This document discusses data visualization in journalism. It defines data visualization as representing data visually, such as in charts or maps, to help people understand the significance of the data. Examples discussed include sonifying income inequality data on the NYC subway and visualizing flight patterns for Thanksgiving travel. Emerging applications mentioned are using virtual reality headsets like Oculus Rift for immersive journalism experiences. The document concludes with frequently asked questions about data visualization.

1. Data Visualization in
Journalism
Helena Battipaglia
Matt Weinstien
Madelyn Cox
12.17.15 This presentation was prepared for COM 427,
taught by Professor Grygiel at the S.I Newhouse
School of Communications at Syracuse University

2. What is DV?
- Data visualization represents data in a visual context, such as
a chart or a map, in order to help people to understand the
significance of that data (Crooks 2015).
- Technologies for creating online visualizations are in
transition, but there are new tools coming out that will make
the process easier (Knight Digital Media Center 2010).
- “The human brain processes information better than it
process text -- so using charts, graphs and design elements,
data visualization can help you explain trends and stats much
more easily” (Crooks 2015).
- key is organizing data in a way that is compelling and easy to
digest (Crooks 2015).

3. Figure 1 Boost Lab 2015

4. Examples

5. Sonification of Income Inequality
on the NYC Subway
https://datadrivendj.com/tracks/subway
By Data Driven DJ Brian Foo
- “The number and type of instruments are selected based
on the station’s surrounding medium income taken from
the 2011 US Census Data Release” (Foo).
- Instead of looking at Data in a chart or spreadsheet, with
a song, people are able to ride along, view and experience
the data (Foo).

6. Foo, Soundcloud (2015)

7. Data Visualization takes flight
Google took flight tracking, time and geographic location data to present the flight
patterns the day before Thanksgiving in the US.
This kind representation shows vaction trends, domestic and international flights,
important airport hubs, popular flight times
Figure 2 Google Trends 2015

8. Future Applications

9. Oculus Rift
- emerging experiential journalism
- vision encompassing helmets will allow people to experience news like a video
game (Blair 2014).
Figure 3 Oculus Rift

10. - Des Moines Register first major news organization to cover a news story using
oculus (Blair 2014).
- Reporters told story of the evolution of a family farm in a project called Harvest
of Change (Blair 2014).
- Viewers can experience how aging, technology, immigration and globalization
are changing the farm and interfering with the Dammann livelihood (Blair 2014).
Figure 5 Des Moines Register (2014)
Figure 4 Des Moines Register (2014)

11. A Whole New World: Tours of the
Past, Present & Future?
- Digital Visualization is
accessible on mobile
platforms ALREADY.
- Companies such as
- The Wall Street Journal
& The New Yorker are
just the beginning...
- “....this technology will
provide a seamless viewing
experience that allows users
to enjoy 360° video without
the need for a separate app
or additional hardware.
Mobile app users who want to
experience the virtual
reality features with a
headset can use a number of
available models. Desktop
visitors can view the content
either as 360° video in a
browser, or as virtual reality
with Oculus headsets”
(Schwartz 2015).

12. Thanks!
Questions?

13. Frequently Asked
Questions
Does DV have to look or be really sophisticated?
Nope! If you can draw a quick pie chart on a piece of paper during a presentation
to
represent the point that you are trying to get across you’ve participated in Data
Visualization. Of course DV is headed in a very sophisticated direction where we are
able to use visuals to express many different concepts other than math and science.
Do you have any suggestions on what makes a successful data visualization?
1. Don’t focus on methodology, just show results
2. Hit the highlights, meaning show the most important relationships or conclusions
3. make the visualization visually appealing but don’t distort data
Any cool examples that weren’t in the presentation?
YES!

14. Frequently Asked
Questions
What kind of resources are out there for DV?
https://infogr.am/
http://piktochart.com/
Can I use DV if I’m not a journalist or a scientist?
Yes! Anytime you need to communicate something, try to do it visually.
People are able to understand graphs/sound/video/animation much better
than plain text.

15. Reference
Crooks, Ross. (2015).16 Captivating Data Visualization Examples. Retrieved from: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/great-data-
visualization-examples
Knight Digital Media Center. (2010). Journalism in the Age of Data. Retrieved from: http://datajournalism.stanford.edu/#
Foo, Brian. Two Trains. Retrieved from: https://datadrivendj.com/tracks/subway
Blair, Cory. (2014). ‘Experiential Journalism:’ How Virtual Reality Could Depict News in 3D. Retrieved from:
http://ajr.org/2014/12/10/experiential-journalism-virtual-reality-depict-news-3d/
Oculus. Oculus Rift. [Image File.] Retrieved from: https://www.oculus.com/en-us/
Des Moines Register.(2014). Harvest of Change. [Image File.] Retrieved from:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/pages/interactives/harvest-of-change/
Boost Labs Blog. (2015). Boost Labs [Image File.] Retrieved from: http://www.boostlabs.com/what-is-data-visualization/
Jaynes, Nick. (2015) Mashable. “A day in the life: US Thanksgiving on Google Flights”. Retrieved from:
http://mashable.com/2015/11/27/thanksgiving-flights-visualized/#TvTfIGApuiqk
Schwartz, Colleen (2015). “Wall Street Journal Launches In-App 360’ Video and Virtual Reality”. Retrieved from:
http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/11/04/783603/0/en/Wall-Street-Journal-Launches-In-App-360-Video-and-Virtual-
Reality.html
Foo, Brian. Two Trains - Sonification of Income Inequality on the NYC Subway. [Image File} Retrieved from:
https://soundcloud.com/functionfoo/two-trains-sonification-of-income-inequality-on-the-nyc-subway