Never mind the big words. ‘Computational journalism’ is all about’using modern tools to do’news in the public interest. The ‘computation’ part refers to the use of computers to create, understand and display the news. Sarah Cohen is a Knight journalism chair focused on this new form of watchdog reporting. The ‘computational journalism’ initiative is organized by Duke’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy.

‘The center has released a 22-page report. ‘Accountability through Algorithm: Developing the Field of Computational Journalism‘ will go out to 800 opinion leaders, editors, scholars, deans, officials and software developers. Not to mention the journalists who mine today’s data for tomorrow’s news. The bottom line: Using computers for journalism is not an arcane specialty. It’s something all journalists, including nonprofit and citizen journalists, should know how to do.”Comments are welcome at [email protected].