The Meek School of Journalism Hosts Second Ole Miss Data Day

Ole Miss journalism and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) students gathered in the Overby Auditorium Tuesday morning to kick off the second annual Ole Miss Data Day.

According to the website http://olemissdataday.com/, the Meek School of Journalism created Data Day last year so that “students will be granted access to tools and methods that lead data-driven journalism, content analysis, digital marketing and much more.”

The University invited three guest speakers to talk to students and the public: media researcher Jessica Mahone, Google News Lab trainer Mike Reilley, and senior associate of Precision Strategies David Hudson. Each one shared their experiences working within their field as technology continues to advance.

Mahone started off Ole Miss Data Day by explaining to the audience how much content analysis has grown within the digital age.

“Content analysis prior to the last five years, perhaps, has really been focused on things that are in the past… Now, you can do things in a much more timely way,” Mahone said.

When the conversation switched to Reilley, he agreed with Mahone in that technology is changing the way journalists work in their field, but he expressed that not every journalist has taken advantage of what technology has to offer. 

Mike Reilley, Google News Lab trainer.

“You’ll be amazed at how many professional journalists aren’t using these [Google] tools at all right now,” Reilley said.

Reilley also explained that technology has caused journalists to relate more to their audiences.

“That’s a big part of what we’re doing as journalists now,” Reilley said. “There’s been that shift to audience engagement, doing more listening to the reader.”

Hudson talked about the impact of social media. Before becoming an associate at Precision Strategies, he worked for the White house as the associate director of content. When talking about digital strategy, he stated how important it is to know the different types of social media platforms.

“Something that performs well on Facebook is not always going to perform well on Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat or Tumblr,” Hudson said.

Senior Cady Herring, who plans on “visualizing her own data for her thesis,” came to listen to all three speakers. She expressed enthusiasm after hearing all of the speakers.

“I thought they were extremely helpful and cutting edge,” Herring said. “What they’re teaching students is super necessary in what we need to learn as IMC and journalism students.”

By Montana Byrd, a student of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She can be reached at mwbyrd@go.olemiss.edu.