Mapping the territory of data journalism: A practical concept explication

The prevalence of data journalism in recent years has challenged traditional journalistic norms as well as the relationship between journalism and other subjects, affecting journalism both internally and externally. While the practice of data journalism has become increasingly pervasive around the world, systematic research on data journalism is only just starting to receive scholarly attention. The multi-aspects of data journalism cause difficulties in attempts to define it critically and clearly, and the limited number of previous studies suffer from a lack of coherent connections bridging the field’s academic and professional dimensions. Through a concept explication, this article generates theoretical and operational definitions of data journalism via empirical analysis and meaning analysis.

Definitionen als pragmatische Erläuterungen

Definitions as Pragmatic Explanations. An Analytical Perspective This article takes an analytical perspective on ›definitions‹ in educational science. After a delineation of the analytical perspective as a pragmatic practice of explanation, two common types of definition are described and illustrated using the concept ›instruction‹ [›Unterricht‹]: the concept analysis, which aims at naming the individually necessary and jointly sufficient properties of a concept; and the concept explication, which aims at the formulation of a precise term that is fruitful for further research but only similar to everyday language. Finally, it will be discussed in which respect explication and analysis can be considered a pragmatic explanation. For this purpose, explanation is understood as a social process: not definitions explain a term, but a person uses definitions in order to explain a term to a group of addressees for a specific purpose. For this aim, conceptual analysis and concept explication may serve as possible orientations.