Election reflection
This month we're flipping the script and inviting YOU to bring a piece of data journalism or innovative storytelling that you feel was among the better examples of journalism during the election campaign.
Did something help you really understand an issue? Did you stumble on a unique story? Was there coverage you kept returning to?
If you have something in mind, share it with us beforehand — via this online form, via email, or tweet us @HacksHackersBNE.
Then on Wednesday, we'll show the pieces on the big screen. No need to prepare lengthy notes, just offer a few thoughts on it, and what attracted your interest. We have plenty of stories in mind ourselves, so even if you don't have a specific piece in mind, join us as we dissect the news of the 2019 federal election.
6pm: Arrive / Socialise / Grab a drink
6.30pm: Election show and tell (5-10 mins each speaker)
7pm: Drinks / Food / Discussion
8pm: Close
ICYMI
Japan has the most aged society in the world. This visual Reuters report dives into the graphs and stats
The floodwaters that devastated Queensland are reaching Lake Eyre and it's spectacular
"Journalists know they should be better able to do quantitative analysis and interpret information more critically ... Yet the training and preparation for the profession of journalism often fall short."
For all those hackers in the crowd: I had no idea Netflix had a tech blog until this month. This post on how Python is used at Netflix is an interesting look behind the curtain
About last month...
Thanks again to Dr Tim Graham who spoke about his work on bots and trolls within modern political campaigns.
If you missed it, you can watch it back, check out my tweet thread from the night, or here's a quick recap:
During the 2016 US presidential campaign, it's estimated between 5-15 per cent of Twitter accounts were bot-controlled
Tim's research found bots were more active than humans, and the average bot was 2.5 times more influential than the average human (ie, not as many but they punched above their weight)
The flipside is trolls: they're insidious because they're controlled by humans in some way
The research gave new insights into Russian troll activity, and found behaviour changed from before and after presidential election
The Australian context: midway through the 2019 election campaign Tim looked at a sample of 3,000 Twitter users and found nearly the same amount (4.25 per cent) were bots
If you've got an AFR subscription, reporter Luke Housego (and Hacks/Hackers Brisbane regular) wrote an article on Tim's early research looking at this year's federal election.
(Thanks to TJ Thomson for this shot of Tim)