Sensor Journalism: the hands-on collecting of data with a sensor, finding measurements and information with the sensor, and using it to tell a story. There is an art to sensor journalism that takes journalism and data collection to a higher level, giving journalists the power to be a part of the story, rather than just a person behind a notepad/microphone/camera etc. It involves the people of the community, making the stories local and connected to the residents, rather than just another "environmental/research" story. Usually, journalism is gathering information/data from others and using that to tell a story. In this case, sensor journalism allows a journalist to gather their own data and use it, along with other’s, and create a story based on that data. It is the best combination of data journalism and news-gathering journalism. From information on air pollution— to the effects of toxicity of water on aquatic life, sensor journalism can explore so many areas of research. Personally, I wasn't aware of how many issues we have with our water and environment right here in my own backyard.I don't know because I am unaware which is an issue that sensor journalism can solve. Without sensor journalism and research, no one else will be aware of what is going on in their own communities/neighborhoods.

There is a quote from Javaun Moradi, formerly of NPR Digital and now at Mozilla, that says, “sensor journalism can achieve the journalism goals of informing the public, investigating corruption, speaking for the voiceless, and seeking truth. The other side benefit is that local media can deeply engage with their audience in new ways.” I think that this quote sums up what sensor journalism is all about. The job of a journalist is to inform the public on current and relevant information and what is more current and relevant than the quality of the environment around us. Sensor journalism allows the journalist to create a bond between a community by helping to create awareness and get people involved in bettering the natural world around us.

Lily Bui’s blog is a great source to really get to learn about sensor journalism and see who else is getting involved in the movement. She talks a lot about why it is so important to explore sensor journalism and understand the important of it.

While sensor journalism is a great new development for journalists, it comes with questions and flaws. How accurate are the sensors? How do we know that the sensors are right/wrong? How do you choose which types of sensors and technology to use? Are they accurate sensors? These are obvious and the right kind of questions to ask when it comes to sensors. The truth is, you can never be completely sure. One sensor is going to give information that may be slightly (or drastically) different than the next sensor. The key to making sure the data collected from sensors is accurate is to make sure to compare it over multiple tests and sensors. Using multiple sensors and doing multiple trials can help to insure that the information gathered is as close to one another as possible. Once gathering the information, if it matches up with each device and trial, the information still should be triple checked by another data collector. Once being checked multiple times and a variety of ways, I think that the information is safe to be used for journalism put into a story. When writing a story with data collected by sensors, the type of sensor used, as well as the process that was done, should be made available to the public. Anyone reading the story should have the ability to re-create the data collection from the sensor to the actual testing. This allows the readers to get hands-on and involved themselves and can prevent any skepticism.

Patrick Herron's presentation on "The Mystic River Watershed Association" and the work they do with sensors was something I had never heard of before. I wasn't aware of the group or that there were any groups that were actually testing the toxicity/pollution of water in the Boston area. The information gathered by groups like the MRWA include: the pollution of the Watershed, the times of the years that are the best and worst for the water, the effects of pollution, and what causes it. The information is gathered by volunteers in the community with the use of sensors. I think that having volunteers from the actual community that is being studied is so important because it helps to create a personal interest in the story. It isn't just an "environmental story"; it is "your backyard, your community, the water you drink", story. This is why sensor journalism is so important.

Building our own Coquis in groups and testing multiple water samples from snow drifts was something I have never done as a journalist. I have never actually gathered my own hands on samples/data at all. The building of a Coqui is complicated and doesn't seem very advanced in technology, but it worked well when testing water samples. For the experiment, the Coquis were used to test three samples of water, two were decently clean and one was really dirty. Depending on the conductivity, the Coqui would make a different noise (high pitched or low pitched). Because we built the Coquis in groups, each group had a different way of wiring, which made the results different for each group. But, the results weren't too far off. The Coqui, along with many sensors/sites, definitely needs more testing and research, but they prove to be great tools to get familiar with and use. In this case, sending the samples to a lab or using multiple sensors can help to make sure that the results from each sample were all as close as possible to having the same results. Like names, dates, and places in a story, data from sensors need fact checking of their own. I believe that all journalists should have a role in building their own sensors and conducting their own research, at least for one piece. If not getting involved, journalists should at least be familiarized with sensor journalist because it is such a huge part of where journalism is heading.

Sensor journalism has opened the gates for journalists to explore new levels of information-gathering and has given them the ability to create new awareness to the community and conduct research of their own.

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