Bio: Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou

As Visiting Assistant Professor at the Media Lab / Social Machines, Dimitra studies the diffusion of “fake scientific news” in social networks. Drawing links between pseudoscience, populism and health literacy, she focuses on the anti-vaccination movement to provide a key venue wherein mis- and dis-information can be studied.

Dimitra is an Assistant Professor of Journalism at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and has over 10 years of teaching experience. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of social media, journalism, and society.Alongside her academic appointments, she has worked as consultant in PR and communications.

She has been recently granted a Marie Curie Global Fellowship from the European Commission which is awarded to the most promising researchers from the European Union. Under this fellowship, she will pursue her research for two years at MIT and for one year at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. With her current project, Dimitra aspires to enhance the efficiency of science communication professionals and science journalists and provide insights that will empower public health policy makers to introduce fake-proof health literacy initiatives.

She is a self-taught avid knitter and a mum of two – 4 year old Eva and 9 month old Aris.

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#YourDataStories: Making sense from Open Data

#YourDataStories is an online platform that provides an insightful set of resources for journalists to help them hold governments accountable regarding public expenditure. Designed as a tool to provide a deep understanding of open public data for both journalists and citizens, it allows for constructive storytelling in a user-friendly manner.

The project brings together journalists and data experts to search, analyze and explore publicly available data to extract insights, facts and material to shape and back up their data stories. The YDS platform allows users to browse through and analyze datasets from various sources, which have been already aligned, interlinked and unified under a common vocabulary.

The simple visual approach of YDS makes it possible for journalists and less skilled data researchers to delve into the data from any possible aspect and perspective finding new angles for analysis and interpretation. The all-in-one workflow lets users go straight from finding the data to publishing their story.

YDS brings data from different sources together to complement and eventually enrich a story. Open governmental data sets can be used to tell interesting stories and reveal patterns related to public expenditure. It serves as a camvas that enables journalists and citizens to trace hidden stories in data. While still in a developing stage, the platform serves as a toolkit for journalists to identify, investigate and create news stories.

Find it at https://yourdatastories.eu