Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Telling Stories With Data “The Data is Dead! Long live the Data!”

#ddj #ejc

Alan McLean • @alanmclean • Art/Design/Development background • Worked at CBC.ca 2005-2007 • Working at the NYTimes in 2007-Present • Afghanistan War Logs • 2008 Election • 2008 Olympics • 2010 Olympics • Guantanamo Docket • Document Viewer • Run-Well • more... Dom Data: ﬂickr.com/photos/ogil/2499892047

Interactive News Technology @

Interactive News Technology @ Eric - ﬂickr.com/people/74486811@N00

The old newsroom/developer relationship Developer Journalist

The new newsroom/developer relationship Developer/Journalist

Use the web to tell a story, not just as a delivery medium.

Newsroom Tools Developing at close to newsroom pace is now possible

Journalism Saved!

It’s almost too easy... • Lots of tools, often free or very affordable. • Progressive Enhancement. • An unlimited supply of “pages”. <3m

Data Dumps Large collections of source material that aim to inform, but ultimately over-saturate.

Data Dumps “ Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” Dr. Ian Malcolm Jurassic Park (1993) via @kevinq, Graphic Editor at the NYT

Data Dumps “ If you won't find narratives in the data, you might as well be posting the phone book.” @harrisj via Twitter

Why are data dumps a problem? • Fail to inform clearly. • It’s very easy to get lost. • They take up precious time. • They are usually low impact. • Often bland.

It’s far too easy to distract or confuse an already compromised online attention span.

Editing is crucial online • Should we be doing this? • What is the point? • Will any of our readers/users care? • Is this going to be a core component of the story, or merely supplemental?

Design Decisions Are Editorial Statements

The Afghanistan War Logs <5m

The Afghanistan War Logs • Three publications with access to the data under a release agreement. • 90,000+ incident reports. • Spans several years of the conflict in Afghanistan. • A lot of metadata...

The Afghanistan War Logs What can we do with this data? • Data Dives! • Maps! • Timelines! • Charts! • and so so much more...

The Afghanistan War Logs What should we do with this data? • Aggregate representations of the reports were out. • Maps needed to be “Locator Maps”. • Timelines? Yes. • Incident Charts? • Story integration? Yes! Context was needed. • Could not publish them all... redactions were necessary.

The Afghanistan War Logs The Package • 3 articles. • 1 note to the readers from the Editor. • 1 background article on the data. • An incident report interactive. • A page tying it all together.

The Afghanistan War Logs Locator Maps The Article Timeline • Lead with a Map • Removed the ads • Flopped the columns • Forced a single page view • Relevant maps and photos Photos/Maps were loaded alongside text • Stylized report text within article Incident Report Text

The Afghanistan War Logs The Maps

The Afghanistan War Logs Context

The Afghanistan War Logs / The Interactive

Real Titles Stylized NYT Redactions The Jargonizer Real Summaries The Afghanistan War Logs / The Interactive

The Afghanistan War Logs / The Series Page

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http://www.innovativeinteractivity.com	195
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Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

by amclean

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