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StoryBench

15 posts

Data Journalism

Struck by Lightning: A Quick Lesson on Cleaning up Your Data

Being struck by lightning is often used as an example of heavenly retribution because it is so unlikely. Fatalities due to lightning are statistical outliers, since most people struck by lightning survive. So what is the best way to avoid becoming one of these outliers? The following is a step-by-step set of instructions for unpacking a dataset – and being careful about the conclusions we draw.

Case Studies

How ProPublica Used a Game to Tell Stories of Five Immigrants Seeking Asylum

Video games and journalism have had a history — the melding of the two has been less successful in breaking news because of the fast turnaround. However, it has seen more successes in longer investigations that take more time to develop. ProPublica’s Sisi Wei shares the process behind the unit’s gamification of five asylum seekers’ stories.

Reporting Tools & Tips

8 Ways Journalists Visualized California’s Out-of-Control Wildfires

California officials and firefighters are becoming increasingly concerned that the drier, windier conditions spurred on by the warming climate will make wildfires more devastating and their seasons longer. But are enough people paying attention to their root causes and dire consequences? Here are eight ways US journalists have been chronicling this year’s wildfires.

Data Journalism

How They Did It: Developing a Data-Driven Navigator on Gun Laws

Last August, Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit research and advocacy group for gun control, launched the Gun Law Navigator, an exploratory data visualization tool explaining how states in America regulate guns. The project, developed by the Boston-based creative digital studio Upstatement, received lots of attention not only for examining such a sensitive topic, but also for successfully telling a visual, data-driven story about a complex subject: legislation.

Data Journalism

Bringing Data Journalism to China

Zhimin Huang is widely cited as one of the first people to do data journalism in China. He spoke with Storybench about the state of data journalism in China and his perspective on data accessibility in the country.

Case Studies

How They Did It: Building a Visual Story with a Non-Visual Piece

Australian journalist Rick Feneley wrote a powerful investigative piece about a string of gay hate crimes that plagued Australia’s eastern border. But before “The Gay Hate Decades” was published, Feneley was left with one last hurdle: Creating a digital element to accompany his work. And that’s where SBS web developer Ken Macleod came in.