Category: Behind the scenes
Why Jon Kasbe spent four years exploring Kenya to produce the film “When Lambs Become Lions”
Kenya’s stunning natural beauty and the underlying cruel reality are two sides of the same coin. The documentary film “When Lambs Become Lions,” explores this juxtaposition and the value of individual life by […]
How PolicyMap is setting the standard for mapping data
Trying to create data maps can be frustrating and expensive, especially when you’re managing overwhelming amounts of data in a simple visual way. Maggie McCullough felt that there should be […]
“The Immigration Experience” humanizes the history of immigration law. Here’s how.
After the Great Famine, you leave Ireland for America. When anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant sentiment peaks in Boston, do you stay or move to Lowell? Or maybe your parents bring you from […]
This is 18: A by women, for women project from The New York Times
On October 11, The New York Times released its online version of “This is 18,” a monthslong effort to portray the lives of 21 young women around the world. The image- […]
Behind the scenes with Galen Druke and FiveThirtyEight’s Politics podcast
The countdown begins. One week until the midterm elections. The politically curious are torturing themselves by hitting refresh on polling data and clinging to forecast updates from sites like FiveThirtyEight. […]
How The Washington Post covered the largest blackout in U.S. history
When Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico in the fall of 2017, locals knew there would be a recovery process. As a high-end Category 4 storm, Maria dumped feet […]
How The New York Times used 360 video to show Puerto Rico’s electrical grid repair following Maria
In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico. When the hurricane finally dissipated in early October, the damage had made it the worst natural disaster to hit […]
How the MLB Network captured the joy of Cubs fans during the 2016 World Series
The Chicago Cubs are one of the most storied franchises in Major League Baseball. But before 2016, the team hadn’t won a championship in 108 years. The 2016 World Series […]
How Bloomberg’s “Pessimist’s Guide” gives readers a look into the future
Jeremy Scott Diamond, a developer and designer for Bloomberg graphics, helped create last December’s “Pessimist’s Guide to 2018,” a recurring piece designed to give users a look into the future. […]
How the Financial Times used narrative game design to illustrate the lives of Uber drivers
As media outlets continue to experiment with innovative forms of digital storytelling, some journalists have turned to the lucrative video game industry for inspiration. Last year, Financial Times released The […]
Sexual assault in the U.S. Forest Service: How to interview a survivor
Living On Earth is a Boston-based weekly radio show and podcast from Public Radio International that focuses on the environment, ecology, and human health. During the Aug. 31 episode, Living […]
How Issue One uncovered the top 15 “dark money groups” in politics
In 2010, the political advertising game changed. That’s when, 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that “the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the […]
How The Guardian updated maps and live graphics during the Thai cave rescue
Last summer, for nearly three weeks, a Thai soccer team trapped inside a cave gripped the world with the prospect that 12 boys and their coach wouldn’t make it out […]
How The New York Times reported its “52 Places to Go” travel section
If you could travel to 52 places, where would you go? Josh Williams, a multimedia and graphics editor for The New York Times, has a few dozen ideas. Williams was […]
How data helped visualize the family separation crisis
Early this summer, at the height of the family separation crisis – where children were being forcibly separated from their parents at our nation’s border – a team of scholars […]
How Axios built an animated map showing hurricane paths hitting the Carolinas
When Hurricane Florence made landfall in the United States last month, few could anticipate the strange journey the hurricane would take. While many major hurricanes have hit the Carolinas, it […]
How The New York Times Magazine shipped a soundtrack with its Voyages issue
Through eye-catching photographs of exotic locations, New York Times Magazine’s biannual Voyages issues are meant to transport the audience around the world even if they are just sitting on their sofa […]
How documentary photographer Tomás Munita captured the plight of the Rohingya
In December 2017, The New York Times published “How 655,000 Rohingya Escaped,” a visual experience composed of photos, videos and maps revealing the journey of Rohingya Muslims’ exile from Myanmar. […]
How the Marshall Project visualized racial inequities in New York City subway policing
Last month, The Marshall Project published a piece about arrests for subway turnstile jumping in New York City by interactive reporter Anna Flagg and former reporting intern Ashley Nerbovig. They […]
How the documentary “The Naked Truth: Wasteland” explored Scott Pruitt and the fossil fuel lobby.
Shortly after Donald Trump’s election, when Scott Pruitt took the reins at the Environmental Protection Agency, longtime EPA staffers began seeing a severe scaling back of the protections they were […]
How Florida Today created an augmented reality rocket launch app
Would you watch an animated hologram of a rocket launch in real-time? Florida Today, in collaboration with USA Today, recently released an augmented reality app, 321 Launch, which syncs with […]
The New York Times’ Graham Roberts on why augmented reality is suited for hard news
On April 7, 2018, a chemical bomb was dropped onto the rooftop of a residential building in the Syrian city of Douma, near Damascus, killing dozens of people, many of […]
How the Center for Public Integrity is using surveys to report on tick-borne illness and climate change
With the northeastern United States on the brink of summer, bug spray will soon be flying off the shelves as hikers, bikers and others prepare for adventures outdoors. But, inevitably, […]
How the Palm Beach Post unearthed an opioid conspiracy with roots in Florida
Located in one of the states hardest hit by the opioid crisis, Florida’s Palm Beach Post has covered the issue from drug deals in the streets to boardroom deals at Big […]
How ProPublica used a game to tell the stories of five immigrants seeking asylum
For decades, video games have been a major part of digital culture, helping players escape reality to live within virtual worlds. And it’s big business. Annually, the video game industry […]
How The Pudding visualized the gender breakdown of speakers on This American Life
Last September, The Pudding published “Listen to Her,” an interactive, multimedia piece visualizing the gender breakdown of long-running radio program “This American Life.” Ash Ngu, a computer science graduate student […]
How The Boston Globe uncovered fraud at Massachusetts nonprofits
Recently, the Internal Revenue Service made more than 2.3 million forms filed by nonprofits from all over the country available in an online database, open to the public. Todd Wallack, a […]
How The Pudding visualized the representation and treatment of female superheroes
Amanda Shrendruk, an award-winning visual journalist and data visualization expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, recently published an interactive story that displayed how female superheroes are represented and treated […]
How The New York Times proposed fixing NYC’s subway using 3D models and visuals
It’s no news that the New York City subway is overcrowded, beset by delays and runs on a frustrating fare collection system. Sergio Peçanha, a graphics editor for The New […]
How ProPublica revealed the threat and extent of toxic military sites across the U.S.
The U.S. military spends over a billion dollars a year to clean up sites it has contaminated with toxic waste or explosives. These sites exist in every state and some […]