At a time when “big data” is in vogue and computational journalism is taking off, reporters need efficient ways to process millions of documents. TheDeclassification Engine is one way to solve this problem. The project uses the latest methods in computer science to demystify declassified texts and increase transparency in government documents.
The project’s mission is to “create a critical mass of declassified documents by aggregating all the archives that are now just scattered online,” said Matthew Connelly, professor of international and global history at Columbia University and one of the professors directing the project, in a phone interview with Poynter.
Check out my article about how The Declassification Engine proposes to use Natural Language Processing and machine learning algorithms to uncover redacted text in declassified documents.
Could it change the way we cover stories about the government?
