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Author: Felippe Rodrigues

Felippe is a former law student turned sports writer and a big fan of the Olympics. He is currently a graduate student in Northeastern's Media Innovation program.

SXSW: ‘Excel is okay’ and other tweet-size insights for data journalists and news nerds

Storybench has boots on the ground covering SXSW from multiple angles, including immersive storytelling, UX design and more. For those that didn’t make it to Austin this year, the next […]

March 17, 2018March 23, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues Roundups, SXSW
nicar 2018 data stories

NICAR: Data stories from last year that you could be doing in your newsroom

The NICAR conference is all about seeing and learning from the best of data journalism. And what better way of understanding success than taking a look at the past. The […]

March 13, 2018March 13, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Roundups

How to scrape Reddit with Python

Last month, Storybench editor Aleszu Bajak and I decided to explore user data on nootropics, the brain-boosting pills that have become popular for their productivity-enhancing properties. Many of the substances […]

March 12, 2018August 21, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues How to

Six things I learned developing an interactive map on the effects of climate change

Every once in a while, newsroom developers and visual journalists get one of those projects that becomes both a big challenge and a great learning experience. That was the case […]

January 12, 2018June 6, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues Climate Journalism Lab, Insights

NodeXL’s Marc Smith on how mapping virtual crowd networks is relevant to journalism

As social scientists try to understand the online communities we form, journalists are missing out on stories that network theory could help unravel, according to Marc Smith, a sociologist and director […]

November 27, 2017November 27, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Interviews

How a design studio and an advocacy group developed a data-driven navigator for gun legislation

Last August, Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit research and advocacy group for gun control, launched the Gun Law Navigator, an exploratory data visualization tool explaining how states in America […]

November 10, 2017November 9, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Behind the scenes, Interviews

Quartz’s first book elegantly explores the innovations underpinning modern life

The embossed hardcover is just the beginning of The Objects that Power the Global Economy, the first book published by the news website Quartz in celebration of its fifth birthday. […]

September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights

Takeaways on newsroom innovation from a behind the scenes tour of the Associated Press

The new Associated Press headquarters in lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center is dazzling, and it seems quite fitting for a news company that’s constantly innovating. Earlier this month, […]

September 1, 2017September 1, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights

5 digital practices every local TV station should be thinking about

All local television newsrooms, sooner or later, will have to accept the challenge to go digital. Some stations, though, are seeing the transition more as an opportunity than a burden […]

August 29, 2017August 29, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Reinventing Local TV News

How the Associated Press is experimenting with headlines and modular stories to win Facebook

Over the last two months, Associated Press stories have been among the most popular on Facebook, according to a new report from the Associated Press and NewsWhip, a startup that […]

August 26, 2017August 28, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Interviews

How the Texas Tribune uses tweetstorms and other social media strategies to drive audience engagement

Sending out a thread of tweets is not exactly revolutionary. But, increasingly, reporters and news organizations are using “tweetstorms” as a way of telling a story that won’t fit into […]

August 15, 2017August 15, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Interviews

How remote anchors are helping local TV news stations cut costs

High staffing and production costs are just two of the challenges TV newsrooms face right now. Some stations, though, are getting creative with the way they address those issues and […]

August 8, 2017August 8, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Reinventing Local TV News

How Folha de São Paulo builds immersive stories about controversial themes like dams, drought and deforestation

For years, Folha de São Paulo, one of Brazil’s largest newspapers, has been at the forefront of digital experimentation. Its interactive, multimedia series “Tudo Sobre” (“All About” in English) – […]

August 1, 2017June 6, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues Behind the scenes, Climate Journalism Lab, Interviews

From breaking news to adding cinematics: What drones can add to storytelling at local television stations

Whether you’re CNN, CBS 2 in Chicago, or KOLN in Lincoln, Nebraska, what has become deeply important in television news today is that the storytelling be compelling. One way those organizations […]

July 24, 2017July 24, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Reinventing Local TV News

Exploring the rhythm of Brazilian literature through textual analysis and visualization

Much like Spanish or French, Portuguese is very musical to the ear. Inextricably linked to that melodic feeling is the language’s rhythm. To explore that cadence, visual journalist Rodolfo Almeida […]

July 17, 2017July 17, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Behind the scenes, Interviews

The trouble with today’s local TV news station buying spree

On a recent episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver pointed out the consequences of the massive consolidation sweeping the television news industry, referencing the pending purchase of Tribune stations by Sinclair Broadcast […]

July 10, 2017July 10, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Reinventing Local TV News

Five local TV news trends from the Murrow Awards that we like

Last week, the Radio Television Digital News Association announced the winners of its 2017 Edward R. Murrow Awards, which honor outstanding journalism being produced across North America. The Reinventing Local TV […]

June 29, 2017June 29, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Reinventing Local TV News

Could the “science of content” help reveal why stories go viral?

Digital media companies like BuzzFeed and even legacy newsrooms such as The Washington Post are constantly talking about how their operations have become increasingly data-driven. But despite the immense amount of data being generated […]

June 26, 2017June 26, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights

Behind the scenes of WGBH’s digital and social media strategy

Over the last few years, Boston-based broadcaster WGBH has been experimenting with ways to boost its digital presence. For a station of its size, that’s not a simple task.  For one, it has to […]

June 12, 2017June 14, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Reinventing Local TV News

Key takeaways on news innovation from the inaugural WhipSmart conference

What are the latest trends and innovative practices in digital newsrooms? Storybench went on the road this week to the inaugural WhipSmart, NewsWhip’s conference on social media, analytics and digital […]

June 8, 2017June 8, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights

What local television stations should consider before buying a drone

Is there anything in journalism that screams innovation more than drones? Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instituted new rules in 2016, unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras have become popular in […]

May 31, 2017May 31, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Reinventing Local TV News

Expressive timelines: Microsoft’s Matthew Brehmer on the power of visualizing time

Matthew Brehmer, a data visualization researcher with Microsoft Research, was recently invited by NUVis, Northeastern University’s Visualization Consortium, to talk about the tools he and his team are developing to reinvent […]

May 19, 2017May 22, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Research

How STAT News used March Madness to engage readers and highlight innovation in science

March Madness is a remarkable time in American culture. Even passive basketball fans go crazy constructing brackets, setting-up fantasy leagues, joining heated conversations, and of course watching a good part of the 63 […]

May 2, 2017May 12, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Behind the scenes

Upworthy’s Eli Pariser: “I’m the proudest when our stories change the way people see the world”

Eli Pariser has made a name for himself in political activism on the web as a central figure with MoveOn.org and Avazz.org. In 2011, he coined the term “filter bubbles,” referring to […]

April 18, 2017April 26, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Interviews

Meet the Swedish newspaper editor who put an algorithm in charge of his homepage

About four years ago, Svenska Dagbladet, one of Sweden’s top newspapers, was in free fall. The paper was experiencing depressed circulation, no digital revenue, and dwindling readership. When Fredric Karén took the job as […]

March 21, 2017March 12, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues Interviews, SXSW

SXSW: The future of news video is understanding audiences

Video is increasingly a priority across newsrooms worldwide. On March 12th, at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, Deborah Acosta, an interactive filmmaker at The New York Times, Adam Banicki, a senior producer at VICE […]

March 14, 2017March 12, 2018 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, SXSW

Accelerating knowledge: Four takeaways from an IBM data visualization expert

Northeastern University professor Mauro Martino is one of the minds behind IBM’s Watson News Explorer, a dashboard that allows users to explore the themes surfacing across the news ecosystem. Martino spoke last week […]

February 27, 2017April 26, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Insights, Research

10 innovative visualizations of Trump’s first month in the White House

A month into Donald J. Trump’s presidency and the media has had more than enough to report on. Amid advisors resigning, a dizzying web of conflicts of interest, and a fair share of distracting tweets (see here, […]

February 22, 2017April 26, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Roundups

Winter is here: How Vox mapped snow accumulation in the U.S.

The first big snowstorms have hit the East Coast and their effects have fascinated Vox’s developer Soo Oh, who recently built a map to track snow accumulation across the U.S. The project relies on […]

January 23, 2017April 26, 2017 Felippe Rodrigues Behind the scenes

A Brazilian start-up uses a speed limit simulator to influence voters about traffic

Cars travel around and around in circles until, suddenly, a traffic jam is formed. What happened to slow the cars down? The speed limit on the road was raised. It […]

November 29, 2016November 29, 2016 Felippe Rodrigues Behind the scenes

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What is Storybench?
Storybench takes an “under the hood” look at the latest in digital storytelling, from data visualization and investigative journalism to virtual reality and the digital humanities. In addition to in-depth features and interviews with industry practitioners, we offer hands-on tutorials that can be “downloaded” right into the newsroom or classroom.

We also publish research we're running at Northeastern's School of Journalism along with collaborators in data science, communication studies, computational social sciences and information design. These projects include the Co-Laboratory for Data Impact, the Climate Journalism Lab, the 2020 Storybench Election Coverage Tracker and the Reinventing Local TV News project.

Want to contribute to Storybench? Pitch us or join us for a graduate degree in the Media Innovation program at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism.
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Storybench 2020 Election Coverage Tracker

The Storybench 2020 Election Coverage Tracker intends to keep tabs on the political coverage of the 2020 presidential election by covering media trends and using various data sources to explore media narratives.

Instead of keeping track of who’s ahead in the horse race, we’ll be turning our focus to those covering the horse race – the media outlets themselves and various proxies for public attention. Follow along here.

Best of Storybench

How the Wall Street Journal visualized 500+ conflicts of interest of the Trumps

Women on the 2020 campaign trail are being treated more negatively by the media

Getting started with data visualization in R using ggplot2

Understanding what makes a visualization memorable

Using French wine reviews to understand TF-IDF, a measure of how unique a word is to a document

 

Projects

Over the next two years we’ll be surveying the media’s coverage of the candidates and the issues. Follow along here.

 


The Reinventing Local TV News Project, from Northeastern’s School of Journalism, is analyzing the formats and practices of local news stations, and suggesting new ways of telling stories that can better engage diverse audiences. Read our inaugural post here.

 

The Climate Journalism Lab

The Climate Journalism Lab aims to examine and unpack the trends, tools and techniques employed by reporters and organizations covering climate change.

 

Join us at Northeastern!

Want to write for Storybench and probe the frontiers of media innovation? Apply for one of our graduate programs at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism.

Rolling admissions, no GREs required and financial aid available. Email here.

Interviews

Pizza, Press & Politics is our weekly speaker series at Northeastern’s School of Journalism. Watch interviews with David Filipov, Mike Workman, Jenn Smith, Martha Durkee-Neuman, Susan Labandibar, John Ward, Marc Fortier, Carol Gregory, Ling-Mei Wong and Elana Gordon.

Collaborative, Open, Mobile

Over the last three years, Storybench has interviewed 72 data journalists, web developers, interactive graphics editors, and project managers from around the world to provide an “under the hood” look at the ingredients and best practices that go into today’s most compelling digital storytelling projects.

They boil down to three key areas of emphasis: 1) highly networked, team-based collaboration; 2) an ethos of open-source sharing, both within and between newsrooms; 3) and mobile-driven story presentation. Read our paper here.

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What is Storybench?
Storybench takes an “under the hood” look at the latest in digital storytelling, from data visualization and investigative journalism to virtual reality and the digital humanities. In addition to in-depth features and interviews with industry practitioners, we offer hands-on tutorials that can be “downloaded” right into the newsroom or classroom.

We also publish research we're running at Northeastern's School of Journalism along with collaborators in data science, communication studies, computational social sciences and information design. These projects include the Co-Laboratory for Data Impact, the Climate Journalism Lab, the 2020 Storybench Election Coverage Tracker and the Reinventing Local TV News project.

Want to contribute to Storybench? Pitch us or join us for a graduate degree in the Media Innovation program at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism.

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