Django app #2: Conquering forms and Google Maps API

Posted by on Feb 28, 2010 in Blog, class, data visualizations, django, programming | One Comment

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 ...

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

Posted by on Feb 21, 2010 in Blog, CAR, data visualizations, processing, sql | No Comments

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 ...

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Visualizing networking: When it doesn’t work

Posted by on Feb 15, 2010 in Blog, class, data visualizations, processing, programming | No Comments

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 ...

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Visual confections are more than mere presentation

Posted by on Feb 15, 2010 in Blog, class, data visualizations, theory, tufte | One Comment

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, ...

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