The first session on “Data Journalism: Turning Numbers into Narratives” was delivered by Utami Diah Kusumawati, a lecturer of data-driven storytelling and researcher at Multimedia Nusantara University.

Utami said data analysis was generally used in the policymaking process, while data analyst jobs were also becoming increasingly common in business.

She underlined that data must be accurate, “Especially when the data include numbers or quantitative data, it should be detailed.”

Analyzing data for journalism could be broken down into four stages. The first stage was to gather the data. The second stage was analyzing the data, which included tidying and organizing the data and looking for dominant patterns and attractive information.

The next stage was to look for a good news angle for framing the basic data, and the fourth and last stage was to convert the data into a visual format, such as a chart or graphic, and writing the accompanying article.

“Eighty percent of the process [involved in] data journalism is analyzing data,” Utami said.

The second Bootcamp session was on “AI in Media: Unlocking the Future of Content Creation” and presented by Wan Ulfa Nur Zuhra, founder of the Indonesian Data Journalism Network (IDJN).

Ulfa said AI-generated data must also be fact-checked, as the technology had its limitations and challenges. These included accuracy, provenance or attribution, confidentiality, copyright and plagiarism, bias, anthropomorphism, cost and policies.

Using such data responsibly, she continued, therefore depended on people.

If the AI user selected a reliable primary source, the data generated would produce more accurate results.

“You can find more accurate data if you have a link or database of what you are looking for to prompt the [AI] generator and [...] detect ‘primary sources’, for example the websites of the government and institutions,” she added.

"AI will also find it difficult to write when there is a figurative meaning. However, it can help journalism work more efficiently,” said Ulfa.

Adiza, a student from the University of Indonesia who took part in the Bootcamp, said she thought the sessions were insightful. She added that they provided hands-on practical knowledge about data visualization and how people could leverage that knowledge to communicate important things.

“And there is a lot of practical knowledge, specifically because at my university, I learned more about theory and how to analyze the data, but I didn't really get to know [or] understand how to communicate or visualize the data properly,” Adiza said.

Bambang and Wicaksono Gitawan, both from the Indonesia Cerah Foundation, found that the second session on using AI technologies in journalism was particularly interesting.

The photo exhibition “Portraits of a Nation” runs until Aug. 19. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/PortraitsOfANation.

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