellano “Bulos y periodismo de datos”. Esta formación de 8 horas de duración te aportará los conocimientos necesarios para comprender, identificar y combatir el fenómeno de la desinformación. Además, conocerás las herramientas esenciales que se utilizan en el periodismo de datos, la verificación de datos (fact-checking) políticos y la investigación basada en peticiones de transparencia.

Data protection

The Menéndez Pelayo International University will hold a course on "Strategies for data protection in the face of the challenges of the digital environment" on 4, 5 and 6 July. The programme is aimed at students related to the business world, the provision of digital services, public administrations, researchers and those interested in the subject. “Smart-cities and personal data processing” or “the European Data Protection Committee and the European initiatives of the digital package” will be just some of the topics to be addressed in this course.

Another of the training courses related to data protection that will be given over the coming months will be "Are our data really ours? Risks and guarantees of personal data protection in digital societies". The International University of Andalusia will be responsible for giving this course, which will be held in person in Seville from 29 August, and which will address the current situation of personal data protection within the framework of the European Union. Through this training you will discover the benefits and risks involved in the processing of our personal data.

In addition to this specific summer training, those users who wish to do so can also go to the large MOOC course platforms, such as Coursera, EDX or Udacity, which offer interesting courses on a continuous basis so that any student can start learning whenever they need to.

These are just a few examples of courses that are currently open for enrolment this summer, although the offer is very wide and varied. Moreover, it should be noted that the summer has not yet begun and new training courses related to the field of data could emerge in the coming weeks. If you know of any other course that might be of interest, do not hesitate to leave us a comment below or write to us at contacto@datos.gob.es.

We recently reflected on the rise of data journalism in the media, a discipline that is becoming increasingly important. Through technologies and tools linked to data, this journalistic modality makes it possible to offer readers more documented, attractive and comprehensible information. To this end, data journalists perform actions such as interpreting municipal budgets, combining statistics and financial reports or exploring geospatial information to tell stories based on large amounts of data.

Here, we want to highlight the role that data journalism plays in serving as an impetus for the creation of new companies, associations and user groups that reuse data to boost the economy or drive accountability.

Next, we will analyse how the reuse of data, within the field of journalism, has favoured the emergence of new business models, non-profit organisations and transparency, research or political fact-checking activities in which data journalism is at the core of their business or daily activity.

Organisations involved in data journalism

News agencies: EPDATA

EpData is the platform created by Europa Press whose main objective is to facilitate the use of public data by journalists to enrich the news through graphics, as well as to analyse the context and contrast the figures offered by the different sources.

This platform was created with the aim of transferring the spirit of a news agency to the world of data journalism. To achieve this, they have created an extensive data repository with all the statistics that are often reported in Europa Press, with more than 60 million data from public and private sources. Any user can consult them through this link.

EpData's activities linked to data journalism

This repository allows EpData to offer graphs, statistics and data visualisations related to current events on a daily basis. For example, over the last year they have been showing updated data on the current pandemic that other media and scientific publications have used for their news.

However, the range of topics they combine on their platform is very broad, as they offer statistics and graphs based on data on topics as diverse as employment, economic developments, society, politics, etc.

Fact-checking: Maldito Dato

According to its coordinators, "Maldito Dato is the project within the verification media Maldita.es in which data journalism, transparency, investigation and political fact-checking, i.e. the verification of political discourse, are carried out".

In other words, Maldito Dato is the section of Maldita.es that carries out data journalism, made up of specialists in this field. Among its main functions is the production of journalistic pieces based on data, political fact-checking and topics based on the use of the Transparency Law.

Maldito Dato's activities linked to data journalism

Open data is an important part of Maldito Dato's nature, both in terms of publishing and reusing it in its news. Some examples are:

• Map of coronavirus cases at the municipal level throughout Spain, developed based on data published by each autonomous community.
• Ministry of Health data on vaccination, using data published by the Ministry of Health, either in the form of open data or daily reports.
• In this other example, you can see how they use data from the Statistical Portal of the Government Delegation against Gender Violence to make various comparative graphs on the increase in the number of calls to 016. They have also made comparative graphs based on INE data or even CIS data.

In addition to using open data from public administrations, sometimes they publish open data themselves. For example, when they release databases obtained by requests for information through the Transparency Law. Some examples are the database of public information requests made by citizens on the Transparency Portal, the database of health inspections of swimming pools in Madrid or the database of Ministry of the Interior subsidies for 'catastrophic situations'.

Non-profit organisation: CIVIO

CIVIO is a non-profit organisation that promotes the transparency of institutions and that people can access public information through technology combined with journalism. To achieve this goal, it has three main lines of action:

• Journalism
• Public Advocacy
• Transparency services of public authorities

CIVIO's activities linked to data journalism

This organisation has recently published research on the use of emergency procurement during 2020. They have used the emergency contracts awarded during the past year that have been published on the Public Sector Procurement Portal and the platforms linked to the different autonomous communities. A search engine for emergency contracts can be found at this link and the main conclusions of the research can be found here.

At the end of this article, CIVIO explains the methodology used to carry out the analysis of this data, as well as the difficulties encountered in the process. The data used in this research have been made available to all users in Datos Civio in formats that facilitate their reuse. Thanks to this, several media outlets have used the CIVIO database to produce their own information.

Data analysis, visualisation and communication: STORYDATA

Storydata is an organisation of women experts in data research, analysis, visualisation and communication. They are characterised by offering a global communication service aimed at public and private entities that want to transform a set of their own or external data into a communicative story. To do so, they use a variety of media and formats, from the preparation of reports to the creation of campaigns and the dissemination of content on social networks.

Storydata's activities linked to data journalism

Open data is part of Storydata's DNA. Some of its most relevant projects are:

• The Data against noise project, which aims to combat opinions on male violence through open data.

• Collaboration in the data section of the Barcelona Metròpolis magazine of Barcelona City Council.

• Writing of dissemination articles on data in the dossier of the Associació de dones periodistes de Catalunya (Association of Women Journalists of Catalonia).

• Collaboration agreement with Blanquerna's Master's Degree in Data Journalism and Fact Checking.

• Training to multiple media, institutions and universities on data journalism and visualisation, such as the Escola de dades de Sentit Crític, the Master of Information Design and Data Visualisation of Elisava, Euromediterranean Institute (Euromesco), Juries and training pill in the Big data Challenger of Fundación la Caixa.

Currently, Storydata collaborates with media such as Crític, for example, creating a data visualisation that shows inequality in times of confinement or this one on how the coronavirus affects the different municipalities of Catalonia.

User groups and list of data journalists

If you are a data journalist, or are interested in the subject, you may be interested to know that there are different platforms where you can find user groups related to the reuse of data in the field of journalism.

• On LinkedIn, the “Periodismo de datos” group stands out, created so that interested parties and professionals in data journalism can contribute and share knowledge related to this discipline.
• On MeetUp, we find the user group “Periodismo y visualización de datos”. Organised by Adolfo Antón, it has more than 1,200 participants who interact in relation to the use of data for its reuse in journalism.
• Also on MeetUp is the “Madrid Abriendo Datos” group.
• Telegram or Slack groups: many users organise through Telegram (in groups such as postdata, periodismodatos and visualizar) or Slack (periodismodatos.slack.com).

On the web we can also find a list of communicators specialised in data in Spain and Latin America, made up of more than 300 journalists. This project brings together a series of professionals who see data as the true raw material of journalism. If you want to consult the complete list, you can do so through the following link.

This is just a sample of organisations, companies and user groups linked to data journalism. If you know of any others that may be of interest, do not hesitate to write us a comment or send us an email to dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.

The main challenge I see is to train journalists in the use of computer applications to work with data and thereby gradually improve journalistic output so that the general public appreciates good journalistic data products.

Open data is often not exploited, either because it is too complex, because it requires extensive data processing skills, because it requires a lot of work, because it is unknown or, finally, because it is not "attractive", it is not fashionable.

If we understand the language and languages of this medium, we will be able to produce in a more integrated way data journalism works where any element has a place.

More and more media outlets have articles on their pages linked to so-called data journalism. This form of journalism uses the technologies and tools related to to data to provide readers with more documented, easier to understand and more engaging information.

In this article we explain what data journalism consists of and we show you some examples of media that already incorporate this modality within their informational processes.

What is data journalism?

Data journalism or data journalism is a journalistic discipline that incorporates different fields such as computer science, programming, engineering, statistics, design and journalism. to combine in the same space the analysis of data together with the narrative of the press. According to him Data Journalism Handbookdata can be the tool used to tell a story, the source a story is based on, or both.

Data journalism has its origin in Precision Journalism -evolution of investigative journalism-, where disciplines such as sociology and statistics are incorporated into traditional journalism, and Computer Assisted Journalism (Computer Assisted Reporting or CAR), which emerged in 1969 when journalists began to use computer systems to support them when dealing with the information they collected.

Data Journalism goes one step further and is the result of the digital transformation present today in the daily work of many newsrooms throughout the world. Using resources and tools related to data analytics, information is extracted from large databases. In this way, information of greater value and more complete is offered, adapted to the dynamism that digital reading requires.

What products does data journalism offer?

According to the digital magazine Journalists notebooks, there are at least four productions that can derive from this discipline, and that are generally complementary to each other:

• Data-driven articles: These are short articles that are made from large databases. These types of articles are typical of investigative journalism, since their common denominator is based on surveys or statistics.
• Applications news: The services that group information and send notifications to users about news of their interest from different media are becoming more and more common. For example, the main providers. For instance, Google Discover or Samsung Daily.
• Open datasets (datasets): Some media offer open data, the result of their research, in order to democratize information through the accessibility of data and its availability on the Internet in reusable and free formats. As an example, the New York Times offers data on the coronavirus openly.
• ​Interactive visualizations: such as infographics, graphics or applications that allow the information obtained from the databases to be viewed more clearly, facilitating the understanding of complex topics by readers. Visualizations can complement articles or be a product of their own when accompanied by short explanatory texts.

Data journalism in the media 

More and more media have a news production based on data. Here are some examples:

At the national level

Among others, The country,The world or The newspaper They have a specific section within their digital newspapers dedicated to data journalism. Within both, newspapers address current affairs from the perspective offered by the data and through which they generate visualizations.like the following. In it, you can see a map that shows the inequalities in mortality according to the area in which you reside.

For its part, EpData is the platform created by Europa Press to facilitate the use of public data by journalists, with the aim ofboth to enrich the news with graphs and context analysis and to contrast the figures offered by the various sources. EpData also offers tools for creating and editing charts. An example of the activity they carry out is this article, where you can check the status of the dependency waiting lists in Spain.

Another example of data journalism is Newtral. It is an audiovisual content startup founded in 2018 in which data is the basis of all his work, especially in the fight against fake news. For instance, in this article different visualizations of data related to the oscillation of the price of light can be seen during different months.

On an international level

Data journalism is part of some of the most important international newspapers. It is the case of The Guardian, which also has a specific section dedicated to the production of journalistic material through articles, graphics and data-based visualizations. For instance, on this interactive map You can check which areas of Australia suffered the greatest natural disasters in 2020.

Another international media that also has a specific section for data-based journalism is the Argentine newspaper The nation, that through its section The Data Nation offers numerous informative productions in which it combines facts and news. For instance, in this article you can see an indicator of mobility of Argentine citizens.  

Masters and studies related to data journalism

The digital transformation has meant that data journalism is here to stay. For this reason, more and more universities and education centers offer studies related to data journalism. For example, him Own Master's Degree in Data and Visualization Journalism from the University of Alcalá; the Master in Digital and Data Journalism taught by Atresmedia and the University of Nebrija or the Data Journalism Course from the UAM-El País School of Journalism.

In short, we are facing a modality with a future, which needs media that continue to bet on this discipline and professional capecesto handle data analysis and treatment tools, but also to tell stories, capable of transmitting what is happening in our environment with the support of data in a truthful and close way.

Therefore, it is not surprising that this form of journalism continues to grow in the coming years and that, in addition to the examples included in this article, the mass media and studies related to data journalism will increase. If you know any more and want to share it, do not hesitate to write to us contacto@datos.gob.es or leave us a message in the comments.

Content prepared by the datos.gob.es team.

This Saturday, March 6, Open Data Day 2021 is celebrated worldwide. This event, which takes place annually on the first Saturday in March, seeks to promote the reuse of open data around the world.

In our country there are several organizations that have chosen the next few days to launch events related to the opening and reuse of information. Next, we collect several of them:

Datathon 2021: The role of open data in the face of challenges in a Post-Covid world

The “Datathon 2021: Challenges in a Post-Covid world” seeks to promote the interest and use of open data, mainly in the areas of tourism, agriculture or health. Its objective is to stimulate participants by offering data and tools of interest for the development of applications related to the use and reuse of open data, in addition to promoting citizen participation in new challenges that improve citizens' day-to-day lives.

The competition is promoted by different local and university institutions of the Valencian Community:

The process will be as follows:

• The competition will begin on March 5 with an informative day at 5:00 p.m. in remote format. Different representatives of the organizing entities will participate and there will be a round table on open data in the field of tourism, health and agriculture with those responsible in these fields. The session will end with practical information on how to participate in the Datathon.
• From then on, and for 3 months, six workshops will be held, together with experts in the field. With these workshops, participants will learn about the resources of the Valencian Government's open data portal, learn how to process the request for this information, and address the processes of collection, integration, visualization and geolocation of different types of data.
• Throughout the process, a team of student volunteers from the UA MultiTEC association will tutor the participants and resolve their doubts.

The call is open to any person of legal age interested in data management. The dates to consider are the following:

• The registration period ends on March 5. Registration is done using Eventbrite.
• The configuration of equipment can be done until March 18 through the following form.
• The completion and delivery of projects will end on May 14. A prize of 1,000 euros and three second prizes of 500 euros will be awarded for each of the challenges: tourism, health and agriculture.

The Datathon evaluation team will take into account the impact and importance of the challenge solved, the creativity and innovation of the application, the use of data, the suitability for the award category and the degree of completion achieved.

Journalism and open data visualization

The MPVD Agora on Journalism and Data Visualization organizes a session on Thursday, March 4 to celebrate the Open Data Day 2021 that will be broadcast on YouTube.

The session, which will begin at 3:00 p.m. and will last an hour and a half, will have 2 different parts:

• An introductory workshop to Observable, a tool for learning D3.js. The workshop will be given by Adrián Blanco Ramos, graphic editor of the Washington Post
• A talk about The owners of the game, an investigation about the hunting grounds in Spain published by El Mundo. José Fernando Leal (@ricologias), one of the coordinators, will be in charge of explaining all the details.

The session will be recorded for those who cannot see it live. It can be accessed through the YouTube channel MPVD Master of Journalism and Data Visualization. In this channel you can find previous sessions, dedicated, for example, to how to work with data and electronic records available in different formats and sources or how to create simple, clear and attractive stories through the analysis and visualization of data allows.

Although the videos are developed within the framework of the Master in Journalism and Data Visualization at the University of Alcalá, both the videos of this conference and those of the previous ones are available open to any user interested in the subject.

Conference - The DATA in the Local Administrations 20/30. Experiences and challenges March 9, 2021. On-line.

The Alcobendas City Council and the Institute for the Transfer of Knowledge in Public Innovation - ITCIP, with the support of the FEMP, organize a conference to publicize projects that local administrations are developing around the world of data.

The session will take place on March 9 online. Among other issues, subjects related to architecture, life cycle, governance, security and data protection and analysis will be addressed. Some of the experiences and proposals that will be discussed are the Data Offices, the Data Delegate, efficient forms of storage, data management and conservation, its application to public services in smart city projects and its role in the openness, transparency and reuse.

The event will have the participation of representatives from the FEMP, the European Commission, the Community of Madrid and cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza, Malaga, Gijón, Logroño, Alcobendas, Sant Feliu de Llobregat and Mataró. In addition, the conference has the support of Oracle, which will provide the vision of the most innovative trends related to data.

You can see the full agenda at this link.

The conference can be followed for free, through the ITCIP page. You can sign up at this link.

At datos.gob.es we invite you to join some of these proposals and celebrate Open Data Day.

The Data Journalism Workshop 2019 is already underway. It will be held from March 25 to 29 at Medialab Prado (Calle Alameda 15, Madrid). Under the motto "Follow the food", this year's edition will focus on the world of food, with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The objective is that participants " analyse, narrate or redesign, in a creative and radical way, changes in the food models that can serve to reduce the likelihood of environmental collapse." For this purpose, they will have to search and analyze public data from different sources, as well as reuse data to create new visualizations or applications.

Among all the ideas presented in the call for projects, 7 have been selected. Collaborators who want to develop these projects are now sought. To this end, a call for collaborators has been launched, aimed at any citizen who wants to be involved in the development of a project based on data: from professionals in the field of journalism, programming, sociology or design, to students or pensioners. It should be noted that Medialab-Prado offers 20 free accommodation places for those who sign up for the call and do not live in Madrid.

Participants can sign up to the following projects:

• School feeding in Spain. Project promoted by Del Campo al Cole entity, which seeks to promote healthy and sustainable nutrition in schools in Madrid. In collaboration with other organizations such as Carro de Combate and SEO / BirdLife, they have compiled a large amount of data about this subject, as the result of requests for public information to Autonomous Communities and the Ministry of Education. Now they are looking for help to interpret and visualize these data in a simple way, in order to facilitate their dissemination and create awareness about the reality of school feeding in Spain, taking into account the different aspects (public purchase, catering companies, environmental impact, social inequalities ...).
• Food ultraprocessing: the hidden truth. This project seeks to disseminate the NOVA classification system, which classifies food according to its level of processing. Taking the example of Mexico, an interactive map will be developed to help understand the relationship between habits and dietary choices, as well as their repercussions on the environment by analyzing energy consumption and waste generation associated with each type of food.
• Intesive livestock farming = extensive problems. This project seeks to create awareness of the problems arising from intensive livestock farming. With a holistic and global vision, the dimension of the problem will be investigated in the whole chain of production: from animal husbandry to final consumption. Some of the questions the participants will have to answer are: how many animals do we sacrifice? Is the way we feed them sustainable and healthy? How do exports and imports work? Do we eat everything we produce?
• Undressing foods. Through the mapping and artistic visualization of the route that the food takes from the place of production to the final point of consumption, this project seeks to stimulate responsible consumption habits. The final result of the project will be a technological tool that allows the user to locate the origin of a product, using  information about the route taken, the environmental impact generated (CO2, especially) and the aesthetic impact that this route could generate in the product.
• Food in km. The objective of this project is to create a tool that facilitates the search for information about products on the market, to promote responsible consumption. The tool will allow ordering the results depending on the distance between the origin of the food and the province where it is going to be consumed, as well as filtering products according to labels - bio or not - and ingredients - those ingredients involved in environmental conflicts or restrictive in certain diets.
• The oil we eat. This project seeks to analyze how the import of agri-food products has evolved in recent years, and calculate how much oil has been consumed to bring a certain food to our table. The participants in this project will create a website and a recipe book whiout cooking time, calories or nutritional contribution. Instead, it will talk about oil costs. Later, maybe it is possible to carry out a transmedia work, involving several platforms, promoting citizen participation using gamification.
• From the seed to your plate. This project is the continuation of the work started in the Visualizar'18 data visualization workshop. Migrations: Soy de temporada. Now their creators look to deepen the environmental and economic costs of consuming products exported from faraway places. To this end, the entire production line of maximum four products will be analysed, comparing their implications: two vegetables and two fruits, one fromlocal production and one from global trade,

In addition, during the workshop, participants can also participate in a series of training workshops, such as Blockchain's Introduction to journalism or PLN with Python NLTK.

If you are interested in telling stories based on data, sign up before March 16th.

EpData is the platform created by Europa Press to facilitate the use of public data by journalists, with the aim of both enriching news with graphics and context analysis and verifying the figures offered by various sources. The database is maintained by a multidisciplinary team of computer scientists and journalists who use new technologies and data analysis to improve the efficiency of data consumption and find relevant and informative patterns in the data.