2020
Datos y periodismo a website to spread data journalism in Latin America
Category: Best news application
Country/area: Argentina
Organisation: Datos Concepcion
Organisation size: Small
Publication date: 2 Jan 2019

Credit: Datos Concepcion
Project description:
"Datos y periodismo" (data and Journalism) was born as a site specially dedicated to disseminate and develop journalistic projects based on data. This modality that is promoting journalism in Argentina and Latin America needed to have its own space.
Impact reached:
The initiative was launched in February 2019 and has since gained recognition among journalists specialized in data. By 2020 it is planned to create the network of correspondents based on the Latin American network of data journalists that we founded in 2018 in Costa Rica. The site brings visibility to data-based initiatives, and that has allowed us to obtain a first state of data journalism in Latin America. The library of publications on data journalism that we attach to the site is also highly valued. And we are adding online workshops that allow more journalists to be trained in the use of data.
Techniques/technologies used:
In the site we embed interactive visualizations developed with different tools: tableau, infogram, flourish, etc.
In addition, we dedicate a special report by month to explain step by step what techniques were used in a prominent story, with links to the tools and databases used.
What was the hardest part of this project?
As it is a website dedicated to disseminating and enhancing data journalism, the most important barriers are associated with achieving visibility of the initiative. In planning for 2020 we have planned a positioning campaign that aims to install the site as a reference space for data journalism in Latin America. The jury must assess that it is an initiative launched by a small work team (we are 4 members) that understands that Latin American journalism needs a quality leap, and that data journalism can provide that fee that is needed to base the stories in data and not in opinions.
What can others learn from this project?
This initiative allows more journalists to know what data journalism is and what are the differential advantages over traditional forms of journalism. In turn, the spirit of the project is to consolidate a network of alliances throughout the region in order to reach instances of collaborative and cross-border work, much needed in many of the journalistic investigations.