Making the structured usable: Transform JSON into a CSV
Nothing too groundbreaking here, if you’re a coder, but this was interesting to me in my coding development. This weekend, I pounded away at the Document Cloud API, experimenting with how we might integrate it into our continually-developing workflow at PBS News. This taught me a) the DC folks have some of the clearest documentation ...
Universities should apply expertise to explain complex topics
News doesn’t always come in quick bursts, focusing on THE HOT STORY on a given day. If we’re telling stories about our world, there’s got to be more than “feeding the beast”. What about helping the public understand a large issue, as opposed to a soundbyte, or in addition to an anecdotal story? This is ...
Be the LA Times’ next “Data app producer intern”
Imagine for a minute that you’re a journalism student, about to launch into the “real world.” You dream of a way ot bring readers interactive experiences that make the most of the facts behind a story. You admire the kind of work they’re doing at the New York Times, ProPublica, Chicago Tribune, the St. Petersburg ...
Looking back on a year: What now?
I realize New Years posts are completely overdone. And I really wanted my next post to be about how to use a JQuery library to make interactive tables. And I’m working on that. But I’d like to ask you to indulge me for the next few minutes, as I take a step back to reflect ...
PBS post: What Data Can’t Do For You
The year’s end is always a good time for reflection. I’ve been doing a lot of personal thinking, and reading a whole slew of top 10 lists. Hype over static infographics that add to the overwhelming amount of info but ultimately fail in providing real understanding have always annoyed me. Interactivity can help, when used ...
I’m speaking at NICAR (come anyway!)
We can talk about journalism until the sun sets on the last printing press, but doing > talking. That’s why I’m fortunate to have found a great playground at PBS in DC. But I wouldn’t be able to attempt half of my experiments without the support of another community – NICAR. The acronym stands for ...
Are time-intensive story presentations worthwhile?
My new post on PBS NewsBlog argues yes (not shocking if you know me). A sample: “If a story is posted on a news site, and no one cares, was there a point? Sometimes, us newsies wonder what the modern audience is looking for, and how to best convey interesting and engaging information. You shouldn’t ...
“I do not believe programming replaces the story” No, no, no!!!
I placed this comment in response to Robert Hernandez’s post on OJR re: whether journalists should be delving into databases and programming. I hope to write more on this later, but my greater issue is at the separation of coding and storytelling. OJR’s posting policy means my comment is pending approval, so I’m posting here ...
Join the data convo at PBS NewsNav
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 ...
Using Google spreadsheets as your database
UPDATE 2/7/12: The whole, copyable script has been added to the bottom of this post, at the request of a few folks. Hopefully that’s helpful. 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 ...
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