Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

38
Telling Stories With Data “The Data is Dead! Long live the Data!”

description

 

Transcript of Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Page 1: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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

Page 2: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

#ddj#ejc

Page 3: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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 /

Dom Data: flickr.com/photos/ogil/2499892047

Page 4: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

InteractiveNews

Technology@

Page 5: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

InteractiveNews

Technology@

Eric - flickr.com/people/74486811@N00

Page 6: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

JournalistDeveloper

The old newsroom/developer

relationship

Page 7: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The new newsroom/developer

relationship

Developer/Journalist

Page 8: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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

Page 9: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Newsroom ToolsDeveloping at close to newsroom pace

is now possible

Page 10: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Journalism Saved!

Page 11: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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

<3m

Page 12: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Data Dumps Large collections of source material that aim to

inform, but ultimately over-saturate.

Page 13: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”

Dr. Ian MalcolmJurassic Park (1993)

via @kevinq, Graphic Editor at the NYT

Data Dumps

Page 14: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 15: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 16: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 17: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 18: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

If you won't find narratives in the data, you might as well be posting the phone book.”

@harrisj via Twitter

Data Dumps

Page 19: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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.

Page 20: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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

attention span.

Page 21: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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?

Page 22: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Design Decisions Are Editorial Statements

Page 23: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 24: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 25: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs

<5m

Page 26: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

• 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

Page 27: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs

• Data Dives!• Maps!• Timelines!• Charts!• and so so much more...

What can we do with this data?

Page 28: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs

• 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.

What should we do with this data?

Page 29: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

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.

Page 30: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

• Lead with a Map• Removed the ads• Flopped the columns• Forced a single page view• Relevant maps and photos

were loaded alongside text• Stylized report text within article

The Afghanistan War LogsThe Article

Locator Maps

Timeline

Photos/Maps

Incident Report Text

Page 31: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs

The Maps

Page 32: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 33: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online
Page 34: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs

Context

Page 35: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs

Context

Page 36: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs / The Interactive

Page 37: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

Real Titles Stylized NYT Redactions The Jargonizer Real Summaries

The Afghanistan War Logs / The Interactive

Page 38: Data Driven Journalism - Telling Stories Online

The Afghanistan War Logs / The Series Page