Data Journalism Examples
“Data journalism is obtaining, reporting on, curating and publishing data in the public interest.” That's a quote from Jonathan Stray, a professional journalist and computer scientist. This story provides some interesting examples for you to explore, as well as a few resources (at the end).
- Maps can be very helpful in telling a story -- especially when the story is about changes in a country's population. This map lets you zoom in -- very deep -- to see individual Census tracts. Roll over to view details about the change in population overall and by racial groups.
Mapping America: Every City, Every BlockBrowse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which was conducted from 2005 to 2009.- If you enjoyed that, you might like to see another map, also from The New York Times, but from one year earlier:
- Interactive Map Showing Immigration Data Since 1880 - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.comSelect a foreign-born group to see how they settled across the United States. In order to view this feature, you must download the latest...
- This is a data project from The Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization based in Austin, Texas -- the state capital. The project shows how lobbyists spend money to influence elected officials. I think you will be impressed by how much information is provided in the charts and treemaps.
- Texas Lobbying Spending | The Texas TribuneLobbyists in Texas are required to report how much they spend trying to influence legislation and public policy, and also details about t...
- ProPublica is another nonprofit newsroom that “produces investigative journalism in the public interest.” In this project, they provide data about the U.S. government stimulus package to each one of the 50 states.
How Much Stimulus Funding is Going to Your County? | ProPublica Recovery TrackerRead our methodology | Get the data This site was updated in February 2012. It includes recipient-reported data through Dec. 31, 2011, wh...- This is a rather old example (from 2008), but I still like it a lot. It shows you how Americans answered questions about their religious beliefs, and I really love how we can re-sort the bars on the chart -- I think it makes the data fun, and it also makes the data easier to understand.
- An in-depth look at USA's religious beliefs, practices | USATODAY.comUSA TODAY interactive media feature
- One of the best examples I know for data telling a story is Gapminder. Wait for the graphic to load completely, press the PLAY button, and watch the big red dot as the years pass from 1800 to 2010. (The big red dot is China.)
- Gapminder is featured in this story about how graphics make data more understandable -- and therefore, graphics can help to tell stories:
Designers Make Data Much Easier to Digest - NYTimes.comStatistics don’t have to be dull. In fact, gurus of visual analytics can make them a pleasure to comprehend.- One more older -- but still interesting -- data graphic shows what Americans spend their money on. This is a fun graphic to roll over because you'll see unexpected categories such as "Wine at home" and "Veterinary care."
- All of Inflations Little Parts - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.comAll of Inflations Little Parts Each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gathers 84,000 prices in about 200 categories like gasoline,...
- This Wikipedia article is very helpful in explaining the processes that are used in data-driven journalism:
- Data driven journalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaData-driven journalism is a journalistic process based on analyzing and filtering large data sets for the purpose of creating a new story...
- This article from January 2011 explains how a data journalist at The Guardian (U.K.) does his work:
How to: get to grips with data journalism | How to succeed in journalism | Journalism.co.ukSimon Rogers, editor of the Guardian's Data Blog and Data Store, covers some of the basic skills and tools needed to start looking f...- This subsequent article from The Guardian is also very helpful for journalists and students who are new to the idea of data journalism:
Data journalism at the Guardian: what is it and how do we do it ...Jul 28, 2011 ... Simon Rogers: Our 10 point guide to data journalism and how it's changing.- If you have time, this documentary video is well worth watching. It features interviews with many people who are creating great data visuals today.
"Journalism in the Age of Data", de l'université de Stanford
Journalists are coping with the rising information flood by borrowing data visualization techniques from computer scientists, researchers...- I made a few remarks about data journalism in this blog post:
