What are the latest developments, challenges and opportunities in the field of data and computational journalism? These issues were discussed at the 3rd European Data and Computational Journalism Conference, held in Málaga, Spain 1-2 July 2019 . The first day of the conference took place at the Rectorate of the University of Málaga, while the venue for the second day was Faculty of Communication, University of Málaga. The main sponsor was Google News Initiative, supporters included IAMCR.
The conference offered an interesting mix of academic talks, presentations of projects, and insights from the newsroom. One of the core issues was the need for collaboration across borders and disciplines. Journalists and data scientists are to work together, and other forms of cooperation should take place both nationally and globally. Moreover, the take home message was that, indeed, it is possible to combine human stories with numbers, and even to find a new intermediary role for the media in the data-driven society. However, this implies new types of responsibilities and confidence. During the conference, questions of inequality were also brought to the fore. Technology and data are not value-free, but are accompanied by many biases from their development and collection to their use and interpretation. Finally, the universities are also expected to meet the needs of data and computational journalism both in terms of research and education.
As a member of the Cordi team, LL.D Anette Alén-Savikko participated in the conference. She travelled home with many fresh perspectives to her research on news automation and transparency.
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