Join the data convo at PBS NewsNav

November 23rd, 2010

When I last spoke about my new shiny data journo job in the outskirts of DC known as Arlington, I said it was a dream come true. A month later, I stand by that statement, and say I couldn't have imagined just how great it would be. I now even have teammates, and we have a name: NewsNavigator. Being around DC is fantastic, too Read More...

Using Google spreadsheets as your database

November 22nd, 2010

The database is a key part of data journalism.  We spend a good amount of time making structured of the unstructured, and then we need to shove it somewhere so a web app can serve up relevant pieces, perform calculations to help us understand nuance.  Straight text files just have their limits. But does that mean you can't build a data app that dynamically updates if you don't know the difference between MySQL and PostgreSQL and the newest Harry Potter movie? -- Oh wait, that last one's a sequel, not SQL! *Wow, that was a bad pun Read More...

Tools to help bring data to your journalism

November 8th, 2010

NOTE: This entry was modified on the evening of 11/9/10 to deal with typos and missing words, resulting from posting this too late the previous night.  Sleep deprivation isn't always a good thing -- although it allows one to do things more fun than sleep.  Like play with data. Note to self: Be more careful in the future Read More...