Music industry analytics and insights provider Next Big Sound details the role of a Data Journalist at a fast moving startup.

1.
Data
Journalist
Playbook
Table
of
Contents:
1. Company
Description
2. Hiring
a
Data
Journalist
3. The
Interview
Process
4. What
is
a
Data
Journalist?
Getting
Started
5. Learning
the
History
of
Data
Journalism:
The
First
Quarter
6. Taking
it
a
Step
Further:
Key
Skills
for
a
Data
Journalist
7. Appendix
1
i. The
Final
Posted
Job
Description
ii. Content
Marketing
Companies
to
Reference
iii. Interview
Timeline
iv. Pitch
Challenge
During
Interview
Process
v. Pitch
Evaluation
Criteria
vi. First
Month
Music
Data
Journalist
Goals
8. Appendix
2
Resources
for
a
Data
Journalist

2.
Chapter
1.
Company
Description
What
is
Next
Big
Sound?
For
three
years,
the
Next
Big
Sound
team
has
been
gathering
data
on
hundreds
of
thousands
of
artists
in
an
effort
to
provide
the
music
industry
with
a
revolutionary
method
of
tracking
progress,
fan
base
and
growth.
Between
the
information
we
can
glean
from
social
media
websites
such
as
Twitter
and
Facebook,
streaming
services
like
Spotify,
Rdio
and
Pandora,
radio
airplay
as
well
as
proprietary
data
on
both
physical
and
digital
sales,
we
are
in
the
position
to
offer
a
unique
product
to
customers,
whether
they
be
major
record
labels,
agents
or
the
artists
themselves.
Linking
this
data
to
events
or
particular
marketing
approaches
such
as
live
Twitter
interviews,
the
launch
of
a
new
album,
or
an
active
presence
in
social
networks,
allows
the
industry
to
track
how
certain
strategies
impact
the
artist
and
their
standing,
what
garners
the
most
positive
fan
reactions,
what
social
networking
efforts
translate
into
sales
and
much,
much
more.
With
this
knowledge
in
hand,
they
are
able
to
plan
better
strategies,
and
understand
the
dos
and
don’ts
for
artist
trying
to
make
it
in
an
ever-­‐changing
music
industry.
It
should
come
as
a
surprise
to
no
one
that
the
world
is
becoming
increasingly
interconnected
through
social
networks,
and
the
same
is
true
for
music
fans.
A
fan
in
Japan
can
discuss
the
merits
of
their
favorite
artist
with
their
counterpart
in
Dubai
in
real-­‐time
(time
difference
notwithstanding).
In
addition,
this
coming
year
will
mark
the
first
in
which
digital
downloads
surpass
physical
sales.
Music
is
more
accessible
to
the
masses
and
DIY
artists
are
showing
time
and
time
again
that
it
is
possible
to
make
it
on

3.
your
own
by
taking
advantage
of
these
networks
-­‐
crowdsourcing
funds
for
tours,
self-­‐
publishing
their
music
and
videos
and
connecting
with
fans.
Next
Big
Sound
will
continue
to
grow
over
the
coming
years,
we
are
tirelessly
working
to
formulate
the
algorithms
that
will
allow
us
answer
some
of
the
biggest
questions
in
the
music
industry
today.

4.
Chapter
2.
Hiring
A
Data
Journalist
Alex
White,
CEO,
explains
the
rationale
behind
the
hire.
As
a
company
dedicated
to
providing
analytics
to
the
music
business,
a
large
part
of
Next
Big
Sound’s
job
is
to
educate
music
industry
professionals
on
not
only
the
possibilities
for
concrete
uses
of
data
in
their
day
to
day
roles,
as
well
as
the
growing
importance
of
this.
Two
years
in
we
were
seeing
great
traction
in
our
enterprise
sales,
a
changing
cast
of
competition,
and
a
wildly
shifting
industry
transitioning
from
the
old
way
of
doing
things
to
a
less
certain
digital
frontier.
Increasingly,
our
customers,
and
potential
customers,
were
turning
to
us
with
questions
of
how
to
navigate
the
modern
music
industry.
We
learned
early
on
that
the
only
scalable
way
to
help
our
customers
and
the
industry
do
their
jobs
better
was
to
build
great
software
and
publish
our
thoughts
on
the
macro
state
of
things
that
we
were
uniquely
privy
to
given
our
worldwide
data
set.
When
we
first
started
the
company
I
was
responsible
for
producing
this
content
for
marketing
and
awareness
of
the
company.
This
responsibility
passed
to
our
first
head
of
customer
support
but
her
bandwidth
for
producing
regular
content
quickly
shrank
as
customers
came
on
board
and
demand
for
the
product
and
support
rose.
As
a
board
and
management
team
we
quickly
realized
that
we
needed
to
hire
someone
dedicated
to
helping
us
own
mindshare
around
data
and
the
music
industry.
This
competency
on
staff
would
accelerate
our
march
to
become
the
music
industry
standard,
which,
in
turn,
allows
us
to
build
a
large
and
lucrative
business.
We
debated
between
hiring
a
business
analyst
or
a
data
journalist
for
this
role
but
decided
that
communicating
the
analysis
around
the
data
was
as
important
as
the
analysis
itself.
The
decision
to
hire
the
world’s
first
music
data
journalist
was
made.
But
what
was
the
best
way
to
find
and
screen
candidates?
We’d
hired
salesmen,
software

5.
engineers,
and
designers
but
no
one
in
the
world
had
ever
hired
a
music
data
journalist
before.
Unfortunately
there
was
no
template
to
follow.
I
worked
with
Antony
Bruno,
a
former
writer
for
Billboard,
to
help
craft
the
role,
screening
process,
and
evaluate
candidates.
We
narrowed
down
the
ideal
skillset
to
four
key
components:
1.
Storytelling:
able
to
take
data
and
extract
and
produce
insightful
narrative
2.
Analytical:
comfortable
in
Excel
and
able
to
proof
underlying
math
and
statistics
before
releasing
to
customers.
3.
Design
sense:
able
to
take
findings
and
compile
professional
looking
blog
posts,
presentation
decks,
and
PDFs
4.
Music
industry
knowledge:
experience
in
the
music
industry
to
help
inform
reports
that
would
be
interesting
to
our
customers
*Note:
we
had
programming
ability
but
decided
to
remove
this
and
add
it
as
a
bonus
in
the
background
section.
We
decided
to
follow
our
typical
hiring
process
of
quick
phone
screens
of
promising
resumes,
48-­‐hour
challenges,
in-­‐person
interviews,
and
then
a
job
offer
to
the
top
candidate.
We
were
quickly
overwhelmed
with
hundreds
of
resumes
and
decided
that
instead
of
the
phone
screen,
we
would
solicit
story
pitches
from
the
most
promising
candidates,
narrow
that
pool
down
to
the
best
5-­‐10
and
then
surprise
them
by
having
them
have
to
turn
that
into
a
full
story
with
data
from
Next
Big
Sound.
The
purpose
of
this
exercise
was
to
mimic
the
actual
work,
deadlines
and
short
notice
included,
as
much
as
possible.
For
a
complete
view
of
the
job
description
we
used,
interview
timeline
we
stuck
to,
pitch
challenge
we
gave
candidates,
and
evaluation
criteria
we
used,
please
see
the
appendix.

6.
Chapter
3.
The
Interview
Process
Getting
hired
to
be
Next
Big
Sound’s
Resident
Data
Journalist
From
the
moment
I
spotted
the
opening
at
Next
Big
Sound
for
a
music
data
journalist,
I
was
intrigued.
At
first
I
wondered
what
exactly
a
music
data
journalist
does,
then
decided
it
was
most
certainly
something
I
would
like
to
find
out.
I
had
heard
about
Next
Big
Sound
through
working
as
an
assignment
editor
on
a
book
entitled
The
Human
Face
of
Big
Data,
and
the
name
came
up
in
almost
every
pitch
meeting
with
everyone
excited
about
what
the
boys
in
Boulder
were
doing
with
music.
The
application
process
for
the
data
journalist
position
started
with
a
simple
resume
submission.
Fortunately,
it
seemed
my
experience,
education
and
interests
up
to
this
point
suited
what
they
were
looking
for
in
order
to
fill
this
very
new
role.
My
parents
have
sat
through
endless
hours
of
screechy
violin
recitals
since
childhood
(thankfully
I
am
told
they
got
less
screechy
with
time),
I
ran
a
radio
show
in
college,
and
after
completing
my
masters
in
journalism
at
NYU
a
few
months
earlier,
I
had
started
working
on
a
project
revolving
around
Big
Data.
Not
long
after
submitting
my
resume,
I
received
an
email
from
Alex
White,
CEO
and
co-­‐
founder
of
Next
Big
Sound,
asking
me
to
please
submit
a
pitch
for
what
type
of
story
I
would
write.
Those
invited
to
pitch
were
free
to
come
up
with
whatever
idea
they
saw
fit,
but
the
proposed
article
would
have
to
fall
within
one
of
five
categories.
Applying
data
to
prove
or
disprove
a
theory
on
a
current
music
industry
topic,
providing
data-­‐
related
insights
into
a
topical
news
item,
analyzing
the
impact
of
a
newsworthy
event
on
a
given
artist
or
artists,
identifying
trends
in
NBS
data
and
surface
lessons
that
can
be
applied
industry-­‐wide,
and
last
but
not
least
–
case
studies.
The
idea
I
came
up
with
focused
on
the
upcoming
Coachella
Music
and
Arts
Festival
in
California.
I
wondered
whether
it
would
be
possible
to
determine
who
was
making
the

7.
biggest
splash
after
performing
-­‐
the
industry
veterans
like
Radiohead,
newcomers
like
Azealia
Banks,
or
the
reunion
acts
that
the
festival
is
well-­‐known
for
bringing
together,
such
as
Pulp.
If
they
liked
my
pitch,
I
would
be
asked
to
write
the
story,
and
whether
it
was
published
or
not,
receive
$250
in
compensation
as
well
as
lifetime
access
to
the
Next
Big
Sound
platform.
Not
bad
if
you
ask
me
–
I
would
have
done
it
for
free.
However,
the
idea
of
being
compensated
for
my
ideas
and
work,
which
is
not
a
typical
phenomenon
in
interview
processes,
is
something
that
stuck
out
in
my
mind
as
a
sign
of
appreciation
and
highly
motivational,
and
also
was
my
first
clue
to
the
management
style
of
this
company:
happy
employees
are
happy
to
go
that
extra
mile
for
you.
So,
after
biting
my
nails
for
a
few
days,
I
was
elated
to
receive
an
email
saying
I
had
made
it
to
the
next
round
and
that
the
deadline
would
be
in
two
days.
The
piece
was
to
be
no
more
than
750
words,
and
if
it
was
not
chosen
I
would
be
free
to
shop
it
for
publication
elsewhere.
With
access
to
the
Next
Big
Sound
data,
I
set
about
putting
together
an
article
on
my
pitch.
While
I
had
to
fiddle
around
a
bit
before
knowing
exactly
how
to
use
it,
I
found
the
platform
easy
to
understand
and
quickly
started
to
gather
the
information
I
would
need
in
order
to
compare
these
categories
of
performers.
I
delivered
the
piece
before
deadline
and
set
about
anxiously
waiting
to
hear.
The
next
day,
I
received
an
email
from
Alex,
asking
me
to
meet
with
him
for
an
interview
the
following
week.
We
met
and
had
a
45-­‐minute
conversation
about
my
article,
previous
work,
what
I
thought
the
position
would
and
should
entail,
as
well
as
what
his
vision
was
for
the
role
of
a
data
journalist
with
Next
Big
Sound.
Following
our
chat,
I
was
introduced
to
Yu-­‐Ting
Lin,
the
VP
of
Finance
and
Operations,
and
launched
into
what
would
be
the
most
intense
interview
I
have
ever
participated
in.
We
spoke
for
close
to
two
hours
in
a
very
casual
manner,
about
anything
but
the
standard,
dull
interview
topics,
and
I
found
myself
sharing
more-­‐than-­‐a-­‐lot
about
who
I
am.

8.
As
I
was
leaving
the
office
that
day,
it
occurred
to
me
that
this
was
an
extremely
clever
way
to
vet
future
employees.
I
have
often
discussed
with
my
peers
the
lack
of
value
there
is
in
the
standard
interview.
Asking
age-­‐old
questions
and
receiving
practiced
responses
in
return,
gives
you
very
little
insight
into
the
true
personality
and
motivation
of
the
candidate
you
are
considering
for
hire.
A
few
days
later,
I
was
asked
to
submit
my
references
and
Alex
and
I
scheduled
a
follow-­‐
up
call.
In
this
conversation,
he
explained
that
because
we
would
be
entering
unchartered
territory,
a
large
part
of
my
role
as
a
data
journalist
would
be
to
analyze
my
progress,
see
what
works
and
what
doesn’t,
and
from
there
determine
what
the
next
step
should
be.
In
that
vein,
he
asked
me
to
analyze
the
interview
process
itself.
I
gave
him
my
thoughts
on
the
process,
and
added
that
I
felt
it
might
have
been
helpful
for
them
to
pose
a
question
about
the
data
to
candidates
that
had
a
pre-­‐determined
answer,
in
order
to
truly
test
their
comprehension.
I
was
very
excited
to
receive
a
phone
call
to
let
me
know
that
I
had
been
chosen
for
the
position.
Given
the
timing
of
the
hire,
in
the
midst
of
the
company
move
to
New
York,
it
would
it
take
almost
a
month
for
me
to
start
work.
After
receiving
an
onboarding
document,
with
ideas
for
what
I
could
expect
in
the
first
few
months
on
the
job,
I
took
advantage
of
that
time
to
start
building
my
editorial
calendar.
I
was
also
happy
to
have
the
chance
to
fly
out
to
Boulder,
to
see
where
it
all
began,
while
Alex
packed
up
the
last
of
the
monitors
and
shipped
them
to
New
York.
And
once
we
got
to
the
office
on
June
1st
,
I
hit
the
ground
running.

9.
Chapter
4.
What
is
a
Data
Journalist?
Getting
Started
What?
I’ve
been
here
a
month
already?
This
afternoon
marks
the
end
of
my
first
30
days
with
Next
Big
Sound,
and
while
figuring
out
exactly
what
my
role
is
here
will
be
an
on-­‐
going
process
for
some
time,
a
lot
has
already
happened.
All
newly
hired
engineers
at
Next
Big
Sound
are
asked
to
push
out
code
on
their
very
first
day
at
work.
This,
as
Alex
explained
to
me,
helps
them
get
over
the
fear
of
that
initial
step
and
jump
right
into
the
fray.
The
data
journalist
equivalent
of
this
would
be
to
produce
a
post
for
the
blog
on
my
first
day
on
the
job.
At
first
this
seemed
like
a
tall
order,
but
I
quickly
narrowed
down
my
ideas
and
got
started.
Writing
a
piece
and
publishing
it
on
day
one,
while
somewhat
nerve-­‐wracking,
was
a
great
way
to
grab
hold
of
the
blog,
gain
confidence
in
my
abilities
to
do
this
job,
and
know
that
I
was
able
to
create
strong
narrative
content
based
on
the
wealth
of
data
we
have
at
our
fingertips.
The
opportunities
for
the
type
of
questions
I
can
pose,
the
articles
I
can
write
and
for
what
I
can
learn
about
the
music
industry
are
seemingly
endless.
Alex
and
I
sat
down
together
and
decided
that
for
now,
two
blog
posts
a
week
would
be
a
good
amount
to
publish.
In
an
effort
to
keep
it
consistent
for
our
readers,
I
regularly
post
these
on
Tuesdays
and
Thursdays.
Because
the
blog
has
not
been
regularly
maintained
before
I
came
onboard,
what
type
of
content
will
be
the
most
successful
and
interesting
to
our
customers
is
still
something
that
we
are
figuring
out,
and
the
best
way
to
do
that
is
by
trying
and
failing.
So
far
I
have
written
about
emerging
bands,
music
trends
from
the
data
perspective,
bands
that
are
successful
in
implementing
various
strategies
be
it
crowd-­‐sourcing
funds
for
touring
or
social
network
tactics,
what
genres
are
most
popular
at
festivals,
and
more.

10.
Alex
and
I
meet
on
a
weekly
basis
and
discuss
our
progress,
which
I
keep
track
of
in
an
Excel
file.
Monday
mornings
I
pull
a
community
report
with
key
metrics
on
Next
Big
Sound
from
our
Premier
platform,
and
in
addition
keep
track
of
our
Tumblr
followers,
which
blog
posts
I
have
written
in
the
past
week,
as
well
as
any
coverage
there
has
been
of
Next
Big
Sound
in
the
press.
We
look
at
any
spikes
or
declines
in
our
numbers
and
discuss
what
may
or
may
not
be
the
cause
of
them,
attempt
to
analyze
which
type
of
posts
are
doing
the
best,
and
plan
for
the
coming
week.
Another
aspect
of
the
position
is
an
editorial
contact
list
I
am
putting
together.
This
is
a
list
of
editors
and
journalists
at
various
publications,
who
I
will
reach
out
to
and
establish
relationships
with.
The
purpose
of
these
relationships
is
to
have
an
outlet
to
which
I
can
supply
with
our
data
and
trends
that
we
spot,
in
return
for
coverage
of
Next
Big
Sound.
Each
article
that
mentions
our
data
as
a
valuable
source
of
information
helps
build
our
reputation
as
a
company
that
is
integral
to
the
future
of
the
music
industry.
Set
for
release
in
early
September
is
the
re-­‐launch
of
our
platform.
As
part
of
this,
I
have
been
working
with
our
lead
designer
Andrew
Cohen,
and
head
of
product
and
co-­‐
founder
David
Hoffman,
on
the
redesign
of
the
Next
Big
Sound
blog.
We
have
put
together
a
page
that
resembles
more
of
magazine
layout
with
content
divided
into
sections,
a
heavy
focus
on
images,
includes
an
NBS
Top
15
playlist,
and
most
importantly
will
allow
us
present
the
type
of
content
we
are
able
to
create
in
a
more
professional
manner.
In
addition
to
this,
I
handle
our
social
media
accounts,
from
Twitter
to
Facebook,
to
Google
Plus.
I
regularly
update
these
with
a
variety
of
content,
ranging
from
interesting
graphs
I
find
with
our
platform,
links
to
artists
that
are
displaying
surprising
developments,
engaging
questions
for
our
audience
and
more.
Again,
figuring
out
what
are
the
most
successful
posts
is
an
ongoing
process,
which
I
track
through
the
available
analytics.

11.
In
order
to
create
the
most
compelling
content
possible,
it
is
essential
that
I
spend
a
good
amount
of
hours
each
week
trolling
both
physical
and
digital
magazines
for
industry
developments.
I
keep
up
to
date
on
not
only
music
publications
such
as
Rolling
Stone,
Billboard
Magazine,
Pitchfork
and
Spin,
but
also
more
tech-­‐oriented
outlets
such
as
Gizmodo,
TechCrunch
and
Digital
Music
News.
I
cannot
maintain
a
blog
without
employing
a
voice
of
authority.
As
the
second
month
begins,
I
am
beginning
to
understand
that
the
position
of
data
journalist
is
comprehensive.
It
will
require
me
to
not
only
be
on
the
ball
in
terms
of
breaking
stories,
but
also
to
maintain
a
long-­‐term
perspective
on
developing
the
outward
face
of
this
company.
By
keeping
careful
track
of
my
progress
and
carefully
scheduling
my
workdays,
I
am
able
to
manage
these
responsibilities.

12.
Chapter
5.
Learning
the
History
of
Data
Journalism:
The
First
Quarter
Three
months
in,
and
it
is
hard
to
imagine
where
all
that
time
went,
how
little
I
have
slept,
and
just
how
much
I
have
learned.
Summer
being
one
of
the
busiest
seasons
in
the
industry,
with
festivals
staged
almost
every
weekend,
outdoor
concerts
by
the
bushel,
tours
across
the
country
and
story
ideas
for
a
new
data
journalist
popping
up
every
minute.
Since
taking
on
the
role
as
resident
data
journalist,
I
have
been
fielding
a
lot
of
questions
about
what
exactly
this
means.
The
concept
of
including
this
type
of
information
as
a
basis
for
articles
is
anything
but
new,
a
widely
cited
example
is
the
use
of
educational
data
for
an
article
in
the
very
first
issue
of
the
Guardian
in
1821.
What
has
revolutionized
this
field
in
recent
years
is
the
amount
of
data
available,
and
the
speed
with
which
this
data
is
generated
and
delivered.
At
Next
Big
Sound
we
are
gathering
an
average
of
175
million
data
points
each
day.
There
are
several
great
examples
of
journalists
who
use
data
heavily
in
their
work.
Some
of
the
best
stories
to
hit
the
press
this
past
year
are
articles
based
on
data
findings,
such
as
the
investigative
series
on
horse
racing
in
the
New
York
Times
entitled
Death
and
Disarray
at
America’s
Racetracks.
Data
journalism
can
also
come
in
different
formats,
for
instance,
the
News
Application
team
at
the
Chicago
Tribune
consists
of
a
group
of
programmers
embedded
in
the
newsroom,
assisting
journalists
in
uncovering
data
and
creating
visualizations.
The
magnitude
of
information
now
being
gathered
and
stored
within
most
fields,
from
healthcare
to
consumer
behavior
to
the
various
social
sciences,
serves
as
an
invaluable
resource
to
those
writing
the
news.
At
this
point,
I
am
only
just
beginning
to
comprehend
the
endless
opportunities
for
what
kind
of
stories
I
can
write
based
on
this
massive
amount
of
data,
and
just
how
important
it
is
to
fuse
this
type
of
information
into
an
industry
that
can
be
reluctant
to
the
idea
of

13.
change,
but
is
rapidly
changing
nonetheless.
I
feel
more
in
the
loop
when
it
comes
to
the
industry,
understand
the
ins-­‐and-­‐outs
of
our
platform,
and
am
able
to
quickly
determine
what
stories
our
audience
will
respond
to
and
how.
At
Next
Big
Sound,
I
have
at
my
fingertips
a
platform
that
allows
me
to
easily
graph
information
in
order
to
see
correlations,
as
well
as
the
ability
to
pull
overview
reports
of
relevant
data.
Telling
great
stories
then
simply
becomes
a
matter
of
figuring
out
the
right
questions
to
ask
of
the
data
and
combining
this
with
relevant
reported
content.
Working
as
an
embedded
data
journalist
with
a
company
can
of
course
be
challenging
without
an
editorial
team
around
me
to
bounce
off
ideas.
However,
I
often
use
my
colleagues
as
a
sounding
board
and
given
all
the
stories
the
data
has
to
tell,
have
yet
to
come
up
empty-­‐handed
when
deadlines
roll
around.
Another
aspect
of
the
position
that
has
risen
in
importance
in
the
past
few
months
has
been
ensuring
the
distribution
of
our
content,
through
more
than
one
channel.
I
find
myself
being
interviewed
about
this
new
type
of
role,
speaking
on
panels
about
the
future
of
the
industry,
building
individual
relationships
with
editors
and
journalists
that
are
interested
in
applying
new
data
to
the
questions
they
are
posing.
In
addition
to
this
I
am
now
working
with
several
online
publications
to
further
syndicate
the
content
of
our
blog,
among
them
the
MTV
O
Music
Awards
blog,
Sidewinder.fm,
Hypebot
and
others.
As
we
continue
to
grow,
I
plan
to
cultivate
more
and
more
of
these
relationships
in
order
to
ensure
that
our
content
and
mindshare
around
the
data
we
have
available
at
Next
Big
Sound
is
widespread
and
becomes
part
of
the
daily
conversation
in
the
music
industry.
From
time
to
time,
I
will
describe
my
job
as
basically
“de-­‐nerdifying”
Next
Big
Sound.
Working
on
such
a
technical
level,
it
can
be
a
challenge
for
colleagues
to
communicate
in
a
simple
terms
what
they
are
doing.
Here
is
where
my
listening,
comprehension
and
communication
skills
come
in
handy.
I
take
the
complicated
data
science
projects
that

14.
they
are
working
on,
such
as
how
the
concept
Granger
Causality
can
be
used
to
calculate
the
causation
between
social
media
metrics
and
record
sales,
and
explain
the
significance
of
this
to
an
industry
that
can
be
hesitant
of
using
data.

15.
Chapter
6.
Taking
it
a
Step
Further:
Key
Skills
for
a
Data
Journalist
As
I
am
nearing
my
first
six
months
with
Next
Big
Sound,
I
have
learned
a
great
deal
more
about
the
basic
skills
that
will
help
me
do
my
job
better,
in
terms
of
dealing
with
the
process
and
presentation
of
data.
Presentation
When
you
are
presenting
data
in
graphical
form,
there
are
several
considerations
you
must
make.
Understanding
the
numbers
is
of
course
imperative,
but
presenting
the
numbers
in
a
manner
your
audience
will
easily
comprehend
is
the
most
pressing
challenge.
The
advantage
of
working
for
Next
Big
Sound
is
that
I
very
rarely
have
to
think
about
how
to
present
the
data;
it
is
easily
done
for
me
through
a
platform
that
is
already
carefully
crafted
and
considered.
But
for
the
typical
data
journalist,
knowing
how
to
present
statistical
information
in
a
way
that
intrigues
and
involves
the
reader
can
be
a
challenge.
Taking
care
to
not
obfuscate
the
data,
and
creating
charts
that
are
easily
readable.
One
of
the
greatest
resources
I
found
in
learning
how
to
deal
with
data
was
the
Wall
Street
Journal
Guide
to
Information
Graphics,
written
by
Dona
M.
Wong.
This
book
gives
you
a
comprehensive
insight
into
the
basics
of
presenting
statistical
information,
and
the
dos
and
don’ts
of
charting
data.
Extremely
useful,
this
guide
is
an
overview
of
key
rules
that
will
help
any
data
journalist
understand
how
to
present
data
in
a
manner
that
is
not
only
valuable,
but
also
completely
accurate.
I
don’t
for
a
minute
wish
to
imply
that
I
now
know
everything
about
graphical
design
or
charts,
but
I
have
learned
the
basics
of
how
to
create
a
basic
visual
representation
of
data
from
this
book,
and
believe
it
to
be
integral
to
explaining
this
phenomenon
we
call
Big
Data.

16.
Learning
to
query
with
R
Another
step
in
becoming
integrated
into
this
company,
was
realizing
I
knew
next
to
nothing
about
how
to
deal
with
information
stored
in
a
database.
A
database
is
a
central
collection
of
information,
organized
in
tables,
which
when
relevant
and
utilized
in
the
correct
manner,
will
be
a
source
of
answers,
to
any
question
you
might
have.
Working
with
a
team
of
engineers,
data
scientists,
and
designers
who
understood
programming
like
the
back
of
their
hand,
it
became
imminently
obvious
to
me
that
the
ability
to
extract
information
from
whatever
database
I
had
at
hand,
whether
it
that
of
that
Next
Big
Sound,
or
any
other,
was
integral
to
independently
mastering
this
role.
In
this
vein
I
decided
to
delve
into
learning
how
to
query.
Now,
the
differences
in
programming
language
can
be
somewhat
complicated
for
those
of
us
who
aren’t
engineers.
There
are
several
ways
in
which
you
can
interact
with
a
database,
whether
it
be
languages
such
as
Java,
Python,
R,
or
whatever
else
these
guys
(who
are
definitely
smarter
than
me)
come
up
with.
But
a
basic
requirement,
I
believe,
for
a
data
journalist,
is
to
be
able
to
extract
the
relevant
information
you
need
for
a
specific
story
from
it.
The
initial
step
is
to
learn
Sequence
Query
Language
(SQL),
a
standard
vernacular
for
computer
programming
which
allows
you
pull
information
from
a
database.
For
instance,
if
you
would
like
to
get
a
list
of
all
artists
whose
name
starts
with
the
letter
B,
or
who
have
between
5000
and
50,000
fans
on
Facebook
from
the
Next
Big
Sound
database,
you
would
need
to
know
the
basic
commands
of
SQL,
such
as
SELECT,
AND/OR
etc.
There
are
several
free
online
resources
where
you
can
learn
the
basics.
Taking
this
a
step
further,
you
might
like
to
narrow
down
this
query
to
a
more
specific
question,
such
as,
how
many
of
these
artists
gained
a
certain
amount
of
followers,
within
a
certain
time
period,
and
how
rapidly
did
that
growth
occur.
Our
data
scientists
rely
heavily
on
R,
which
is
the
language
I
am
in
the
process
of
learning.
Using
this
I
can

17.
ask
more
complicated
questions
of
the
data,
take
a
stab
at
various
graph
formats
in
order
to
see
what
might
work
best,
and
eliminate
data
that
for
various
reasons
might
not
be
relevant.
With
the
ability
to
query,
the
opportunities
for
what
you
can
learn
from
a
collection
of
numbers
starts
to
become
not
only
unimaginable,
but
also
overwhelming.
Over
the
coming
months,
I
will
continue
to
study
the
various
programming
languages,
in
hopes
of
eventually
mastering
them.
As
data
journalists,
we
are
opening
a
whole
new
world.
In
terms
of
what
we
can
do,
what
we
can
learn,
and
what
we
can
explain
to
our
audience.
And
as
this
world
of
data
grows
larger,
faster
and
ever
more
unmanageable,
it
is
our
job
to
understand,
even
though
that
means
stepping
outside
our
comfort
zone
of
writing,
recording
and
editing
information.
You
may
never
have
thought
that
as
a
journalist
that
you
would
have
to
learn
how
to
code,
but
now
that
is
becoming
a
basic
requirement
of
telling
the
narrative
of
Big
Data.

18.
Appendix
1
Actual
NBS
Data
Journalist
Job
Description
Good
References
to
Study
Interview
Timeline
Pitch
Challenge
Interview
Process
Pitch
Evaluation
Criteria
First
Month
Music
Data
Journalist
Goals
Job
Description
(Note
how
NBS
still
asked
for
business
analyst)
We
are
a
two-­‐year-­‐old,
venture
backed,
tech
startup
focused
on
measuring
the
music
industry,
both
online
and
off.
We
collect
engagement
metrics
from
all
the
largest
social
media
sites
on
a
daily
basis,
we
catalogue
events
like
releases
and
concerts,
and
we
import
historical
archives
of
radio
and
sales
data
from
our
major
customers.
We
are
looking
for
a
data
journalist/business
analyst
to
join
our
growing
team
of
highly
competent
engineers,
designers,
salesmen
and
product
developers.
Ideal
skills
in
order
of
importance:
Storytelling:
able
to
extract
data
and
produce
insightful
narrative.
Analytical:
comfortable
in
Excel
and
able
to
proof
underlying
math
and
statistics
before
releasing
to
customers.
Design
sense:
able
to
take
findings
and
compile
professional
looking
blog
posts,
presentation
decks,
and
pdfs.
Music
industry
knowledge:
experience
in
the
music
industry
to
help
inform
reports
that
would
be
interesting
to
our
customers.
Main
responsibilities:
• Create
constant
stream
of
content
and
analysis
by
writing
timely
articles,
industry-­‐wide
macro
reports,
event
response
measurement
(Grammys
etc.)
• Create
compelling
examples
for
marketing
collateral,
key
live
conference
presentations,
and
sales
pitches
• Field
ad
hoc
request
from
major
users
and
individuals
in
support
of
NBS
account
managers
• Build
case
studies
and
best
practices
• Background:
• Journalism
background
(degree
or
newsroom
experience)

19.
• Passion
for
music
and
the
music
industry
• Bonus:
working
SQL
or
programming
knowledge
Good
References
to
Study
http://contently.com/blog/
http://blog.okcupid.com
http://blog.redfin.com
http://blog.runkeeper.com/
http://37signals.com/svn/
http://blog.birchbox.com/
http://www.seomoz.org/blog
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/
http://blog.uber.com/
Interview
Timeline
Week
1:
- Post
Job
description
posted
for
Data
Journalist
Week
5:
-­‐
Narrow
down
resumes
to
the
best
10-­‐20
-­‐
Finalize
first-­‐cut
names
-­‐
Send
first-­‐cut
candidates
a
Pitch
Challenge
due
in
48
hours.
Candidates
should
submit
a
pitch
consisting
of:
-­‐
Summary
of
a
story
idea
they’d
write
today
(based
on
topical
news
and/or
trends
observed
in
your
data)
no
longer
than
750
words
-­‐
Why
that
story
idea
should
be
considered
-­‐
Target
audience
and
desired
audience
takeaway
(Note:
in
pitch
challenge,
communicate
when
selected
pitches
will
be
notified)
Week
6:
-­‐
Narrow
pitches
down
to
the
best
5

20.
-­‐
Notify
the
selected
pitches
to
write
their
stories
in
48
hours
Week
7-­‐8:
- Finalize
the
best
three
candidates
and
conduct
in-­‐person
interviews
Week
9:
- Send
offer
letter
to
the
best
candidate
Pitch
Challenge
from
Interview
Process
(template)
Thank
you
for
your
interest
in
the
Data
Journalist
position
here
at
<Your
Company
Name>.
We’re
pleased
to
inform
you
that
you’ve
made
the
“first
cut”
of
applicants,
but
we
want
to
get
to
know
you
a
bit
better
before
moving
to
the
next
stage.
We’d
like
you
to
pitch
us
on
a
story
idea
for
the
type
of
piece
you
would
write
if
this
was
your
job.
What
we’re
looking
for
here
is
your
ability
to
identify
compelling
story
ideas
and
angles
that
would
catch
the
eye
of
industry
executives
and
the
press.
Pitches
can
run
the
gamut
from:
-­‐ Applying
data
to
prove/disprove
a
theory
on
a
current
industry
debate
-­‐ Provide
data-­‐related
insights
into
a
topical
news
item
-­‐ Analyze
the
impact
of
a
newsworthy
event
-­‐ Identify
trends
in
our
data
and
surface
lessons
that
can
be
applied
industry-­‐wide
-­‐ Case
studies
We
will
be
making
our
second
cut
based
on
the
strength
of
these
pitches,
so
make
‘em
count.
Pitches
will
be
due
by
close
of
business
<date>.
Pitch
Evaluation
Criteria
__
Identifies
a
timely,
relevant
topic
__
Applies
data
properly
and
relevantly
__
Demonstrates
understanding
of
your
business
/
industry
__
Demonstrates
understanding
of
data
analytics
__
Demonstrates
an
understanding
of
news
hooks/angles
__
Demonstrates
creative,
critical,
and
out-­‐of-­‐the-­‐box
thinking

21.
__
Can
be
communicated
in
different
formats
(story,
chart,
infographic,
etc.)
__
Properly
showcases
your
company
as
a
thought
leader/resource
__
Creates
interest
and
excitement
in
the
reader
First
Month
Goals
A.
Create
Editorial
Calendar:
a
list
of
high-­‐profile
events
that
you’ll
want
commentary/data
on,
notable
anniversaries,
conferences,
etc.
Develop
story
angles
on
all
in
advance
and
begin
doing
research.
B.
Metrics:
establish
baseline
metrics
of
blog
views,
chart
subscribers,
Twitter
followers,
Facebook
page
likes,
Tumblr,
using
your
product
itself
if
possible.
C.
Press
Relations:
create
a
list
of
press
outlets
you
want
to
reach
with
stories/updates.
Appendix
2
Resources
for
a
Data
Journalist
• Free
online
database
query
tutorial:
http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_intro.asp
• Free
basic
training
in
several
different
coding
languages
including
JavaScript
and
Python:
http://www.codecademy.com/
• Data
Journalism
Handbook
download
from
O’Reilly
Media:
http://datajournalismhandbook.org/1.0/en/index.html
• Data
Source
Handbook:
A
Guide
To
Public
Data.
Pete
Warden:
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018254.do
• Free
visualization
software:
Google
Fusion
Tables
(maps),
Dipity
(timelines),
Tableau
Public
(interactive),
Many
Eyes
(charts,
graphs,
word
clouds,
etc.),
Gephi
(network
graphs)
• The
Wall
Street
Journal:
Guide
to
Information
Graphics.
Dona
M.
Wong