Articles

Projects walkthroughs, tool teardowns, interviews, and more.

Articles tagged: data

Introducing Elex, a Tool to Make Election Coverage Better for Everyone

By Jeremy Bowers and David Eads

Posted on December 10, 2015
“End the elections arms race” has become a rallying cry in American data journalism. Many newsrooms spend tremendous resources writing code to simply load and parse election data. It’s time we stopped worrying about the plumbing and started competing on the interesting parts. We decided it was time we put some code against our beliefs – our contribution is a tool we’re calling Elex. And it needs your help, too.
Introducing agate: a Better Data Analysis Library for Journalists

By Christopher Groskopf

Posted on October 27, 2015
Meet agate, a Python data analysis library optimized not for performance, but for the performance of the human who is using it. That means focusing on designing code that is easy to learn, readable, and flexible enough to handle any weird data you throw at it. Here’s why you should try it.
Tracking Amtrak 188

By Michael Keller

Posted on May 18, 2015
How curiosity and tinkering let Al Jazeera America publish historical data for a derailed train’s route without Amtrak’s cooperation.
Automating Transparency

By Ed Summers

Posted on April 16, 2015
Sometimes you write a piece of software and it gets used for purposes you didn’t quite imagine at the time. Sometimes you write a piece of software and it unexpectedly rearranges your life.
Consider the Boolean

By Jacob Harris

Posted on February 18, 2015
The challenge of using binary data structures in a complicated world.
Understanding Households and Relationships in Census Data

By Anthony DeBarros

Posted on February 5, 2015
The Census Bureau’s population counts make trends in household makeup easy to track. All you need are two things: an understanding of how the Census asks Americans about households and relationships, and where to find the right tables amid the haystack of tabulations. That’s what this post aims to help you with.
Scraping Nevada

By Derek Willis

Posted on January 14, 2015
Derek Willis breaks down the three stages of scraping (denial, annoyance, and acceptance) while confronting the election-results form from hell.
Marriage Data: It’s Complicated

By D’Vera Cohn

Posted on December 11, 2014
D’Vera Cohn on everything you ever wanted to know about marriage data, but were afraid to ask.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Elections Scraping

By Jeremy B. Merrill and Ken Schwencke

Posted on November 24, 2014
Jeremy Merrill and Ken Schwencke explore the fine art of anticipating and catching errors while wrangling the eccentricities of US elections data.
The Census of Governments Has Your Number

By Mike Maciag

Posted on October 16, 2014
Michael Maciag’s walk-through of this under-utilized goldmine.
Finding Stories in Census Data

By Emily Alpert Reyes

Posted on October 2, 2014
Emily Alpert Reyes on how to find promising needles in Census haystacks.
Gender, Twitter, and the Value of Taking Things Apart

By Jacob Harris

Posted on September 18, 2014
Jake Harris reverse-engineers Twee-Q to evaluate its use of data (and see if his ratio is as disappointing as Twee-Q says it is)
From the BBC News Labs: Datastringer

By Basile Simon

Posted on September 5, 2014
Basile Simon walks through the process of building a new tool that aims to help reporters cover beats, and that was prompted by work by Knight-Mozilla Fellows and a presentation at Hacks/Hackers London.
When and How to Use Census Microdata

By Robert Gebeloff

Posted on September 4, 2014
Robert Gebeloff’s primer on working microdata magic
Comparing the Net Cost of College

By Soo Oh, Erika Owens, and Beckie Supiano

Posted on August 26, 2014
The Chronicle of Higher Education set out to compare net cost of colleges and found an unexpected discrepancy. The team describes the piece they created to help explain the difficulty in comparing net costs.
Covering the European Elections with Linked Data

By Basile Simon

Posted on June 17, 2014
The BBC News Labs team explores ways of exposing linked data in public-facing election coverage, and encounters some interesting challenges.
Pushing Hot Buttons with Census.gov

By Ronald Campbell

Posted on June 12, 2014
Ronald Campbell on using census data to find facts in a world of speculation
Distrust Your Data

By Jacob Harris

Posted on May 22, 2014
Jacob Harris on six ways to make mistakes with data—and how to avoid them.
How to Use the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey like a Pro

By Paul Overberg

Posted on April 10, 2014
Paul Overberg explains base tables and how to get the best data from them (hint: ask good questions!).
Newsroom Analytics: A Primer

By Jacqui Maher

Posted on March 20, 2014
Jacqui Maher says it’s not just the numbers, it’s what they mean about the audience.