27 Apr 2009
Journalism and Raw Data
I’ve read a bunch about how The Fourth Estate can really tap into the power of Web 2.0/crowdsourcing/other relevant buzzwords by making much of the raw information uncovered in the course of reporting available to the public. From there, the theory goes, legions of engaged readers can draw their own conclusions, and perhaps find new threads which can be spun into full on yarns.
Today the NYT has posted “the daily schedules of Timothy F. Geithner from January 2007 to January 2009, when he was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York” which they got through a FIA request.
I’ve read through a few pages, and it’s kind of interesting to see “a day in the life,” but how useful is it? I guess if one dug through everything one could get a pretty good idea of who he was closest with, for example, and read into it from there.
Of course, since the NYT already has the documents, the additional cost of sharing them is not much — the time it took to make sure all the sensitive info was redacted and upload them, plus hosting costs.
If enough undigested info of this type became readily available I think there’s lots of potential for not only good reporting, but also for the NYT to continue to build a community of engaged users that spend lots of time on their site. It’s also a potential revenue stream via some sort of subscription: The New York Times Political Document Database (or something). Might as well use what they’ve got, right?
As always welcome other thoughts.
Geithner’s Calendar at the New York Fed - The New York Times
