When ProPublica reporters published a questionnaire in February reaching out to women who had experienced life-threatening complications in childbirth, they only expected a few hundred responses. Instead, they received thousands — and the structured call-out became the basis of their maternal mortality series.
Need some inspiration on making your next immersive investigative piece pop? This seriously impressive selection from Latin America includes stories about forced sterilization in Peru, the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon and Big Pharma’s stranglehold in the region.
At the forefront of digital journalism best practices is collaboration, open source and native mobile. That’s what researchers at Northeastern University School of Journalism’s Media Innovation Program found after 72 newsrooms interviews spotlighting the intersection of data-oriented reporting and design/visualization.
Before the emergence of digital tools, recording and (especially) transcribing an interview was a tedious affair. The little microcassette tapes were of dubious reliability—and yes, I once had one fail on me during a crucial and contentious encounter. Transcribing was worse, as you’d sit there constantly hitting the “play” and “rewind” buttons, an imprecise process that risked damage to the tape.
Data literacy is a never-ending process. Going to workshops and hands-on practice are important, but to really become acquainted with the “culture” of data literacy, you’ll have to do a lot of reading. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back: below is a curated list of 16 blogs to follow in 2016 if you want to: improve your data-visualisation skills; see the best examples of data journalism; discover the methodology behind the best data-driven projects; and pick-up some essential tips for working with data.
