- So 538's Mona Chalabi has been writing about the Nigerian Kidnappings, using GDELT to fuel her analysis.
Kidnapping of Girls in Nigeria Is Part of a Worsening ProblemThree weeks ago, more than 300 teenage girls were abducted from a school in Nigeria. In a video released Monday, the leader of an Islamist militant group called Boko Haram took responsibility for the kidnappings, describing the girls as "slaves" who would be sold.- Jay Ulfelder wasn't impressed.
Wow, initial version of this 538 piece made huge rookie mistake in use of GDELT data http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/nigeria-kidnapping/ … 1/2- If @FiveThirtyEight wants to milk political event data--& they should--then hire pro like @johnb30 or @ahalterman or @alexhanna to do it.
- Better yet, @FiveThirtyEight could invest a little in http://openeventdata.org to help get it going & get a jillion future stories in return.
@jay_ulfelder First rule of new dataset: always ask an experienced practicioner before publishing anything.- I took a crack at explaining the errors.
Event Data in Popular MediaMona Chalabi of 538′s Datalab took a stab at reporting on the mass kidnappings executed by Boko Haram in Nigeria. While this is a very popular story at the moment, Datalab, 538, and the larger collection of trendy new news entities run by geeks offer a data-driven approach to news and analysis.- But Mona Chalabi was undeterred!
Mapping Kidnappings in NigeriaLast week, I wrote about how kidnappings in Nigeria have soared over the past 30 years. Time trends are important in understanding the context of the recent mass kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls, but so are geographical trends.- Erin Simpson smelled blood in the water...
![[cracks knuckles] MT @FiveThirtyEight: We're mapping kidnapping rates in Nigeria 1982 to 2014. http://t.co/zIfSxm0uSq http://t.co/FQjZQDHJme](https://storify.com/services/proxy/2/0esqjd7vR_PkPdvnyiAeWQ/http/pbs.twimg.com/media/BnhM-2BIUAAaqv1.png)
[cracks knuckles] MT @FiveThirtyEight: We're mapping kidnapping rates in Nigeria 1982 to 2014. http://53eig.ht/1oof5cw pic.twitter.com/FQjZQDHJme
Nope MT @armarvin: .@charlie_simpson @FiveThirtyEight Do you think the #GDELT is sound enough to make calls on #Nigeria kidnapping trends?- ...And decided to take Chalabi to task.
- All trend analysis using #GDELT has to take into account the exponential increase in news stories which generate the data. @FiveThirtyEight
- #GDELT isn't designed for tracking discrete events like "kidnappings" or "suicide bombings" bc it's based on news reports. @FiveThirtyEight
- The beauty of automated event data is that you don't hand-code things. The power-and the limitations-come from automation @FiveThirtyEight
- News coverage varies widely over time and space. That's really important when making comparisons across time and space. @FiveThirtyEight
Event Data Community vs. Mona Chalabi on Nigeria
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