Category: Behind the scenes
How I visualized hundreds of ballot proposition outcomes with R Shiny
Most years, San Franciscans vote on ballot measures determining whether or not police should carry tasers, to allocate $50 million a year for homeless services, or to impose a fee […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]