Author: Aleszu Bajak
Reopen schools narrative spreads across shadowy local news sites
Americans are divided about reopening schools this fall and polls show that this disagreement falls along party lines with Republicans more in favor of children returning to schools. Which is […]
How Núcleo Jornalismo is tracking Brazilian politicians on Twitter
Late last month, Brazil’s justice minister Sergio Moro resigned in protest after President Jair Bolsonaro fired his police chief. According to Moro, a prominent politician who may be seeking a […]
How to shift Alaska and Hawaii below the lower 48 for your interactive choropleth map
Last month, the Harvard Global Health Institute collaborated with The New York Times and ProPublica to publish a model estimating the capacity of hospitals across the United States to cope […]
How to use hierarchical cluster analysis on time series data
Which cities have experienced similar patterns in violent crime rates over time? That kind of analysis, based on time series data, can be done using hierarchical cluster analysis, a statistical […]
Come join us as funded master’s degree Video Innovation Scholars!
For prospective graduate students interested in video innovation — new techniques and approaches, as well as VR and AR — the School of Journalism is offering special Video Innovation Scholarships […]
Gabbard, Booker and Biden get most negative media coverage over last four months
Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker and Joe Biden are the 2020 Democratic candidates receiving the most negative media coverage, according to updated findings from the Storybench Election Coverage Tracker at Northeastern […]
How to do basic text mining using Google Sheets
While techniques for text mining, sentiment analysis and other natural language processing are ubiquitous on the Internet, they’re not always accessible to students. I recently ran this tutorial in my […]
How Colombia’s Datasketch wants to make data visualization easier for Latin American newsrooms
“We live in a world that is drowning in data and getting the stories may actually be harder than ever because the stories are hidden in plain sight in millions […]
Exploring 2020 demographic targeting and attack ads using Facebook’s Ad Library
Facebook’s Ad Library was criticized this week by several sources quoted in The New York Times for being “effectively useless as a way to comprehensively track political advertising.” Those sources […]
How to build margin of victory election maps with Datawrapper
With the campaign for 2020 in full swing, it’s election map season. I was recently poking around Politico’s 2018 midterm election maps and thought I’d recreate their county-by-county Margin of […]
Quantifying the Twitter attacks on Kamala Harris during and following the Democratic debates
Media outlets have been quick to crown Kamala Harris the winner of last month’s Democratic debates thanks to a series of stand-out moments that included passionate storytelling and her pummeling […]
How to build a GIF of satellite imagery in R
“The timelapse imagery of Chennai’s disappearing reservoirs is mind boggling,” Earther senior reporter Brian Kahn wrote on Twitter recently. Kahn had just published the piece “Why Chennai, India’s Sixth Biggest […]
Fox News’ obsession with AOC crowded out 2020 candidate announcements
“AOC mocks president’s literacy.” “How AOC became the boss of the Democratic Party.” “Ocasio-Cortez claims Trump ‘hates all immigrants.’” Those are all headlines that appeared on Foxnews.com in the days […]
What issues are 2020 candidates being mentioned with in the media?
Health care is a top concern among voters. That’s according to a recent poll of 2,000 Americans where respondents across age, gender and party lines ranked health care as the […]
Modeling networked media: Diagrams and graphics in John Wihbey’s The Social Fact
The conceptual black-and-white diagram, or idea-oriented infographic, goes back a long time in publishing design and storytelling. Many an academic or explanatory work has some kind of visual tucked away, […]
Eight tools, datasets and resources from the Open Data Science Conference
This week, thousands of data scientists, software developers, machine learning experts and other data-curious gathered in Boston for the ODSC East conference. Between hands-on training sessions and dynamic keynote speeches from people […]
Facebook political ads reveal an early but limited look at the Democratic playbook
In the first three days since launching his 2020 run for president last week, Joe Biden spent more than $400,000 on Facebook ads. His fellow candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie […]
How to build a bubble chart of individuals mentioned in the Mueller report
When the redacted Mueller report was released last week, journalists across the country scrambled to read through and analyze the document. Data scientists and information designers were hard at work, […]
We need deeper reporting and not just horserace coverage of Pete Buttigieg
The media loves a rising star and Pete Buttigieg is no exception. But is “Mayor Pete” just a flash in the pan? Time will tell, as Margaret Sullivan pointed out […]
Illuminating the road to 2020 through media coverage, candidate tweets and Google searches
Aleszu Bajak Storybench’s editor is Aleszu Bajak, a science journalist and former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is an alum of Science Friday, the founder of LatinAmericanScience.org, and […]
How to map point data and polygon shapefiles in R
I recently published a series of interactive maps for Beeradvocate magazine that explored storm surge scenarios and low-lying breweries in Boston, New York City, Charleston and Miami. Here’s Boston: This […]
Exploring Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz ads on Facebook using R
When and how often are Beto O’Rourke ads being rolled out on Facebook and who is paying for them? What is the sentiment of those ads and how do Beto’s […]
How to map 2018 ballot initiatives on marijuana, energy and voter registration
Washington could impose a polluter’s fee on greenhouse-gas emitters starting in 2020. North Dakota may legalize recreational marijuana while expunging existing criminal records for certain drug-associated arrests, though that initiative might well […]
Using French wine reviews to understand TF-IDF, a measure of how unique a word is to a document
“The heady scent of grapefruit and tangelo peel immediately add savoriness to the crisp green-apple fruit that is evident on the nose. But there are also richer hints of honey […]
How to plot state-by-state data on a map of the U.S. in R
While I usually turn to Carto.com or Datawrapper.de for my mapping needs, I decided to give R a whirl. The following tutorial will take craft beer awards data from Great […]
The #ARforChange Project: Using immersive technologies and data for social change
Here at Northeastern, we’re exploring new platforms for civic engagement and social change using immersive media, from 360 video to data storytelling to virtual reality. The School of Journalism, in […]
Storytelling 101 with WCVB’s Maria Stephanos
WCVB-TV anchor Maria Stephanos visited Northeastern University recently to talk to journalism students about video storytelling techniques. While Stephanos is one of Boston’s best-known television personalities, she says she’s focused […]
How I designed a journalism course around email newsletters
Can cannabis help address the opioids crisis? What is Northeastern University’s relationship with the environment? What about the university’s role in gentrification? And what is the future of digital storytelling? […]
Media Watch: Sharon Begley on covering Donald Trump
Last month, STAT News senior writer Sharon Begley spoke at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism about the journalistic perils of probing at Donald Trump’s mental health. Media Watch: Assessing the Press […]
Media Watch: Seung Min Kim on covering Donald Trump
Last month, Politico reporter Seung Min Kim spoke at Northeastern University’s School of Journalism about how the press is and should be covering Donald Trump. Media Watch: Assessing the Press […]