13. Data Dumps
“ Your scientists were so
preoccupied with whether or not
they could, they didn't stop to
think if they should.”
Dr. Ian Malcolm
Jurassic Park (1993)
via @kevinq, Graphic Editor at the NYT
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Data Dumps
“ If you won't find narratives in
the data, you might as well be
posting the phone book.”
@harrisj via Twitter
19. Why are data dumps a problem?
•
Fail to inform clearly.
•
It’s very easy to get lost.
•
They take up precious time.
•
They are usually low impact.
•
Often bland.
20. It’s far too easy to distract or confuse
an already compromised online
attention span.
21. Editing is crucial online
•
Should we be doing this?
•
What is the point?
•
Will any of our readers/users care?
•
Is this going to be a core component of the story, or
merely supplemental?
26. The Afghanistan War Logs
•
Three publications with access to the data under a
release agreement.
•
90,000+ incident reports.
•
Spans several years of the conflict in Afghanistan.
•
A lot of metadata...
27. The Afghanistan War Logs
What can we do with this data?
•
Data Dives!
•
Maps!
•
Timelines!
•
Charts!
•
and so so much more...
28. The Afghanistan War Logs
What should we do with this data?
•
Aggregate representations of the reports were out.
•
Maps needed to be “Locator Maps”.
•
Timelines? Yes.
•
Incident Charts?
•
Story integration? Yes! Context was needed.
•
Could not publish them all... redactions were necessary.
29. The Afghanistan War Logs
The Package
•
3 articles.
•
1 note to the readers from the Editor.
•
1 background article on the data.
•
An incident report interactive.
•
A page tying it all together.
30. The Afghanistan War Logs
Locator Maps
The Article
Timeline
•
Lead with a Map
•
Removed the ads
•
Flopped the columns
•
Forced a single page view
•
Relevant maps and photos Photos/Maps
were loaded alongside text
•
Stylized report text within article
Incident Report Text
