Spreading the data word…via Poynter

May 12th, 2010

If you didn't see it on Twitter, or on poynter.org...I'm writing articles for Poynter's website on data journalism.  The first is on how to use OutWit Hub, a Firefox extension to help you scrape Web sites even if you don't have programming knowledge. I just needed something to do with my ever abundant free time, obviously Read More...

Note to self: Real world journo-coding lessons

May 3rd, 2010

Notice how your Google reader got a bit emptier than usual?  Didn't think so.  But it recently occured to me that I haven't posted in eons.  Why is that? Part of it has been the chaos of moving, spending time exploring LA.  The other part is that I'm finally walking the walk every day.  I stepped out of the Medill bubble, valiantly tried  to explain to my friends and family what I'm doing out in California Read More...

Columbia’s new joint MS: Good start, but no panacea

April 7th, 2010

We've been retweeting it and raving about it all day in the data community - Columbia has made a big, big step forward in data journalism education by offering a new joint masters in journalism and computer science.  We can add modules to existing curricula all we want, but this is a giant leap.  There is a subset of journalists who need to learn to code Read More...

My next move: LA Times!

March 18th, 2010

"You're going into journalism?  Now?"  "they" asked.  "What can you do with that?" I've always answered that I'll figure something out, that the Web is to journalism's benefit, not its detriment.  That there's got to be something to this programming journalism thing I enjoy so much. I finished my last final today Read More...

Data Delvers: Ben Welsh & Ken Schwencke, LA Times

March 8th, 2010

Using data as part of a package that drives user interest needs a strong team, and cross-collaboration between reporters, editors and web developers.  At the Los Angeles Times, two key people who work to bring it all together are Web dev duo Ben Welsh and Ken Schwencke.  It's their job to enhance and enrich the various reporting and projects done by reporters and make sure it's interesting and accessible to you on the Web Read More...

Piece de resistance: Data viz wrapup

March 8th, 2010

And, scene.  That's a term borrowed from theater, it's used as an act or scene closes.  My giant Chicago art gallery persistence project is completed.  We've got a trend article that uses CAR techniques, and a Flash visualization and a searchable database.  The main thrust to the story is that of the galleries that existed in Chicago in 1990, about half have survived Read More...

Persistence of Chicago Art Galleries

March 3rd, 2010

I've spent the quarter compiling and analyzing data exploring the persistence of Chicago art galleries, as a way of exploring CAR for the arts.  I found a list from the Chicago Artists' Coalition of 96 such businesses that existed in 1990, and tracked their fate.  A story summarizing the trend follows (an assignment for my Arts Reporting class) Read More...

Guest Post: Integrating data with our journalism

March 2nd, 2010

I was recently asked to write a guest post sharing some of what I've learned about data from my studies, random experimentation and musings that consume my life.  This is part of Adam Westbrook's Fresh Eyes series, where he asks people within and without journalism with non-traditional perspectives to talk about how journalists can improve their craft Read More...

Django app #2: Conquering forms and Google Maps API

February 28th, 2010

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...

“Demos, not memos”: My first Django app

February 22nd, 2010

UPDATE:  GitHub repo with code for the app can be found here: http://github.com/michelleminkoff/oscars Thanks to Dave Stanton for a marvelous tutorial linked in the comments. "Demos, not memos."  It's my new mantra.  A phrase well known in the CAR community, especially after this blog post from Matt Waite, I subscribe to the idea for two reasons Read More...