Presentation of Ampop.am  data driven multimedia website was held today, October 20, in Erebuni Plaza Business Center, Urartu Hall. The website has been created and launched by the “Journalists For the Future” NGO in cooperation with the Armenian Branch of Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

The event commenced with a welcome speech by Julia Bläsius, Director of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung/Foundation Regional Office for South Caucasus and by Suren Deheryan, president of “Journalists for the Future” NGO.

According to Suren Deheryan this new online platform, combined from traditional and innovative media approaches, will provide topics of any field in a clearer and summed-up format involving data visualization, infographics, audiovisual stories and dozens of active hyperlinks to additional sources enabling the reader to more comprehensively study topic-related issues.

Welcoming the participants Julia Bläsius, representative of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung/Foundation, expressed her enthusiasm on the project, “I really like the initiative. It fills the gap that exists in Armenia of providing information and data especially on social and economic topics in a balanced, neutral and accessed way.”

She also added that the project is very important because of two points: first of all it is a part and significant step towards democracy, since the website availability is crucial for the information and education of citizens on the core fields of the country. And secondly, it covers issues that are of the main concern of Armenia – economic and social issues.

The event was attended by representatives from the media field, state institutions, civil society and international donor organizations in Armenia.

Structure of the stories at Ampop.am, as well as the significance of data visualization involved was represented. Also the main issues and difficulties the working team of the website has faced while working with official and public statistic data were pointed out during the event.

Summing up the results of the event, JFF president Suren Deheryan said, “We are hopeful that this new platform will bring together the best journalists, programmers, designers, as well as independent experts from various fields to create an information platform which will apply the best international practices.”