In this talk I present a survey of forms and tools that are used by practicing data journalists. I walk through examples of different techniques used by journalists to convey complex information to readers, including static charts and graphics, probabilistic models, simulations, and others. I discuss the tools that are available for creating such storytelling devices, examining their successes and shortcomings, and speculate on future directions. I also look at how open source software has impacted journalism. The audience should walk away with a better understanding of how data journalists work in practice, what tools are available for citizen data journalists, and how journalists can work together with the open source community.
2. New Data Viz in Data Journalism
Matthew Conlen
@mathisonian
http://mathisonian.com
3. About Me
● Ph.D. student at University of Washington under
Jeffrey Heer
○ Computer Science & Data Viz
● Working with FiveThirtyEight since their move to
ESPN in 2013
○ Computational Journalist
4. This Talk
● Walk through examples of innovative and
successful data journalism pieces
● Show a range of useful open source tools for
creating them
23. Uncertainty
● As displayed by response to election graphics,
lots of work to do here
● Real world data is often messy and imprecise.
Especially when polling or sampling is involved.
28. Simulation
● Great tool for displaying complex mathematical
processes
● Patterns are more important than equations
● Computation can be done in the client and
visualized realtime
33. Boutique Data
● Cheap sensors are making it easier than ever for
reporters to collect their own data sets
● Expect to see more of this in the future
47. A reminder
● It’s easy to get lost in numbers
● Remember you are dealing with real people and
real issues
● As technology improves it grows in importance
that we consider the impact of what we do