Don't fear the robots
Five reasons investigative journalists
should welcome automation
@leilahaddou & @maxharlow
What is automation?
Automation: Something running without human assistance
Automation: Something running without human assistance
Artificial intelligence: When a machine mimics things done by humans.
Automation: Something running without human assistance
Artificial intelligence: When a machine mimics things done by humans.
Machine learning: When a machine learns for itself how to do something.
We’re seeing more and more news organisations talk about automation
Automation isn’t new!
Difference engine (1832)
Ada Lovelace
Charles Babbage
The first algorithm?
Sketch of the analytical machine (1840)
How we got here
Turing machine (1936)
1960s and 70s computers in newsrooms
Computer Assisted Reporting
Our five reasons you should welcome automation
They can alert us
#1
They can write and publish for us
#2
The crime-ridden family of quinoa has taken US by storm this month. According to Peru, New York has confirmed that quinoa is more story than anything else they've ever seen. Quotes from top Yotam Ottolenghi eaters suggest that "crop" is currently clear top, possibly more than ground black pepper. Experts say both Salt and University need to traditionally grow to strengthen a common solution. Finally, it is worth slightly rattling that this article was peeled until it made sense.
They can take on the tedious work
#3
They can help us interpret and understand
#4
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million documents.
If you spent one minute reading each one, it would take you almost 22 years to get through them all.
They enable us to fight back
#5
Now is the time to start understanding this stuff
@leilahaddou & @maxharlow
(Slides? bit.ly/2kqIc1w)