Social media in journalistic inquiry - Requirements for a search system incorporating journalistic quality criteria

Citation

Kilian T, Scherp A & Hammes E (2015) Social media in journalistic inquiry - Requirements for a search system incorporating journalistic quality criteria. In: ECIS 2015 Completed Research Papers, volume 2015-May. 23rd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2015), Munster, Germany, 26.05.2015-29.05.2015. Atlanta, Georgia: Association for Information Systems. http://www.ecis2015.eu/conference/program.html

Abstract
Social media allow journalists to incorporate additional information into their journalistic inquiry. However, journalists often cannot be certain of the quality of information from social media. IS research has yet to sufficiently address this issue. Most notably, there is no information system that supports searching for social media content about a specific topic while considering journalistic quality criteria. This paper presents the results of a design science project, focusing on an extensive literature analysis and on an interview study that was conducted to outline the requirements of this information system. The empirical analysis indicates that, in particular, the actuality, independence and credibility of the sources are relevant quality criteria for the use of social media for journalistic inquiry. The paper concludes with a presentation of the study’s limitations and an outlook of further steps in the development of the system.

Keywords
Design science; social media; journalistic inquiry;

Journal
23rd European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2015: Volume 2015-May