Semantic web/data journalism

The Internet is a main feature of society today, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. The history and facts about the internet have been explored previously in this unit, whereas now we are starting to dive deeper in the details and particulars of the internet. The World Wide Web, or WWW was invented by Tim Berners-Lee. We all know and use this system as a way to categorise our web pages in a way that we are familiar with and that we recognise.

The Semantic Web is similar to spoken language, as we speak in a way and a structure in which we can all understand, obviously depending on the language we're speaking. It sorts information into data which is easy to read for the computer, into numbers and equations which can be transferred into documents and other programmes.

In terms of Journalism, this can link to my job being to convey information and news to people in a way which they'd understand. For example, If I were reporting on a scientific matter such as a space feature, I would have to adapt and change the jargon and language to what everyone can understand.

Journalists often use data journalism to make things easier and simpler for everyone to understand, also in a quicker way. They've started using graphical methods of conveying information, for example in charts and tables.

This data journalism handbook can explain and give examples of data journalism with tributes from people all over the world, making it a global thing.

One particular example is the use of maps, particularly in online journalism however are also used in print and other methods. They're particularly helpful in showing links between areas for example if there was an outburst of robberies in a particular place. These are also often used on news bulletins.


This map may be used in any form of journalism to point out a particular place or correlation of evidence in this place.

Another example is that of charting youth unemployment.  This article uses charts and graphs to describe correlation between years and how many youths had employment.