Dataproofer is a New App that Assists Journalists in Verifying Data

Dataproofer allows reporters to look at the data critically.

With so much data available to journalists today, it can be difficult to sift through and determine whether it’s good or bad data or if it’s usable or not.

That’s why Vocativ, an online news outlet, created Dataproofer. An open sourced, desktop based app, Dataproofer allows users to easily spot if their data sets are high-quality, accurate or have misinformation.

Dataproofer works like spell check for spreadsheets, said Gerald Rich, creator of Dataproofer and interactive producer with Vocativ.

Simply input your data into a spreadsheet, drag and drop the spreadsheet into the app, and it searches for and highlights duplicated rows, missing column headers, bad URLs, incorrect geo-data—such as incorrect longitude and latitude for locations—a value that is too high and more.

“We were thinking of creating a tool to validate data, and when we were looking at it, this seemed like it has been a problem in newsrooms,” said Rich. “This is one problem we’ve all known…we’d get these data sets and there’s just something a little off.”

Dataproofer allows reporters to look at the data critically and decide whether it’s good to go or if more reporting is necessary. It also allows for more accurate and quicker fact checking than a reporter or editor could do alone.

After the initial idea was conceived, Rich said they reached out to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for help to grow the app. It resulted in a $35,000 grant through the Knight Prototype Fund for Dataproofer.

Gerald Rich, creator of Dataproofer and interactive producer with Vocativ

“The goal of this is to not only making this whole process a little more transparent for anyone who gets the data, and that could be a reporter, that could be an editor or someone, but to make sure as soon as you get this data you can give it a quick once over and see what’s there and what’s not there,” said Rich.

At the time E&P spoke with Rich, he had already identified 16 different tests for the app. Rich said they’re working to develop more, but aren’t “looking to crack the code of all data.”

Dataproofer is meant to be a user friendly app. “It’s not just another cryptic data tool,” he said. “(It’s meant to be) usable by small newsrooms as well as someone who’s more data curious.”

Rich said he’d like to see journalism students and local newsrooms taking code and writing their own tests for specific problems for the app.

For more information, contact Rich at GRich@vocativ.com.