Can erradicating ‘data deserts’ help local newsrooms thrive?
How trying to find the missing data to report on city issues can unleash the potential of collaboration and technology
Caracas, Venezuela, is one of the most dangerous cities in the world: last year there were at 100 homicides per 100,000 people. But what the official crime figures don’t tell you is how many deaths were caused by police forces, which were thought to be substantial.
Favela da Maré, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has one of the worst quality of life indexes in that city. But yet there’s no reliable data to drive public policy about serious sanitation issues such as the number of open sewers.
This can and should change.
During my John S. Knight Fellowship year at Stanford, I am exploring how journalists and civic innovators might be able to overcome “data deserts” — the consistent lack of data that exists because local governments won’t regularly track the impact of public policies, or powerful people think it’s better not to measure what’s going on around them. I’m also looking at ways to allow local journalists and newsrooms to tackle investigations with shared data.
