2017 Data Journalism and Digital Media

Internship Program Test ANSWER KEY

Fund Use: Score______

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY

Applicants Name________________________________________ Email Address ________________________________

College/University____________________________________________________ Phone Number (_____)_____________
Name and Title of Monitor_____________________________________________ Phone Number (_____)_____________
Monitors Address______________________________________ City ____________________ State_____ ZIP_________
Monitors Email Address__________________________________________ Date Test Given _____/_____/2016

Applicants statement: I have applied/plan to apply for ___ data journalism ___ digital media ___ both

INSTRUCTIONS
This test has a one-hour time limit. Please print clearly using a dark pencil or pen. If you are applying for data journalism,
complete Part 4. If you are applying for digital media, complete Part 5. Complete both if applying for both programs.

Copyright 2016 Dow Jones News Fund, Inc.

PART 1 DATA AND DIGITAL TERMINOLOGY. 4 pts./Total =20

1. What does SQL stand for? What does it do? STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE IS A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
USED TO MANIPULATE DATA IN DATABASE MANAGERS.

2. Name three database managers. MICROSOFT ACCESS, MYSQL, SQL SERVER, DB1, IMS DB, FILEMAKER,
DATACOM, SQLBASE, ETC.

3. Define data visualization. DATA VISUALIZATION IS THE PRESENTATION OF DATA IN A PICTORIAL OR

GRAPHICAL FORMAT; IT HELPS PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DATA BY PLACING IT IN A VISUAL
CONTEXT, I.E., GRAPHS, CHARTS, MAPS, AND MORE.

4. What is VR journalism? VIRTUAL REALITY JOURNALISM IS AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE USING AUDIO, VIDEO,
360-DEGREE CAMERAS AND SPECIAL GEAR TO ALLOW USERS TO EXPERIENCE A REPORT, SERIES OR STORY.
MEDIA CONSUMERS ARE IN THE STORY, STANDING WITH THE GRIEVING FAMILY, WALKING THROUGH THE
REFUGEE CAMP.

5. WHAT IS FOIA? HOW DO JOURNALISTS USE IT? THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT IS A LAW THAT
GIVES CITIZENS THE RIGHT TO ACCESS INFORMATION FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. STATES, CITIES,
COUNTIES AND OTHER GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES HAVE OPEN RECORDS LAWS, WHICH CAN BE USED IN
SIMILAR WAYS.
PART 2 CURRENT EVENTS. Underline or write the answer. 1 pt./Total = 10

1. Devastating floods in ___BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA___ killed 13 and damaged more than 60,000 homes.

2. U.S. Supreme Court Justice ____ANTONIN SCALIA_______, who died in February, has yet to be replaced.

3. Gymnast __SIMONE BILES________ won four gold medals and one bronze at the 2016 summer Olympics.

4. A gunman killed 49 people at ___PULSE_________ Nightclub in Orlando.

5. Results of Brexit mean the United Kingdom decided to _LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION__________.

6. TPP stands for _____TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP_________________________________.

7. An international network of journalists documented corruption on a global scale in reporting based on the leaked
____PANAMA PAPERS_______________________.

8. More than 130 people were killed in simultaneous ISIS attacks last November in __PARIS/FRANCE______.

9. Philando Castiles death after a traffic stop in Minnesota was ___LIVESTREAMED_____ on Facebook.

10. The U.S. denied, then admitted releasing $1.3 billion to __IRAN_ connected to freeing American prisoners.

PART 3 Complete the crossword puzzle. 2 pts./Total =14

1H A C K E 2D ACROSS DOWN

Y A 1. Breached 1. ___ markup language

3. Collections 2. Information
P 3S E T S
4. Visual device in a GUI 6. Token ______
E A 5. Adding keywords

4T A S K B A 6R

E I

X N

5T A G G I N G
PART 4 FOR DATA APPLICANTS ONLY: Requesting and Analyzing Data. 28 pts. each /Total=56

You want information on parking tickets issued in the downtown area of MyCity, U.S.A, from September 1 through December
31 for 2013, 2014 and 2015. What are the key elements you should include in your request? Draft the gist of your letter.

From Data Literacy by David Herzog

YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION TIMEFRAME OF THE DATA (SEPT. 1 DEC. 31, 2013, 14
THE NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE AND 2015)
PERSON FILLING THE REQUEST FORMAT IN WHICH YOUD LIKE TO RECEIVE THE DATA
A CITATION OF THE LAW UNDER WHICH THE REQUEST IS (ALONG WITH THE MEDIUM);
BEING MADE REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTATION
THE NAME OF THE DATABASE, AS ITS KNOWN INSIDE REQUEST FOR WRITTEN EXPLANATION, IN CASE OF
THE AGENCY DENIAL;
THE NAMES OF THE DATA COLUMNS, IF KNOWN FEE WAIVER REQUEST OR LIMITATION

FROM: LINDA SHOCKLEY, DOW JONES NEWS FUND, P.O. BOX 300, PRINCETON NJ 08543 MOBILE PHONE: 609-216-1005
LINDA.SHOCKLEY@DOWJONES.COM
TO: DAWN SMITHEY, PRINCETON PARKING AUTHORITY, 123 CITY STREET, MYCITY, N.J. U.S.A.
DATE: NOV. 7, 2016
UNDER NEW JERSEY OPEN PUBLIC RECORDS ACT P.L. 2001, C. 404, I AM REQUESTING DATA ON PARKING TICKETS ISSUED
BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 1 AND DECEMBER 31 IN DOWNTOWN MYCITY, U.S.A., FOR 2013, 2014 AND 2015. I NEED THE
LOCATION (I.E. STREET NAME AND ADDRESS, WHERE AVAILABLE), TIME AND DATE OF TICKET, TYPE OF VIOLATION, THE
ISSUING OFFICER, THE AMOUNT OF THE FINE. THIS INFORMATION IS FOUND IN COLUMNS A, B, C, D, E, F AND G OF THE
PARKING TICKET DATABASE. I WOULD LIKE THIS INFORMATION AS AN EXCEL FILE AND DELIVERED VIA EMAIL. PLEASE
PROVIDE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION. I AM ALSO REQUESTING A FEE WAIVER.

IN THE EVENT, THIS REQUEST IS DENIED, PLEASE PROVIDE A WRITTEN EXPLANATION.

THANK YOU,
LINDA SHOCKLEY

You have received data as Excel files from MyCity, U.S.A, for parking tickets issued in the downtown area. Outline steps and
tools you would use to analyze this data for reporting in your story.

From Data Literacy by David Herzog

ASSESS THE DATAS ACCURACY AND CONSISTENCY--DIRTYNESS. RUN A DATA INTEGRITY CHECK USING THE DOCUMENTATION OR
METADATA (RECORD LAYOUT, DATA DICTIONARY, CODE BOOK). MAKE A COPY OF THE METADATA. DETERMINE THE FILE
FORMAT, THE NUMBER OF ROWS AND THAT ALL THE COLUMNS ARE PRESENT WITH PROPER HEADERS. MAKE SURE THE COLUMN
HEADERS MATCH THOSE IN THE METADATA AND DONT CHANGE THEM.

CHECK THE INTEGRITY OF EACH COLUMN BY GENERATING PIVOT TABLES. MAKE NOTES IN YOUR DATA NOTEBOOK AND FOLLOW
THIS PROCEDURE FOR ALL COLUMNS.

MAY USE EXCEL TEXT TO COLUMNS TOOL, OPEN REFINE OR STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE TO FURTHER CLEAN DATA.

TO ANALYZE THE DATA, WE WILL COME UP WITH SUMMARY STATISTICS: AVERAGE, MEAN, MODE AND MEDIAN. USING THESE
NUMBERS WE CAN MAKE COMPARISONS, YEAR TO YEAR, STREET TO STREET, TICKET AMOUNTS AND BY ISSUING OFFICER.

WE CAN CREATE A CHART (PIE, LINE, BAR, MAP OR OTHER GRAPHIC) USING EXCELS FEATURES OR USE ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR,
TABLEAU, INFOGR.AM, WEB TOOLS, ETC.
PART 5 FOR DIGITAL APPLICANTS ONLY: Story treatment: Edit the following story and in the margins detail
the hyperlinks, graphics or visual elements you would include to enhance the reader/user experience. Write a Search
Engine Optimization headline and a tweet on the lines below. TOTAL= 56
SEO HEADLINE 8 pts.
Mobile Bank Heist: Hackers Target Your Phone or Robbers Hack Phones to Break into Bank Accounts
TWEET 8 pts.
a. ROBBERS FIND THE WEAK SPOT IN MOBILE BANKING HACK USERS PHONES FOR ACCOUNT PASSWORDS AND ID USING TEXT MESSAGES AND
ADS. (LEAVE CHARACTERS FOR HASHTAG, LINK TO STORY)
OR
b. BANK ROBBERS TURN TO POPULAR MALICIOUS SOFTWARE TO BREAK INTO BANK ACCOUNTS VIA CELLPHONE AS CARELESS CUSTOMERS
LEAVE DEVICES VULNERABLE. (NO CHARACTERS FOR HASHTAG, LINK TO STORY)

5 pts./Total =40
TEXT EDITS
CHECK MALWARE NAME,
Acecard vs. AceCard
SUBJECT AND VERB AGREEMENT,
SHOULD BE GETS
Cyberthieves have a new way to hack into consumer bank accounts: mobile phones.
Malicious software programs with names like Acecard and GM Bot are gaining popularity around
the world as criminals look for new and lucrative ways to attack the financial-services industry.
Cyberthieves are using such so-called malware to steal banking credentials from unsuspecting
consumers when they log onto their bank accounts via their mobile phones, according to law-
enforcement officials and cybersecurity specialists.

SPELL OUT OR USE % FOR The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, which brings together five banking
PERCENT TO BE CONSISTENT. AP regulatory bodies, in April updated its guidance for banks to include potential threats facing
STYLE IS SPELL IT OUT. mobile financial services, including mobile-phone malware.

INSERT THE BETWEEN IN AND

Ian Holmes, banking fraud solutions manager for security firm SAS, estimates that the AceCard
PREVIOUS
malware has customized overlays to imitate 50 financial-services apps. The malware is gaining
DIGITAL EDITS credibility in the criminal underworld, said Mr. Holmes.

CREATE VIDEO OR SLIDESHOW
OF PEOPLE USING MOBILE
PHONES, BANKING APPS.
SHOULD WRITE A SCRIPT THAT
AMPLIFIES NOT PARROTS THE
STORY.
INSERT A LARGE PHOTO
HYPERLINK TO THE FFIEC
The malware typically GET onto a phone when a user clicks on a text message from an unknown
source or taps an advertisement on a website. Once installed, it often lays dormant until the user
opens a banking app. The malware then creates a customized overlay on the authentic banking
app. This allows criminals to follow a users movements on the phone and eventually grab
credentials to the account.
This type of mobile-phone malware is gaining ground as more consumers are using banking apps
and financial firms are rolling out a wider array of mobile services. The most common mobile-
banking activity is checking an account balance.

INSERT A GRAPHIC/CHART The Federal Reserve said earlier this year that 53 PERCENT of smartphone users with bank
COMPARING THE PERCENTAGE accounts had used mobile banking in _ previous 12 months, up from 43% in 2011.
OF BANKING ON MOBILE IN
2015-16 TO 2011, AS IN NEXT TO
Mobile phones are considered uniquely vulnerable to hackers because consumers typically dont
LAST PARAGRAPH.
install anti-malware protection onto their devices.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FINAL INSTRUCTIONS: When you have finished or when time runs out, return this test to your monitor. The monitors signature will
certify that the exercise was completed within the 60-minute period. The monitor must mail your completed exercise postmarked by Nov. 1,
2016, to the Dow Jones News Fund, P.O. Box 300, Princeton, NJ 08543-0300.

________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
Signature of Monitor Date