Data Manipulation And Intent
March 8, 2013
Data supposedly tells us about what happened in a project, but while the data may record an action it does not record the intent behind it. The Tow Center for Digital Journalism takes a look at “What The Tesla Affair Tells Us About Data Journalism.” The article points out that intent can shape data, but the context is lost when it turns into cold hard facts. The truth about data is related to the recent Tesla test drive review. Tesla was very upset when New York Times reporter John Broder gave a poor review on the new car and stated that it did not factually represent it. Tesla did not release the data from Broder’s review, only the company’s interpretation of the review data.
At this point, no one can really tell the truth about the vehicle. Broder could provide context, but his opinion has already become devalued. It is also important to remember that Tesla only wanted the review for publicity and all negative truths were bad PR.
What we can learn is:
“So, to recap. The Tesla Affair reinforces that: data does not equal fact; that context matters enormously to data journalism; that trust and documentation are even more important in a world of data journalism; and that companies will continue to prioritize positive PR over good journalism in reviews of their products.”
Great, more reason to doubt data, but people have been manipulating it since time began. Will this become a greater trend, though? Is this a caution for consumer oriented analytics systems?
Whitney Grace, March 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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