A ‘Future Human’ event on Wednesday 9th Feb will shed light on biggest media trend of the moment: Data Journalism.

Guests for the event include Mark Stephens, lawyer for Julian Assange; Ben Leapman, one of the three journalists who broke the MP expenses scandal; and Martin Moore, director of the Media Standards Trust.

The MP expenses scandal of 2009, which was triggered by the Daily Telegraph’s publication of undisclosed expense claims, scorched the British political class. The story had deeper implications though: data journalism had truly broken into the British popular consciousness.

Rather than playing the traditional role of ‘digger’, The Daily Telegraph had paid an unnamed individual for digital files with their journalists acting as curators of the data. It signalled a shift that is redefining journalistic practise in the 21st century, with data-leaking websites like Wikileaks redrawing the very concept of journalism.

Describing most conventional journalists as ‘stenographers of power’, Wikileaks has embraced a hacker mentality and publishes information in its purest form, inviting collaborators to provide analysis and comment. Their whistleblowing platform has been an invaluable tool for political dissidents around the world, but Wikileaks’ code of practise is controversial; after publishing hundreds of thousands of documents pertaining to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the US government declared Wikileaks a direct threat to the lives of its servicemen.

So it’s clear data journalists are going to change the way that public information is made available, and also change our relationship with the people who govern us – but how? And what are the legal implications?

Will this radical agenda of data transparency lead to greater political freedoms and less corrupt societies, or merely succeed in putting lives at risk? And will the data journalist come to replace the traditional storytelling journalist altogether?

Details
Wednesday February 9, 2011
Main event is 7.00 pm to 9.30 pm, music and networking until late
@ The Book Club, Leonard Street, Shoreditch, London EC2A 4RH (map)
Nearest Tube: Liverpool Street, Old Street, Shoreditch Overground
Tickets are £8. www.futurehuman.co.uk

From a press release

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

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2. Daniel Pitt

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