Msaccess. A conversation about journalism and technology » Ask focused questions of your data to get more usable answers. Editor’s note: Matt Neznanski (right) is today’s guest writer.
You can read more about – and from – Matt on his site. By Matt Neznanski How many reporter’s meetings have you attended where every suggestion to use new technology or different ways to tell stories is met with resistance based on gut feelings about what readers want? If you’re honest, a lot. Most, even. Building the data desk: lessons from the L.A. Times. In early 2007, when the Los Angeles Times launched its Homicide Report blog — an effort to chronicle every homicide in Los Angeles County — it was clear that there were important geographic and demographic dimensions to the information that a blog format wouldn’t fully capture.
What we needed was a ChicagoCrime.org -style map that would let users focus on areas of interest to them, with filters that would enable them to “play” with the data and explore trends and patterns for themselves. Problem was, the web staff (of which I was a part) lacked the tools and the expertise to build such a thing, so the blog launched without a map. Journalism in the Age of Data.