Workshop organized on Data and visualization in Journalism & Research in IIMC, Jammu Campus

Jammu: Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Jammu Campus organized a one-day workshop on ‘The importance of Data and Visualisation in Journalism & Research’ in collaboration of Indian School of Business on Saturday. Ms. Deepti Soni, Senior Consultant and head communication at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy highlighted the importance of data for journalists and journalism students. This workshop focused on how journalists can use data to tackle misinformation and fake news through fact-checking and also to present it in an easier way for the common masses.
“Data is given in a non-usable format. As a journalist, one needs to present the data, not for own consumption but for the common masses. So it matters a lot on how you visualise and represent it in an appealing manner that also in a short span of time,” said Deepti Soni addressing the students.
“We wanted to improve news reporting on agriculture and rural area. With that thought we came up with the idea of ‘India Data Portal’ because these data were not easily available before,” Soni added.
“Data are available in the same form. But what kind of angle and story you want to pick after studying it depends on your unique thinking,” said Soni.
Ms. Soni also briefed the students on the usage of www.indiadataportal.com for searching datasets and visualising them with ease. She also discussed various forms in which data is available, and how to collect, study and use it.
The data on Indian data portal (IDP) are available on six Indian language such as Hindi, Bengali, English, Marathi, Oriya and Telegu. Any journalists, researchers, public policy makers and well as others can access data free of cost. Ms. Deepti provide practical experience through the portal to the students. This portal is funded by Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. Deepti Soni demonstrated various ways of finding specific data by putting filters and mathematical formulas according to requirements.
Prof. Rakesh Kumar Goswami, Regional Director, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Jammu Campus welcome the guests. Vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Dilip Kumar, Associate Professor, IIMC, Jammu campus. This workshop was moderated by Dr. Vinit Utpal, Assistant Professor, IIMC, Jammu Campus.