This repo contains material for the module which is studied as part of the MA in Data Journalism and is an optional module on the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism at Birmingham City University.

Within the context of media integration and convergence, Specialist journalism, investigations and coding aims to facilitate a flexible and adaptable skillset that provides a basis for students to critically adapt to any chosen field of reporting. It also provides a basis for the successful completion of the master’s route project, and introduces potential avenues of practice-based inquiry for routes into PhD progression beyond.

1. Identify, articulate and critically assess information sources, systems, and issues within an identified field of reporting.
2. Research and report stories in a specialist field using contemporary technologies for an identified audience

This module begins with formal classes and becomes more student-driven as it progresses. You will be expected to listen to class podcasts and screencasts ahead of most sessions, so you can make the most of the time in class.

You will also be expected to feed your own experiences into each class - and your own problems and questions - rather than coming to the sessions with nothing to contribute or build on. As independent learners the emphasis is on you to drive your learning forward through conversation rather than accept it passively.

In this week you will be introduced to current affairs reporting and encouraged to consider the ingredients that journalists need to collect to tell longer stories effectively.

• Listen: IRE Radio Podcast: Regulated by God
• Read: Turner, B. and Orange, R. (2013) Specialist Journalism. Routledge
• Directed study: Using systems thinking to prepare a presentation on a chosen field

In this week you will be introduced to exercises to help you identify potential stories to report when acting in a specialist or investigative role. We will look at the roles of systems in different fields and how those often play a central role as both a subject for the journalist, and a framework for their newsgathering. By the end of the week you should be able to identify a key issue in a chosen field, articulate some potential avenues of inquiry.

You will begin to narrow your focus to a specific story or 'hypothesis' to begin researching for an in-depth feature or investigation.

The week also looks at how you can use systems of accountability and measurement in your journalism, from the role of public meetings, documents and data, the role of regulators, and legal powers such as FOI. By the end of this week you should be able to describe specific systems in your area of interest that you can use in your reporting.

• Workshop: Mapping your territory - and network analysis
• Workshop: planning your investigation or feature - see network analysis folder
• Read: Lee Hunter, Mark (2011) Story-based Inquiry
• Directed study: watch the playlist of videos on company accounts

Company accounts are an excellent source of news stories, and a key resource in many investigations and features. This week we explore techniques for getting stories from company accounts, and story ideas that can draw on accounts. By the end of the week you should be able to identify and report stories from company accounts.

• Folder for this week
• Workshop: reporting sport, technology, fashion and music using accounts
• Read: Bairoliya, Raj (2012) The Investigative Journalist's Guide to Company Accounts, CIJ
• Directed study: Accounts research/interview planning and research

'Follow the money' is just one of many forms of network analysis: mapping connections between entities (people, organisations, locations) in order to identify where to focus your reporting - as well as potential conflicts of interest. This week we explore techniques for recording, mapping and visualising those connections.

• Folder on network analysis
• Workshop: mapping a corporate network
• Directed study: preparing for coding

This week introduces you to basic coding techniques and applies those to a useful technique: scraping. By the end of this week you should be able to identify opportunities for using coding in your field, and explain basic coding concepts such as variables, loops, functions and libraries.

• Folder for this week
• Workshop: Reporting crime, environment or food using APIs - see Python folder
• Read: Bradshaw, P (2015) Scraping for Journalists, Leanpub
• Directed study: Identifying potential targets for scrapers; working on coding

This week we review the code produced after the previous coding class and look at more scraping techniques.

• Workshop: Python, scraping and APIs - see Python folder
• Read: Shaw, Zed A. (2013) Learn Python the Hard Way
• Directed study: Compiling/analysing data

Use this week to review the techniques covered in previous weeks, and work on areas which you feel you need to improve, and/or which you feel are most relevant to your area of focus and professional objectives.

Statistical literacy is important in being able to report stories accurately. In this week we focus on some common statistical issues as well as techniques for using statistical methods in your own reporting. By the end of the week you should be able to articulate basic statistical concepts and undertake basic statistical analysis.

• Folder for this week
• Workshop: regression analysis
• Read - choose from:
  • Huff, Darrell (1954) How to Lie With Statistics, Penguin
  • Blastland and Dilnot (2007) The Tiger That Isn't: Seeing Through a World of Numbers
  • Fung, Kaiser (2010) Numbers Rule Your World
  • Cohen, Sarah (2014) Numbers in the Newsroom
• Listen: More or Less: The Simpson’s Paradox: consider 2 things: firstly Simpson's Paradox, but secondly: how audio can be used creatively to demonstrate something (the choir).
• Directed study: Data analysis/interview planning and research

By the end of this week you should be able to identify different ways of treating 'text as data' and explain how regular expressions (regex) work can be used to locate and extract information from text.

• Workshops:
• Using grep and regex in R
• Task: Development of data journalism project
• Reading - choose from:
  • The Bastards Book of Regular Expressions
  • Maseda (2021): Text as Data: Finding Stories in Text Collections

You can find more tips on dealing with documents in another repo here

In this week we will focus on your projects, as you approach the deadline! Issues to consider include cleaning data, network analysis and narrative techniques in longform writing.

• Workshop material: Immersive features: narrative techniques
• Read: The Hidden Scenario by Luuk Sengers and Mark Lee Hunter
• Directed study: Project research

In this week we will focus on your projects, as you approach the deadline! Issues to consider include cleaning data, network analysis and narrative techniques in longform writing.

• Workshop: Cleaning data with Open Refine
• Read: John Pilger Tell Me No Lies (1999) Routledge
• Directed study: Project research