data-journalism

It’s difficult to choose which research articles to spotlight here as the most interesting or compelling — because scholars are doing so much interesting and compelling work. They’re continually asking tough questions to try to understand problems and trends within the digital news/social media space.

The 2016 presidential election surprised many because Donald Trump’s win defied the vast majority of polls. In the aftermath, some are blaming journalists for rushing information out quickly without explaining basic polling caveats. Despite all the lavish attention, polls are only as valid as their design, execution and analysis.

There are many ways to visualize data these days, as well as an increasing number of places from which to draw datasets. But it’s not always easy to figure out the shortest path to production for media use, especially on deadline. Here, we’ll focus on just one use case, the classic time-series graph — the display of the change in a variable, or variables, typically over hours, days, months or years.

The post below is by the folks at data.world — a social network-like platform to find, collaborate on, and share data. Thanks to Rachel Downs, Ian Greenleigh, and Dashiel Lopez Mendez, whose data analysis allowed them to create the FOIA Predictor, a tool they describe below.

A growing number of research organizations are not only placing their data online, but giving users free tools to help visualize it. This overview of a few of these resources focuses especially on economic and development indicators.

It is difficult to measure the impact free trade has on individuals. Opening borders to goods, services, money, people and ideas can cost jobs while benefiting consumers. There are winners and losers. With President Donald Trump promising to renegotiate trade agreements and introduce new import tariffs, journalists need to know where to find the data that tell the story of trade and today’s global economy.