DataBeers Málaga brings together journalists and experts to discuss data journalism

On the occasion of the European Data and Computational Journalism Conference, that has been held in Malaga these days, the 15th edition of Databeers Málaga has gathered more than two hundred people on the afternoon of July 2 in an emblematic place next to sea (El Balneario, Baños del Carmen). Among the attendees there was a large number of data journalism professionals and academics of international prestige. Computing the previous events, there are already 2,300 participants around an event that, organized by María Sánchez -a journalism teacher at the UMA and an innovation technician at the UNIA-, has become a reference for technological dissemination.

True to the philosophy of the non-profit international community in which Databeers Málaga is integrated, this edition has once again been free, open and informal, with networking and brief and informative talks accompanied by beer. On this occasion there have been six presentations, by entrepreneurs, professionals of innovative media and academic experts in the so-called data journalism. A growing trend in recent years that, as Sanchez points out, brings attraction and understanding to complex issues thanks to visual representations of information. This visualizations are often the result of their own research and often use open data.

In this line have revolved the examples of public service data journalism exposed by Paula Guisado, data journalist in El Mundo and who was already a former databeers speaker on this subject.

Another person who has repeated has been Antonio Delgado, founder, with Ana Tudela, of Datadista, media based on the research and analysis. On this occasion they have shared the keys of their work with data to build great stories like Playa Burbuja, about the real estate bubble on the coasts.

Newtral has also been present at Databeers Málaga. Newtral is a recent entrepreneurial project promoted by the journalist Ana Pastor. Its director of innovation Rubén Míguez and the journalist Alba Martín have shown, under the title of "Journalism and technology in the newsroom, ¿crush?", the secrets of the union of information professionals and developers to make stronger and innovative medias.

Precisely, the directory presented by Félix Arias, professor of data journalism at Miguel Hernández University of Elche, with the title of "People behind the trail of data", may be useful for those people from Databeers community who need to have information professionals for their projects or for anyone else interested in knowing data journalists profile.

This XV Databeers Málaga, as its organizer points, has wanted to go further and drive reflection on the risks we are exposed in the digital environment, from the ethical point of view or privacy, monitored by certain actors. This is evidenced by the project of personal data visualization based on a real case and prepared using public online information by Mario Pérez Montoro, professor at the University of Barcelona, ​​within the framework of Medialab Prado Madrid.

In the same line, another habitual speaker of Databeers Málaga, Mar Cabra, journalist expert in data, winner of a Pulitzer by Los Papeles de Panamá, has shared his vision on the darker side of the data, from the ethics perspective, in his speech "It is not gold all algorithm that shines", highlighting the importance of considering if what we do is ethical and moral, in an era when technology could make many things possible.

Databeers Málaga has ITRS and the City of Málaga as sponsors, in addition to the collaboration of photographer Koke Pérez, Diario Sur and Cervezas San Miguel, which has been supporting Databeers Málaga and bringing beers to events since the beginning of 2018 (this is sixth event in who participates)

The initiative is part of an international and non-profit movement, emerged in Madrid about five years ago and today has a consolidated presence, thanks to the growing interest in data and its near and innovative format, in various Spanish, European and Latin American cities.

Content prepared based on the information received by María Sánchez, organizer of DataBeers Málaga.

Contents and points of view expressed in this publication are the exclusive responsibility of its author.