By NYU Staff

Disruptive technology has wreaked havoc with traditional journalism organizations, but cutting edge journalism futurists are adopting technology to change the way the profession functions.

Precision journalism has been a tool for investigative reporters, even before computer assisted reporting became a buzzword. The concept of precision journalism is the application of social and behavioral science research methods to the practice of journalism. It involves using a scientific approach and technology to analyze data.

James T. Hamilton of Duke University and Fred Turner from Stanford University have put out a report “Accountability Through Algorithm: Developing the Field of Computational Journalism”. The report was a part of the Center For Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Summer Workshop in July. This is what they had to say: “Computer scientists are rapidly creating algorithms to make sense of large-scale data sets. Social scientists too are working with data in real time, publishing quickly, and thus finding themselves pursuing social problems alongside reporters. We believe that the convergence of these trends holds the promise of the development of a new field: computational journalism (CJ).”

The report proposes a dashboard for journalists. With a proliferation in the number of digital data sources that journalists have to keep up with, increasingly there is a need for a tool to spot what’s new and what’s important in the flow of daily information. Further it goes on to say that “the tools developed for reporters will likely need to be open-source or carry a very low cost of acquisition, since local papers and online news providers will be hard-pressed to make investments in accountability coverage.”

According to Derek Willis, who blogs at The Scoop, a weblog about computer-assisted reporting, the problem is not about the availability of such tools, but the willingness to adopt those tools to journalism. He says, “It also requires the active participation of a wide range of news organizations and journalists. In the Internet, we have a leveling platform, but only if more journalists participate. That may be a greater challenge than the technical one.”

The future of journalism techniques is open source, as it is many other areas.  But this will require a change in the way the profession has been practiced since decades. Newsrooms will have to become more open and collaborative. This flies in the face of the very competitive nature of the profession. This is another disruption that journalism must tide over.