In this talk I present a survey of forms and tools that are used by practicing data journalists. I walk through examples of different techniques used by journalists to convey complex information to readers, including static charts and graphics, probabilistic models, simulations, and others. I discuss the tools that are available for creating such storytelling devices, examining their successes and shortcomings, and speculate on future directions. I also look at how open source software has impacted journalism. The audience should walk away with a better understanding of how data journalists work in practice, what tools are available for citizen data journalists, and how journalists can work together with the open source community.

1. NOVEMBER 15-18, 2016
#plotcon

2. New Data Viz in Data Journalism
Matthew Conlen
@mathisonian
http://mathisonian.com

3. About Me
● Ph.D. student at University of Washington under
Jeffrey Heer
○ Computer Science & Data Viz
● Working with FiveThirtyEight since their move to
ESPN in 2013
○ Computational Journalist

4. This Talk
● Walk through examples of innovative and
successful data journalism pieces
● Show a range of useful open source tools for
creating them

5. But first...

6. Data Journalism

7. Data Journalism

8. Data Journalism

9. Problems!
● Varying degrees of expertise in predictive
modeling
● Numeracy issues
● Failure of polling, predictions, design, or
understanding?

10. Predictions

11. Predictions

12. Predictions

13. Predictions

14. Predictions

15. Data Journalism

16. Data Journalism

17. Data Journalism

18. Okay, enough

19. Election Successes

21. Election Successes

22. Uncertainty

23. Uncertainty
● As displayed by response to election graphics,
lots of work to do here
● Real world data is often messy and imprecise.
Especially when polling or sampling is involved.

24. Uncertainty
https://medium.com/hci-design-at-uw/hypothetical-outcomes-plots-experiencing-the-uncertain-b9ea60d7c740

25. Uncertainty

26. Uncertainty

27. Simulation

28. Simulation
● Great tool for displaying complex mathematical
processes
● Patterns are more important than equations
● Computation can be done in the client and
visualized realtime

29. Simulation

30. Simulation

31. Simulation

32. Boutique Data

33. Boutique Data
● Cheap sensors are making it easier than ever for
reporters to collect their own data sets
● Expect to see more of this in the future

34. Boutique Data
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/4ybkmk/heart_rate_during_conference_presentation_oc/

35. Boutique Data

36. Boutique Data

37. Boutique Data

38. Related

39. Related

40. Pen and Paper

41. Pen and Paper

42. Pen and Paper

43. Pen and Paper

44. Pen and Paper

45. Pen and Paper

46. Be careful...

47. A reminder
● It’s easy to get lost in numbers
● Remember you are dealing with real people and
real issues
● As technology improves it grows in importance
that we consider the impact of what we do

48. Tampa Bay Times

49. The Marshall Project

50. Josh Begley

51. Josh Begley

52. Other Wins

53. Crosswords

54. Tennis

55. Tennis

56. Tennis

57. Tools

58. Binder
http://mybinder.org/

59. Binder
http://mybinder.org/

60. Binder
http://mybinder.org/

61. Binder
http://mybinder.org/

62. Chartbuilder
https://quartz.github.io/Chartbuilder/

63. Mr. Data Converter
https://shancarter.github.io/mr-data-converter/

64. mapshaper
http://www.mapshaper.org/

65. mapshaper
http://www.mapshaper.org/

66. Data Proofer
http://dataproofer.org/

67. Election Tools
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster

68. Election Tools
http://elex.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

69. Terrapattern
http://www.terrapattern.com/

70. Terrapattern
http://www.terrapattern.com/

71. Webrecorder
webrecorder.io

72. Thanks!