Category Archives: data journalism

A case study in online journalism part 3: ebooks (investigating the Olympic torch relay)

2 Replies

8000 Holes - book cover

In part one I outlined some of the data journalism processes involved in the Olympic torch relay investigation, in part 2 I explained how verification, SEO and ‘passive aggressive newsgathering’ played a role. This final part looks at how ebooks offered a new opportunity to tell the story in depth – and publish while the story was still topical.

Ebooks – publishing before the event has even finished

After a number of stories from a variety of angles I reached a fork in the road. It felt like we had been looking at this story from every angle. More than one editor, when presented with an update, said that they’d already ‘done the torch story’. I would have done the same.

But I thought of a quote on persistence from Ian Hislop that I’d published on the Help Me Investigate blog previously. “It is saying the same true thing again and again and again and again until the penny drops.”

Although it sometimes felt like we might be boring people with our insistence on continuing to dig we needed, I felt, to say the same thing again. Not the story of ‘Executive carries the torch’ but how that executive and so many others came to carry it, why that mattered, and what the impact was. A longform report. Continue reading →

A case study in online journalism part 2: verification, SEO and collaboration (investigating the Olympic torch relay)

7 Replies

corporate Olympic torchbearers image

Having outlined some of the data journalism processes involved in the Olympic torch relay investigation, in part 2 I want to touch on how verification and ‘passive aggressive newsgathering’ played a role.

Verification: who’s who

Data in this story not only provided leads which needed verifying, but also helped verify leads from outside the data. Continue reading →

A case study in online journalism: investigating the Olympic torch relay

7 Replies

Infographic: Where did the Olympic torch relay places go? What we know so far

For the last two months I’ve been involved in an investigation which has used almost every technique in the online journalism toolbox. From its beginnings in data journalism, through collaboration, community management and SEO to ‘passive-aggressive’ newsgathering,  verification and ebook publishing, it’s been a fascinating case study in such a range of ways I’m going to struggle to get them all down.

But I’m going to try. Continue reading →

My first ebook: Scraping For Journalists (and programming too)

1 Reply

Next week I will start publishing my first ebook: Scraping for Journalists.

Although I’ve written about scraping before on the blog, this book is designed to take the reader step by step through a series of tasks (a chapter each) which build a gradual understanding of the principles and techniques for tackling scraping problems. Everything has a direct application for journalism, and each principle is related to their application in scraping for newsgathering.

For example: the first scraper requires no programming knowledge, and is working within 5 minutes of reading.

I’m using Leanpub for this ebook, because it allows you to publish in installments and update the book for users – which suits a book like this perfectly, as I’ll be publishing chapters week by week, Codecademy-style.

If you want to be alerted when the book is ready register on the book’s Leanpub page.

Let’s explode the myth that data journalism is ‘resource intensive’

13 Replies

"Data Journalism is very time consuming, needs experts, is hard to do with shrinking news rooms" Eva Linsinger, Profil

Is data journalism ‘time consuming’ or ‘resource intensive’? The excuse – and I think it is an excuse – seems to come up at an increasing number of events whenever data journalism is discussed. “It’s OK for the New York Times/Guardian/BBC,” goes the argument. “But how can our small team justify the resources – especially in a time of cutbacks?”

The idea that data journalism inherently requires extra resources is flawed – but understandable. Spectacular interactives, large scale datasets and investigative projects are the headliners of data journalism’s recent history. We have oohed and aahed over what has been achieved by programmer-journalists and data sleuths…

But that’s not all there is.

Continue reading →

Two guest posts on using data journalism techniques to investigate the Olympics

Leave a reply
Corporate Olympic torchbearers exchange a 'torch kiss'

Investigating corporate Olympic torchbearers - analysing the data and working collaboratively led to this photo of a 'torch kiss' between two retail bosses

If I’ve been a little quiet on the blog recently, it’s because I’ve been spending a lot of time involved in an investigation into the Olympic torch relay over on Help Me Investigate the Olympics.

I’ve written two guest posts – for The Guardian’s Data Blog and The Telegraph’s new Olympics infographics and data blog – talking about some of the processes involved in that investigation. Here are the key points: Continue reading →

Online journalism jobs – from the changing subeditor to the growth of data roles

1 Reply

The Guardian’s Open Door column today describes the changes to the subeditor’s role in a multiplatform age in some detail:

“A subeditor preparing an article for our website will, among other things, be expected to write headlines that are optimised for search engines so the article can be easily seen online, add keywords to make sure it appears in the right places on the website, create packages to direct readers to related articles, embed links, attach pictures, add videos and think about how the article will look when it is accessed on mobile phones and other digital platforms. Continue reading →

Create a council ward map with Scraperwiki

13 Replies

Mapping council wards

With local elections looming this is a great 20-30 minute project for any journalist wanting to create an interactive Google map of council ward boundaries.

For this you will need:

Step by step: how to start in a data journalist role

6 Replies

Investigations team flowchart

Following my previous posts on the network journalist and community manager roles as part of an investigation team, this post expands on the first steps a student journalist can take in filling the data journalist role.

1: Brainstorm data that might be relevant to your investigation or field

Before you begin digging for data, it’s worth mapping out the territory you’re working in. Some key questions to ask include:

  • Who measures or monitors your field? For example: