It's been a busy week for the programming journalists -- as I'm sure you've seen. Congrats to all, especially the dev team at The New York Times, who just released the newest version of the Congress API, with plenty more robust features to play with, as well as my recent Data Delver interviewee Andy Boyle (who is #11 in my backlog, I'll get to you all before NICAR, I promise!) who just released a Django app, with the help of his St Read More...
Today, the New York Times' David Carr came to speak at Medill. I've admired his work for some time, and he was just three floors above me, so I hopped on upstairs. While not directly data-related, he did talk about many topics relevant to the current journalistic climate. If that's not a good enough reason, it's my blog, so we're going on a diversion Read More...
I've been busily coding away on my final project for my data visualization independent study. I'm looking at data that I've been slowly acquiring on the life of art galleries that were in Chicago in 1990. Back then, the Chicago Artists' Coalition had a complete listing in a pamphlet (more like a book) they put out for artists Read More...
My next Data Delver: By day, he's an investigative reporter. By night, he's Superman! (Okay, he actually builds database applications with co-conspirator Matt Waite. But that's almost the same, right?) The CAR world, as I see it, has two different paths you can go down: continue to use data for reporting stories, or apply those skills to web development and presenting data Read More...
One of the virtues of continuing to be a graduate student while pursuing my CAR journey has been the freedom to look at problems academically. One issue I've been wrestling with is where we need to use more data. I've come to the conclusion that it needs to be used more often in reporting. That can be simple additions of a sentence to some breaking news stories, or using at as the basis for a long-term investigation Read More...
Before I get going, thanks to all of you who've been reading and/or sending me feedback! And a hearty welcome to any new readers who've found their way over via Innovative Interactivity, #wjchat or any other method. I'm so glad you're joining me on my data journalism quest (read: obsession!). If you have any topics you'd like to see explored, or tips and advice, just let me know Read More...
While talking to data reporters from around the country, it’s become apparent to me that the best work is done when the staff is supportive. Some newspapers are doing great work, and some are struggling. Which led me to wonder how the investigative organizations are doing, new and encouraging experimentation to draw eyes and inform readers Read More...
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