Before our last class we were asked to read a highly-known blog entry by Adrian Holovaty entitled A fundamental way newspaper sites need to change. I really enjoyed reading this because I like the way Adrian thinks. My favorite part is when he says, “Newspapers need to stop the story-centric worldview.” Reading this coming from someone else was exciting to me, because I’ve felt this way for a long time. Through my journalism studies, I have always had a problem with this old and painfully formulaic style of presenting information that some of us have a hard time letting go of. Although certain storytelling elements must still always be present to present information in a way that makes sense and is appealing, I agree with Adrian in that journalists need to be a little less resistant to change and welcome some of the data-rich capabilities offered by today’s technology.
During class, Mindy exposed us to several storytelling tools that can help us achieve the kind of journalism that Adrian envisions, including maps and graphs and how to make them for our own stories. We will be including one of these in our final story package. I am excited to try it out.
Finally we looked at some examples of this data-rich storytelling that is, I believe, the future of journalism. We look at and explored ChicagoCrime.org, Los Angeles Times Homicide Map, and Islam in Europe. These are all good examples of how data can be presented in more interesting and complete ways than by only using words. Take the time to look through some of these. Islam in Europe is particularly nice, I think.
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