The Art and Science of Data-driven Journalism

A new approach

Reading Development

Decades after early pioneers successfully applied computer-assisted reporting and social science to investigative journalism, journalists are creating news apps and interactive features that help people understand data, explore it, and act upon the insights derived from it. Journalists around the world are grappling with the excitement and the challenge of telling compelling stories by harnessing the vast quantity of data that our increasingly networked lives, devices, businesses, and governments produce every day. While the potential of data journalism is immense, the pitfalls and challenges to its adoption throughout the media are similarly significant, from digital literacy to competition for scarce resources in newsrooms. Global threats to press freedom, digital security, and limited access to data create difficult working conditions for journalists in many countries. A combination of peer-to-peer learning, mentorship, online training, open data initiatives, and new programs at journalism schools rising to the challenge, however, offer reasons to be…

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Saudi’s push towards an innovation economy

Smart Societies

By Mohamed Imam Salem, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is pushing to diversify its economy beyond natural resource. Transitioning towards a knowledge-based economy is its optimal development strategy. In pursuing this strategy, the Kingdom is focusing on science and technology. As the technological requirements of the global economy grow, there is increasing pressure on the educational system to produce graduates who have the skills to be productive in that economy. In its Ninth Five-Year Development Plan (2010- 2014), the Kingdom has stated it seeks to end the dependency on oil for economic growth.

The Eighth Development Plan focused on fundamental developments that laid the basis for heading toward a knowledge-based economy. These included starting implementation of the first five-year plan of the National Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy; adopting the National ICT Plan, the National Industrial Strategy, and the Strategy and Plan…

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