Winning entries at this year’s Sigma Awards focused on the war in Ukraine, air pollution, rising sea levels, political candidates, and road accidents involving schoolchildren, and used data, satellite imagery, gaming techniques, and 3D imagery to create compelling stories.
This week our top ten in data journalism features stories digging into the link between Ebola outbreaks and deforestation, on the stark impact of global warming on everything from crop yields to species loss, and the undeniable increase in the number of hot nights in Singapore.
The Sigma Awards celebrate the best in data journalism from around the world. Speaking at the Perugia International Journalism Festival, three of the founders of the award highlighted the best projects of recent years and pointed to what journalists can learn from these data stories.
A sunken ship with a toxic cargo threatens to cause one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of Sri Lanka. Our NodeXL mapping from June 14 to 20 found a story by The Washington Post examining what caused the incident and evaluating the potential damage to marine wildlife. In this edition we also feature a piece by Al Jazeera evaluating 70 years of journeys made by refugees, an investigation into recyclable waste by Brazilian news outlet Metrópoles, and take a look at the winners of the 2021 Sigma Awards recognizing the best data journalism around the globe.
Are scented candles a casualty of the coronavirus crisis? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from November 23 to 29 found researcher Kate Petrova’s data analysis revealing that scented candles have suffered a blow in online reviews and a decrease in ratings, possibly linked to the coronavirus’ ability to affect people’s sense of smell. Elsewhere, Germany’s Zeit Online created a COVID-19 infection risk calculator, the COVID Tracking Project explained how holidays and weekends disrupt the recording and publishing of virus data, and Reuters analyzed the shortcomings of the coronavirus contact tracing system in England. Meanwhile, the Sigma Awards, which celebrate the world’s best data journalism, have opened for entries.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from February 24 to March 1 finds The New York Times digging into some curious data from two Instagram accounts of the British royal family, Al Jazeera analyzing Trump’s plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Markup launching with an investigation into auto insurance algorithms, and Pew Research Center sharing some American election data snapshots.
The Friday 5, where we round up our favorite reads from around the online world in English each week, includes the Sigma Award winners for data journalism, two stories about increased surveillance on journalists, and an interview with BuzzFeed’s Craig Silverman.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from February 10 to 16 finds The Guardian US analyzing food expenditure on the Democrats’ campaign trail, The Washington Post’s Steven Rich sharing the pains of cleaning spelling permutations in data, The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists explaining the process of handling the massive #LuandaLeaks records, and the Sigma Awards announcing its shortlist.
What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from December 30, 2019 to January 5, 2020 finds The New York Times examining Australia’s brutal fire season, the launch of The Sigma Awards to honor outstanding data journalism, Der Tagesspiegel analyzing the major changes across the globe in the past decade, and inspiring best-of data visualization lists by Nathan Yau, Pew Research Center, ZEIT ONLINE, the Los Angeles Times and the Financial Times.
