Prof Laura Ahva from Finland gives guest lecture on data experts in journalism
(24.11.2023) On Thursday, 7th December, Prof. Laura Ahva from Tampere University in Finland will give a guest lecture on “The position and power of data specialists in journalism”. Ahva, Doctor of Social Science, is Associate Professor in journalism studies. Anyone interested is warmly invited to attend the event.
In the lecture, Ahva looks at journalism as a social practice where data specialists can be seen as valid informants. The presentation will give a detailed look at the impact of data spe-cialists on journalism as it analyzes how data experts influence journalism. To understand how these actors relate to journalism, she analyzed the ‘practice stories’ by nine external data specialists (e.g., data engineers, consultants and managers) who have been hired to work with Finnish newsrooms. The results indicated that according to their self-understanding, data specialists position themselves in different ways. These positions open routes through which data specialists can shape and change journalism.
Laura Ahva is Professor of Journalism Research at the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University in Finland. She is currently a visiting researcher at the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research in Hamburg and holds a position of Docent at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include journalism and audi-ence studies as well as studies on participatory media for which she mainly conducts qualita-tive approaches. One of her current research projects is a five-year study on the future of journalism entitled “The Future of Dispersed Journalism: The Power of Start-ups, Metrics Analysis and Event Production”. In the project, she is investigating how start-up culture, met-rics analysis and event production have become part of journalism in Finland.
The lecture is held on 7th December from 14.15 to 15.45 o’clock in lecture hall S2. Interested students and scientists are warmly invited to attend the lecture. Prior registration is not nec-essary.