Tianyue Yang holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications engineering and is interested in pursuing a career in data journalism. She is an alumnus of USCET’s data journalism workshop.
Q: As a student, what our your thoughts on data journalism? Why is it important?
A: I think data journalism, though still a relatively small field, is very important. This is the era of big data. Data is not only about numbers, but also pictures and video. With the development of the Internet, the amount of data will only increase, and people can get more and more information from it. The importance of data journalism is becoming more and more obvious.
Q: What are some of the challenges that you face when working in data journalism? How do you cope with them?
A: I think the biggest obstacle is finding data. There’s not a lot of available domestic data open to the public, which means that sometimes the topic selection is very interesting, but finding the relevant data is very difficult. When you can’t find the data you want, you have to look for related data, but the end result is never as good as you had hoped. Now, the company where I am interning is making their own databases and sorting the data, hoping to turn it into a sharing platform.
Q: Where do you see yourself in the future?
A: First, I hope I can work in traditional media for a few years, starting from the most traditional and basic aspects of journalism. I hope this can help me improve my interviewing and writing skills because they are still so crucial for journalism. That said, I like data journalism better, so I will probably do that after learning more and gaining experience in traditional media.
Q: What did you like about the workshop?
A: In the workshop, I had the honor to meet many people in the industry, and the workshop also invited many excellent data journalists to share their articles. The most important thing is that everyone has a good grasp of data journalism, and they describe things from a very comprehensive perspective.
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杨天悦拥有通信工程学士学位，并且对数据新闻感兴趣。同时她也是中美教育基金会数据新闻工作坊的校友之一。
Q: 作为学生，你怎么看数据新闻这个领域？数据新闻为什么重要？
我认为数据新闻虽然还是一个相对比较小的领域，但是非常重要。如今是一个大数据时代，数据不仅仅是数字，还包括图片跟视频等。随着互联网的发展，数据量只会越来越多，人们从里面能够获取到的信息也越来越多，这个时候数据新闻的重要性就体现出来了。
Q: 当数据新闻记者遇到的最大的障碍是什么？你是如何克服它的？
我认为最大的障碍是找不到数据。国内的数据开放程度较低，以至于有时候选题非常好玩，但是比较难以找到相关的数据。找不到想要的数据的时候，就只能找相关联的数据，但是效果始终没有达到想象中那样。现在我实习的公司自己在做数据库，分类整理数据，希望做成一个分享平台。
Q: 能说说你对未来的展望吗？
我希望还是能够先去传统媒体工作几年，从新闻学最传统最基础的方面做起。因为采写还是媒体里最重要的部分，所以我还是希望这方面能够加强。但我自己还是比较喜欢数据新闻，所以之后可能还是会做数据新闻。
Q: 你觉得你在工作坊受益最多的是什么？
在工作坊我有幸认识了很多同行业的人，工作坊也邀请了很多出色的数据新闻记者前来做分享。最重要的是大家都对数据新闻有一定的了解，分享时也是从整体的角度讲述数据新闻。