Is a flat text file or a database right for an app?

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 ...

Many Eyes: “Catalyzing the community around data”

Posted by on Feb 18, 2010 in Blog, data visualizations | No Comments

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 ...

Data Delver: Lisa Pickoff-White, California Watch

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 ...

Visualizing networking: When it doesn’t work

So much in journalism and in life, we strive for perfection in our work. The best story idea, the best presentation.  We strive for perfection as individuals, we compete to be the best, get to the scene before someone else, write tighter, edit faster.  But sometimes, it’s just as important to recognize when something just ...

Visual confections are more than mere presentation

Data visualization.  It’s one of those terms that can mean so many things.  I say I’m doing an independent study on data visualization this quarter.  That’s true.  But a better description would be “data visualizations for journalism.”  I’ve talked about this with people before, a lot of pieces are gorgeous, and they do convey information, ...

Data Delver: William Hartnett, Palm Beach Post

There’s a fine line between loving your work, and falling into a deep obsession.  I don’t pretend to understand the distinction, what some call an obsession, I call it loving learning and seeing a project through.  I think it’s very easy to become sucked in to something, when it’s something that matters. I know I ...

Data Delver: Gregory Korte, Cincinnati Enquirer

I believe all beats would benefit from considering data in their reporting, but some beats demand data analysis on a regular basis.  The nature of CAR is changing — many industry folk have told me that the term “CAR” now encompasses reporters, data analysts and web developers.  It’s certainly a wide field.  One reporter I ...

Treemapping Gov. Quinn’s State of the State

This week in the Processing book, I learned all about trees and hierarchies. There’s a lot of potential here for allowing the user to delve deeper into interactives by providing multiple layers. This is a very cool example of how programming helps support my theory of journalism — the deeper the information you offer, the ...

Relating zip codes and geography using Processing

This week I tackled recreating Ben Fry’s Zipdecode project, which he gives great step-by-step instructions for in his Visualizing Data book that I have been following along with this quarter. It’s an interesting take on the concept of the scatterplot, even before using its interactive features, it asserts its usefulness as a population density map. ...

Data Delver: Tyson Evans, NY Times Interface Engineer

Data visualization is a tool that is applicable in many industries. Some visualizations are made to help business owners make decisions, some to help reporters perform analysis to make discoveries. But what takes a visualization, or interactive piece, from something that helps a news producer, to something that helps a news consumer, requires someone who ...