Michelle Minkoff

I love journalism shop-talk chat, really.  Of course, I’d rather be DOING the journalism, but it’s important to see where others are at, and it’s kind of fun to feel like part of the club, and dream about the future.  The #wjchat chats on Twitter emerged about the same time my data journey started, but my participation in these activities has dropped off recently.  This is especially ironic this past week, as the discussion centered on the relevance of j-schools.  And I’ve been thinking about that topic a lot.  After all, two weeks from today, I officially graduate from Medill.

I’m looking forward to it, yet it seems sort of surreal.  Graduation marks the end of one chapter, the beginning of another.  But I started the new chapter already. Read more…

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.

Alright, since we know that’s not true, the real reason is that it will help spread the data journalism message.  There are a lot of skills to learn, and a lot of questions to be answered.  The more of us intelligently exploring these options, the better off we all are.

Plus, it’s fun, and a way to keep writing even as I spend my working days coding.

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to be explored, please get at me.

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. “We’ll look for your articles!”  “Do you write feature stories?”  Me: “I tell stories through data.  No?  I do geeky stuff to create interactive apps for news.  No?  Ever used Excel?  Yeah, it’s computer-y stuff.”

I moved halfway across the country.  I oohed and aahed at the palm trees outside my window every morning, the giant building imprinted with the LA Times logo that looms above me as I emerge from the subway every day.  I got over how impressive the trees and the building are, and saw them as normal landmarks.  And I was reminded of why I do what I do, how there is so much more to be done, and the importance of striking a personal/professional balance (and believe me, I don’t do well with balance usually.)  The LAT is an experience that’s even better than I imagined it would be, and I’m just two weeks in.  But there’s a lot to accomplish, in terms of what I produce, and what I get out of the experience.  Every second brings new knowledge!

Here are some things I want to make sure I remember as the weeks go on.  This is the moment, and Toto, we’re not in Evanston sitting in Fisk Hall anymore. Read more…

In journalism, we talk a lot about the concept of the “one-man band.” The idea often refers to multi-platform journalism — it means being able to deliver a story in print, video, audio or online format. You must be able to do it all, and do it all well. But in the CAR world, plenty of data teams remain a one-man band operation, but in a different sense. Know how to ask questions of information, sort through databases, post data online, create data-driven applications, teach others how to bring the data to their reporting, advocate for the importance of data and exercise ample management skills to know what story is most in need of the skills of a data specialist. Quite a mouthful! And time management’s essential, to make sure all of that happens. Top this off by understanding instilling a data culture in any newsroom is its own challenge, even if data journalists have been at your paper for decades.

One man practicing this “one-man band” concept is Paul Monies, database editor of The Oklahoman. He brings the data to stories across the paper, draws attention to data issues through his blog Data Watch and contributes to the open data movement in Oklahoma outside of the journalism world, and throughout all this, remains conscious of how data advocacy impacts his journalistic objectivity. Note: I interviewed Monies at the end of February, so the information is accurate as of that time. Read more…

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.  This certainly can’t hurt, and can only help journalists, right?  What will be interesting is what the graduates actually do with the degree.

I didn’t retweet it for a few hours, because, for once, an opinion didn’t jump into my mind.  If you were in my classes at Medill, watching me wince in pain every time we stopped short of delving as deep as we needed to, complaining about the pervading fear of code in journalism, if you knew me, you’d think I would jump up and down, and say, “Now, why couldn’t I have that?  It would have been awesome!”  People are saying it helps people who aren’t coders become coders.  While some pointed out that Medill had this first, our program was for programmers to become journalists.  And how does that serve liberal arts majors who want to code for journalism?  Why isn’t it listed as a course option?  Wouldn’t this Columbia program make life so much easier? Read more…

Today, at sunset, the Jewish people mark the end of Passover. I know the High Holy Days are the most, well, holy, but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Passover. The English major in me likes that everything has symbolism (salt water, matzo, lamb bone, etc.), the journalist in me loves a good story and roots for the underdog and the Jewish part of me likes the cooking and the eating and the communing and the eating….

And now, something new!  There’s a connection between Passover and coding.  So many assume coding skills are magic, as miraculous as frogs appearing in Pharoah’s bed.  I beg to differ. Read more…

Using programming to enhance and improve journalism is often thought of as a new phenomenon — the rise of the pro-jo, or programmer-journalist. But as anyone in the CAR community can tell you, using computers for reporting is far from a new idea. One of the pioneers of the movement, decades ago, was Phil Meyer. He was profiled in Newsweek as one of the original journalists performing computer-assisted reporting. He also literally wrote the book, simply called Precision Journalism, on how to use numbers and statistics to help the truth shine through. His writings are nothing less than required reading for anyone curious about this subset of journalism, with which every reporter should be familiar.

As an aspiring programmer-journalist, Meyer personifies the very reason I love using data for journalism — it gives us the facts that hold up the truth. Society demands nothing less from the stories we impart, and I know I think of Meyer’s writings nearly every day. Back in February, the now-retired University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor took the time to speak with me. Hopefully, he’ll inspire you like he’s inspired me. Read more…