Big or Thick data? Journalism in times of personalized and data-driven user experience.

Friday November 17, 2017 at 4.15 pm Vilnius time (3.15pm Brussels time)

This session is organized by AEJ Belgium (www.aej-belgium.eu ) with the collaboration of the Association of Lithuanian Journalists. Our special guest is Geert-Jan Bogaerts, head digital of the VPRO (the Netherlands). He goes in discussion with Dr. Dzina Donauskaite, Director of Lithuanian Journalism Center, scholar and lecturer at Vilnius University, Institute of Journalism, and Lieven Taillie, President of AEJ Belgium and EU correspondent for CAPresse.

Do we need to work at Big Data or rather at Thick Data? Today mainstream media are often diagnosed as being out of touch with their potential audiences. Appeals are made that newsrooms should go much further in understanding and reflecting the diversity of the publics they serve. Part of the answer seems to be working more with personalized data. This asks though for changed skillsets from all those participating in news media, including journalists. Important point of discussion is how to find the right balance between the commercial objectives and the objectives of bringing news and offering paths through information that should remain or become again core to the business.

Inevitably, this  means for journalists a need to deepen, to better understand the content they fully produce and not to give more quality, making it relevant, putting it more in context, giving relevance back to their audiences. Do they get enough time for this?  How does a public broadcaster as the Dutch VPRO deal with this? Which technical evolutions might be helpful and developed within Future Media Lab?

This session can be followed on AEJ Facebook profile. You can comment onTwitter with: #aejbelgiumsession #bigorthickdata.