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Category: Behind the scenes

How The Boston Globe is using a suite of niche products to cover the booming business of marijuana

Last December, The Boston Globe launched a marijuana section – three months before the first recreational dispensary opened in Massachusetts. The section wasn’t the Globe’s first foray into the world […]

November 8, 2019November 12, 2019 Carro Halpin Behind the scenes, Interviews

How PopSci’s “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week” podcast is making science accessible

Death By Rainbow, Face Blindness, Watermelon Snow. These are just three of the many weird things recently addressed in a podcast titled The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Currently […]

November 6, 2019November 6, 2019 Ruth Hunger Behind the scenes, Interviews

How Vox visualized segregation in the United States

Vox data journalist Alvin Chang, an alum of the Boston Globe and ESPN, has been writing stories about segregation for most of his career. Earlier this year, Chang looked at […]

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 Audrey Cahyadi Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The Pudding visualized the prevalence of hyphenated names in sports

At first glance, a hyphenated name is bound to catch your attention — take NFL player Ha Ha Clinton-Dix’s name, for instance. For Clinton-Dix, who plays for the Chicago Bears, his […]

November 4, 2019November 1, 2019 Calli Remillard Behind the scenes, Interviews

How the New York Times visualized auto carbon emissions in the U.S. and your city

When data visualization guru Alberto Cairo visited Northeastern University in October, he said data visualization is not so much about simplifying a complex issue or set of information. Rather, it’s […]

November 1, 2019November 1, 2019 Nick Stoico Behind the scenes, Climate Journalism Lab, Interviews

How designer Nadieh Bremer teaches herself new skills to continue visualizing data in new ways

If you are passionate about telling data-driven stories more engagingly, you should not miss out on Nadieh Bremer, a freelance data visualization designer and artist with a background in astronomy […]

October 31, 2019October 30, 2019 Szu Yu Chen Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The Washington Post built a game to demonstrate how autonomous cars work

If your autonomous car is headed into oncoming traffic, what should it be programmed to do? Swerve or hit the vehicle? Chris Alcantara, Youjin Shin and Aaron Steckelburg, members of […]

October 23, 2019October 23, 2019 Nadine El-Bawab Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The New York Times transformed its “Diary of a Song” series with FaceTime and social media

Think of your favorite song and imagine calling the artist on FaceTime to ask them how they made it. The New York Times series “Diary of a Song” puts viewers […]

October 9, 2019October 9, 2019 Julia Hong Behind the scenes, Interviews

How Nicky Case designed the game “Adventures with Anxiety”

Mental disorders are often considered “invisible illnesses,” as the symptoms aren’t always visible. Illustrator and game developer Nicky Case wanted to shed more light on one of the most common […]

October 7, 2019October 11, 2019 Sophie Cannon Behind the scenes, Interviews

How Adrian Zaw produced “A Journey Back to Myanmar” to lift up stories of his country of birth

Imagine taking a 20-hour flight from California to Myanmar every single month. For Adrian Zaw, that was a reality during the production of his film “A Journey Back to Myanmar.” […]

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 Naomi Silver Behind the scenes, Interviews

How the Boston Globe reported on hip hop’s fascination with quarterback Tom Brady

Everyone had questions for Tom Brady at Super Bowl LIII media day, as the then-41-year-old NFL quarterback closed in on his sixth Super Bowl ring. How would the New England […]

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 Jenna Ciccotelli Behind the scenes, Interviews

How Mother Jones reported “The Nightmare of Getting an Abortion in the South”

It’s no secret that abortion laws have been a point of contention in the United States over the past few years, with several states recently introducing new laws that make […]

October 2, 2019October 2, 2019 Trea Lavery Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The New York Times predicted your politics using a quiz

Can your race, religion and education predict your political party affiliation? Last month, Sahil Chinoy, a former graphics editor for the opinion section of The New York Times, published an […]

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 Kaitlyn Budion Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The New York Times produces its television series “The Weekly”

Nobody can accuse The New York Times of putting all of its eggs in one basket. The news organization has published written stories, produced photo essays, created a well-known podcast, […]

September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 Ysabelle Kempe Behind the scenes, Interviews

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 […]

August 27, 2019August 28, 2019 Aleszu Bajak Behind the scenes

How to grow your brand as a photojournalist and commercial photographer

There are ethical and visual distinctions between photojournalism and commercial photography and knowing how to edit photos for each discipline can keep any freelance photographer in business. Adam Glanzman has […]

August 1, 2019August 1, 2019 Daniel Hentz Behind the scenes, Interviews

How to build a multimedia sports feature for the New York Times

Urban dirt biking won’t be competing with the popularity of baseball or basketball any time soon, but the sport has gained serious traction in metropolitan areas over the last few […]

May 28, 2019May 28, 2019 Kade Krichko Behind the scenes, Interviews

How the Wall Street Journal reported on “The Price of Climate”

In December 2018, The Wall Street Journal wrapped up a graphic-heavy series called “The Price of Climate” that takes an ambitious look at how financial and economic markers reflect present […]

April 11, 2019April 10, 2019 Veer Mudambi Behind the scenes, Climate Journalism Lab

Mixing storytelling and science: Behind the scenes at Hakai Magazine

Behind every great writer is a great editor. Shanna Baker, the senior editor at Hakai Magazine – which explores science, society and the environment from a coastal perspective – is […]

April 10, 2019May 28, 2019 Sarah Keneipp Behind the scenes

How WGBH spent a year revealing how many women work in Massachusetts politics

The year 2018 was coined the “Year of the Woman” in politics after an unprecedented number of women ran for – and won – seats in Congress. In the November […]

April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 Patrick Strohecker Behind the scenes, Interviews

Why Sharon Machlis wrote a book on R for journalists

Since Sharon Machlis published her book “Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism” last December, at least one professor is already using it in his course at the University of […]

March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 Paxtyn Merten Behind the scenes, Data Journalism in R, Interviews

How Vox’s Alvin Chang explains complex topics, from science to politics

Alvin Chang’s recent video for Vox, “How humans disrupted a cycle essential to all life,” reached 500,000 views within a few weeks of being published. It does a great job […]

March 12, 2019March 13, 2019 Andrew Daylor Behind the scenes, Interviews

How WCAI’s Heather Goldstone makes science more approachable

We awe at the sight of baby giraffe born at the zoo, but who wants to hear about chemistry or quasars? That’s where science journalists come in. At the Living Lab […]

February 25, 2019February 25, 2019 Sarah Keneipp Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported stories of ‘growing up through the cracks’

From July to December 2018, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalist Rich Lord found himself in an increasingly uncommon position for reporters at non-national publications: He had six months to report an enterprise […]

February 19, 2019February 19, 2019 Charlie Wolfson Behind the scenes, Interviews

How The Pudding visualized the structure of Ali Wong’s stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is evolving. The top specials of recent years — Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King, James Acaster’s Repertoire, to name a few — are distinct from traditional […]

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 Meredith Dietz Behind the scenes, Interviews

Social media engagement tips from Tidal’s Mikaela Allen

While some may think social media is an easy thing to grasp, there are actually quite a few things to consider when it comes to running a brand. Impressions, reach, […]

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019 Tahisha Charles Behind the scenes, Interviews

How we plotted 17,000 data points in 3D to explore police use of force in New Jersey

Last November, I pushed my first commit to Github having no idea what I was in for: creating visualizations with more than 17,000 data points representing police officers who had […]

January 3, 2019April 10, 2019 Yan Wu Behind the scenes

How we built an immersive underground history of our university

Over the last four months, I worked with several classmates in our journalism course “Digital Storytelling and Social Media” to design a multi-platform narrative of Northeastern University’s history of development […]

December 19, 2018December 19, 2018 Andrew Daylor Behind the scenes, Research

How ProPublica told the story of an improper clinical trial using a patient’s own words

In April, ProPublica Illinois reported a story about a child psychiatrist at the University of Illinois-Chicago named Mani Pavuluri who violated research rules during a clinical trial studying the effect […]

December 14, 2018December 14, 2018 Julia Preszler Behind the scenes, Interviews

How a husband and wife team exposed the dangers of tanning factories overseas

Have you ever thought about the true cost of fashion? Last year, in a series published by Undark magazine with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, photographer Larry C. […]

December 5, 2018December 7, 2018 Xinuo Chen Behind the scenes, Interviews

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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.

Storybench on Twitter
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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