Articles

Projects walkthroughs, tool teardowns, interviews, and more.

Articles tagged: Django

How The Los Angeles Times Transformed its Publishing Tools with a UX Design Approach

By H. Charley Bodkin

Posted on December 5, 2016
The Los Angeles Times created a new publishing system by focusing on the needs of editors and reporters, supporting great journalism with better tools.
Introducing the California Civic Data Coalition

By Agustin Armendariz, Ben Welsh, and Aaron Williams

Posted on September 24, 2014
Launching with two new Django applications ready made to make California campaign finance data easier to access.
If You Build It, They Will Come…But You Have To Remind Them

By Chris Keller

Posted on January 24, 2014
KPCC developed a news app to track fires in California last summer. Chris Keller explains how, and what they’ve learned since.
Building “The Lobotomy Files”

By Chris Canipe

Posted on December 17, 2013
The Wall Street Journal’s Chris Canipe explains how his team built their second-ever immersive project.
How We Made the (New) California Cookbook

By Megan Garvey, Erin Kissane, Lily Mihalik, and Anthony Pesce

Posted on November 21, 2013
At the Los Angeles Times, a design-editorial-programming team has resurrected the spirit of the beloved, out-of-print California Cookbook as a new website collecting hundreds of recipes from the Times Test Kitchen. In our Q&A;, the project’s editor, designer, and lead programmer share their goals and challenges, and offer a peek at the site’s building blocks and planned future.
Let research apps, MVC JavaScript, and APIs work for you

By Agustin Armendariz, Michael Corey, and Aaron Williams

Posted on October 14, 2013
The Center for Investigative Reporting continues their work visualizing Department of Veterans Affairs’ data. Here, they discuss their development process.
Live Streaming History

By Travis Swicegood

Posted on June 28, 2013
The Texas Tribune’s Travis Swicegood explains how his organization handled a massive, unexpected wave of traffic when they became the only news organization closely covering the SB 5 filibuster in Texas.
Chase Davis on fec-standardizer

By Chase Davis and Erin Kissane

Posted on January 28, 2013
Chase Davis breaks down his fec-standardizer project and explains where it’s going next.
Spokesman-Review Holiday Lights Map

By Ryan Pitts

Posted on December 7, 2012
Ryan Pitts breaks down the recipe for a holiday lights map app, with special nods to artisanal admin interfaces and full-screen BoyerMaps.
Homicides in the District

By Kat Downs and Serdar Tumgoren

Posted on October 18, 2012
How the Washington Post’s development team cleaned the data and built an app to support a 15-month investigation into DC homicide cases.
Illinois School Report Cards

By Brian Boyer

Posted on July 8, 2012
A tool for Chicago-area parents to compare school performance data, and a home for the Tribune’s reporting on school performance.
Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law

By Darla Cameron

Posted on June 16, 2012
We assembled a database of stand your ground cases in Florida to encourage people to explore the cases to see how the law was being applied. We did this because no government entity was tracking such cases.