nking in size and price, homegrown experts as well as academics are making them ever more accessible and easy to use.
The other important trend is the rise of data journalism that interprets, visualizes, and reports on the flood of statistical information being generated by everything from satellites to subway cameras. In open societies, much of this data is publicly available—so much that it has generated privacy concerns, as when the Journal News used public records to out gun owners in Westchester County, NY.
In many countries, however, particularly in the developing world, data journalism is constrained by a dearth of publicly available data. Even in wealthier nations, information on sensitive topics, like toxic contamination or radiation levels, can be hard to come by. But enterprising journalists increasingly generate and collect data themselves, particularly in the fields of health and environmental reporting.
The Associated Press is a good example. The news agency partnered with the Spatial Information Design Lab at Columbia University to measure and report on air quality at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Today, the sensor they used can be mounted on a bicycle to take roving measurements. It’s even possible to get “aircasting” readings by adapting a mobile phone.
There are many other examples of journalists and others using sensors to monitor the environment. The Public Lab used cheap balloon-carried cameras to observe the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Earlier this year, WNYC, New York City’s public-radio outlet, created a popular “Cicada Tracker” and asked listeners to build their own sensors and take soil-temperature readings to help monitor when Brood II would emerge. The Qatar Foundation is supporting the monitoring of mangroves to track their ability to sequester carbon. OpenIR at MIT’s Media Lab is measuring flooding in and around Jakarta with infrared sensors, which can also be used to diagnose vegetative health—crucial in analyzing deforestation trends.
Sensors also are being used to record gunshots and analyze where they came from, follow adventure sports, even keep track of a journalist doing a car review. John Keefe, a sensor journalism pioneer who launched the cicada project at WNYC, is looking into how sensors can be used to track management of public housing. Sensors in the form of EEG monitors worn around your head can measure how much attention you’re paying to something.
Camera-equipped drones are probably the highest-profile example of sensor journalism, and they are becoming increasingly popular with news operations. They have been used to augment or replace costly helicopter flyovers and to monitor wildlife. Drone journalism is in its infancy, like the rest of this field, but the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a lab and the University of Missouri a class devoted to the practice. There is even a Professional Society of Drone Journalists.
The growing availability of the technology is lowering the barriers to entry. One can now buy a cheap drone for as little as $30 in a toy store ($70 if you want it equipped with a camera). Keefe notes that the black-carbon detector the AP snuck into the China in 2008 cost about $4,000. A few years later the price had dropped to less than $300.
This has not gone unnoticed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has invoked longstanding but controversial rules against using unmanned aerial vehicles for commercial purposes. The programs at the universities of Nebraska and Missouri have received cease-and-desist letters from the FAA. Both are responding by seeking certificates of authorization from the agency, but meanwhile state governments around the country are drafting legislation that could crimp drone journalism. This sets up yet another potential battle between First Amendment protections and privacy rights.
Drones have already demonstrated tremendous potential to serve as effective environmental monitors, but the possibilities for using sensors extends far beyond just attaching cameras to drones. Opportunities for gatherin