Data practices and informative activism in the grassroots struggles against corruption

This chapter seeks to investigate the role of journalism within the anti-corruption arena from a different perspective by looking at how data journalism combines with data activism. In so doing, it focuses on the liminal spaces between journalists and activists, their practices, their logics (in terms of technologies, norms, behaviours, and organisational forms) and their sensibilities (Russell, 2016). More specifically, the chapter purports to expand upon an emergent line of inquiry that deals with the liminal spaces between journalism and activism with the use of digital media and (open) data (see Ahva, 2017; Baack, 2017; Deuze & Witschge, 2020; Gray & Bounegru, 2019; Milan & Gutiérrez, 2015; Powers, 2018; Russell, 2016). Ultimately, this chapter is an attempt to understand what happens when activists create their own innovative and resourceful digital informational material to fight corruption, hence undertaking the role of anti-corruption journalists and becoming de facto hybrid actors in the anti-corruption arena.