News

Geographic Data Powers Climate Change Coverage in Indonesia

Frequent flooding and critically low crop yields are just two of the warning signs of climate change in Indonesia, home to the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest and some of the highest levels of biological diversity on the globe.

To shed light on these crucial issues, data journalists have launched the news site Ekuatorial, which offers the latest environmental news and engaging, easy-to-understand interactive maps of oceans, forests and natural disasters in Indonesia.

How To Make Open Data Relevant to the Public

It’s time to transform open data from a trendy concept among policy wonks and news nerds into something tangible to everyday life for citizens, businesses and grassroots organizations. Here are some ideas to help us get there:
**1.

Make Data Come Alive with Free, Simple Tool

To sustain user attention and drive audience engagement, journalists and news organizations should learn to use data visualizations.

Data visualizations let you explain a set of data simply with an infographic, an interactive application or a chart. With multiple stories competing for users' attention on the boundless Internet, data visualizations are a creative way to interest users in your content and add context or a different perspective to your story. Leading media organizations are using Datawrapper, a simple and free tool, to improve their storytelling.

To Cover Health Effectively, Journalists Must Look at the Big Picture

When a new health initiative is announced, journalists too often think they have an easy story to tell. They can quote officials on what the project will do and how quickly they expect it to eradicate a disease or improve the health of the people.

But if reporters think they are telling the whole story, they need to think again. These initiatives do not exist in isolation. Placing the new plan in context, and especially explaining where it fits within the overall health system, is critical to informing the public.

Brazil Knight Fellow Helps Kenyans Track Oil and Water Profits

In Kenya's poor, dry Turkana region, recent discoveries of water and oil could change the lives of residents who depend on food aid for survival.

In March 2012, the country's President Mwai Kibaki announced that oil had been discovered in Turkana after exploratory drilling by an Anglo-Irish oil firm. And last year, UNESCO announced that large reserves of groundwater had been discovered in the drought-ridden area.

Women in Tech Seek Solutions to Shortage of Drinkable Water

There is nothing more essential to life than water. Yet in Costa Rica, potable water is in short supply, even for people living close to the country’s world-famous beaches.

I thought, what better way to help the media find out why water-distribution systems fail and identify solutions than by bringing journalists, data-visualization experts and developers to a place that struggles to maintain a regular supply of clean water? So we held Chicas Poderosas on the Beach, a meetup in Nicoya, Costa Rica.

Brazilian Data Journalists Shed Light on Amazon Rainforest Development

The prediction of two icons of the communications field—that journalists would become data wranglers—is rapidly becoming a reality.

Helping Women in News Get the Tech Training They Need to Thrive

Visual journalist Mariana Santos knows what it takes to succeed as a tech-savvy newsroom leader, and she wants to help other women do the same.

That's why Santos, formerly with The Guardian's interactive team, created “Chicas Poderosas” earlier this year to train, engage and inspire Latin American women journalists, designers, programmers and artists. Since May, the project -- which is part of Santos’ ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellowship -- has reached Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica with workshops and opportunities for learning and networking for both men and women.

Tapping Women’s Passion for Technology in Latin American Newsrooms

Chicas Poderosas [nid:47352] As interactive designer Mariana Santos prepared to introduce her project designed to bring more women into tech roles in news at a Hacks/Hackers Meetup in Santiago, Chile, the organizers warned her not to expect much of a turnout on a cold, wet night.

But instead of speaking to a handful of attendees, Santos addressed a packed university auditorium.

Interactive Map Tracks Attacks on Journalists in Iraq

With 151 killings of journalists since 1992, including 93 unresolved murders, Iraq remains one of the most dangerous places to work in news.

To track attacks on journalists in the country, Ibrahim Alsragey, an Iraqi reporter who directs the Baghdad-based Journalists Rights Defense Association, recently launched an online map.