Articles
Projects walkthroughs, tool teardowns, interviews, and more.
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Don’t panic. Collaborate.
By Sarah Alvarez, Garance Burke, Matt Kiefer, and Michael Morisy
Posted onThe Covid Public Info project launched this spring, and has alreadycollected input from thousands of individual community members, filed hundreds of public records requests, and compared notes with dozens of journalists. Here are some highlights of what we’ve learned so far, and ways for you to get involved.
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Memberkit 1.0: Upgrade your analytics and build a data-powered membership program
By Brian Boyer
Posted onA field-tested set of reports, patterns, and techniques that can help your newsroom think about how to execute a data-driven strategy for membership.
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COVID-19 story recipe: Analyzing disparate impact based on race, poverty, and vulnerability in your area
By Hannah Recht
Posted onAs new COVID-19 hot spots popped up across the country and states began to release data by race and ethnicity, the team at Kaiser Health News reported on why the illness was striking Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans so intensely. Here’s how you can use the data to report on your community.
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A comparison of four major COVID-19 data sources
By Irena Fischer-Hwang and Justin Mayo
Posted onA variety of datasets can help journalists track the spread of COVID-19. But which should you rely on? What’s the difference between them? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each? This guide will walk you through four major COVID-19 data sources: Johns Hopkins University, COVID Tracking Project, USAFacts, and The New York Times.
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COVID-19 story recipe: Using AHA data to analyze hospital bed capacity
By Dilcia Mercedes
Posted onAmerican Hospital Association data can help you estimate the total number of beds your region could need to treat patients in a COVID-19 outbreak, and how many beds are likely to be available based on expected usage patterns. Here’s how you can use the data to report on your community.
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COVID-19 story recipe: Identifying communities at risk from the pandemic and its economic fallout
By Jayme Fraser
Posted onUsing data from the CDC and the federal Health Resources & Services Administration, USA Today found counties that are both medically underserved and vulnerable to disasters—places where residents would be most at risk of losing access to health care during the COVID-19 outbreak. Here’s how you can use the data to report on your community.
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How to make sense of all the COVID-19 datasets right now
By Sinduja Rangarajan
Posted onThere are a lot of COVID-19 datasets available, and it can be hard to know how they differ and which ones are most trustworthy. Here’s an overview of current datasets that journalists can rely on for stories.
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COVID-19 story recipe: How to see what stocks members of Congress are dumping (or buying)
By Derek Willis
Posted onProPublica used the Senate’s financial disclosures to find that not long after Sen. Richard Burr offered a positive assessment in public of the country’s ability to handle the coronavirus, he sold hundreds of thousands of (and potentially up to $1.7 million) dollars in stocks, a highly unusual series of trades for him. Here’s how you can reproduce the story for your community.
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Newsroom Execs and Managers: Ways to Uphold Your Diversity and Inclusivity Values During COVID-19
By Sisi Wei
Posted onOur values are even more important during a crisis. Here are a few practical strategies for thinking through tough decisions in an equitable and inclusive way.
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How we used Google sheets to build a fully-working newsgame prototype
By Robin Kwong and Cale Tilford
Posted onAs the Financial Times developed a newsgame for a series on companies that pursue profit with purpose, Google sheets gave them a way to quickly generate a playable, shareable prototype. Here’s how they did it and what they learned.
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COVID-19 story recipe: How to analyze your region’s hospital capacity
By Erin Petenko
Posted onVTDigger used Harvard Global Health Institute data to look into local hospitals’ capacity for handling an outbreak. Here’s how you can reproduce the story for your community.
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COVID-19 story recipe: Analyzing nursing home data for infection-control problems
By Mike Stucka
Posted onA USA Today analysis found that three-quarters of nursing homes have been cited for infection-control problems in recent years. Here’s how you can reproduce the story for your community.
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Event Roundup, March 2
By Erika Owens
Posted onIt’s NICAR this week!
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Buddying up with the news-nerd community
By Ryan Pitts
Posted onWhere do you turn with a question that’s stopping your data project in its tracks? If you don’t have a news-nerd colleague nearby, there’s a whole community out there happy to help. Here are three ways you can tap into networks of support, both right now and next week.
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Investigating Immigration Issues as a Journalist and Immigrant
By Lindsay Muscato
Posted onOur Q&A with Sinduja Rangarajan on reporting about a wall of bureaucracy that’s creating fear and uncertainty
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What Product Teams Should Know About Working With Newsrooms
By Brittany Hite and Christopher Chung
Posted onEditorial and product teams are more effective and impactful when they work together, not separately. Here’s a guide to help product teams better understand their news colleagues.
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Event Roundup, January 27
By Erika Owens
Posted onA bunch of upcoming deadlines, including the Sigma Awards.
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Why and How Journalists Should Build Better Support Networks
By Jennifer Mizgata
Posted onSupport looks different for different people, and it can look really different at different moments of your life. Personal support is relationship-based. Your relationships are going to change, and the support you have from them changes at certain times too, depending on people’s capacity. Here’s a question you can start with to think about what support might look like for you: What are your asks and offers to your support network?
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Engagement Isn’t a Project, It’s a Way of Making News
By Angilee Shah
Posted onEngagement is not something you simply add to an organizational chart or a budget. If you want to be engaged with the people you are trying to serve, you have to change what you prioritize in your newsroom.
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Last Thoughts for a New Year
By Lindsay Muscato
Posted onReflections on Source, as our editor steps away from the desk.