Theres been lots of chatter online about the “new” reporter. You see, computers can aggregate information and spit out a report. But, will they know facts from fiction? Trash in, trash out. Right? We see human reporters getting sucked in, what will happen when data is either incorrect or worse yet, manipulated? Read a little more about this and tell us what you think.
It’ll all depend on how advances the algorithm is.
I mean it may be possible to tag certain websites/sources/authors as untrustworthy and not pull data from them. But ultimately some garbage will come in and some wil go out just like it does in the media today.
At the end of the what’s the difference between me reading something online and checking multiple sources to compare the information and regurgitating the most common information and a computer doing the same?
A computer may be able to generate headlines and probably report the news in a pure sense of the word. But for now at least I don’t think computer will be able to generate opinions or interpreted raw data in a meaningful way. So for now at least I think your job is safe.
Whew
Computers were designed for analytics. SSD’s concerns are quite valid. There are a number of problems that come in play. First, poor control over a qualitative measure of data (source, reliability, normalization, etc., etc.) Second, algorithms or heuristics are an extension of the author so you’re not getting broad based analytics. Finally, there are several of other factors of a technical nature.
On the plus column, processing raw data, for example running a budget line by line analysis of the DoD’s budget over the last 25 years, the computer is able to identify trends that are very useful to a journalist without having the journalist be a statistician. Identifying irregularities between what is said to the journalist or electorate by elected official and actual results can be made nearly instantaneously. So, there are compelling benefits.
I learned, a long time ago, that the devil is in the details and in this case the implementation strategy. Using the technology to reduce payroll costs is like shooting yourself in the head to get rid of your headache. The flavor that a good journalist brings to the news product is invaluable and the lifeblood of any reputable media outlet.
Publications are on a decline for basically the same reason the record industry is and that is that they have both failed to recognize that readers aren’t buying house specials. Readers today will pay for a la carte information. They want to know about “X” and they don’t appreciation having to pay for “A-Z”
Sal Palma make a great point… we use god is found in the details… but it is the same idea. The computor will not be actually collecting the information… walking the shows, talking to industry reps and getting a ‘feel’ for what is trending… crunching numbers sure… but it will not give you the pulse of what is going on!
Eric… I will always trust your input before that of some computer!
keep up the great work!