hacking the news

futurejournalismproject: Data Journalism Is the New Punk Simon...

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:10:11 -0400

Data Journalism Is the New Punk

Simon Rogers of the Guardian data blog draws comparisons between the emergence of DIY tools for practicing data journalism and the founding ethics of punk.

The underlying question is if you learn a few “chords” (eg., Google Fusion Tools, Gephi) can you start making your data hum.

Says Dan Sinker, head of the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership and former Punk Planet editor, in response to Rogers’ hypothesis:

While I agree with the premise - it’s never been easier to do this stuff than it is right now - I think there are a few steps beyond just learning three chords when doing data journalism. For one, Legs [McNeil, who coined the word ‘punk’] didn’t really say a band needed to be *good* but I’d like to think we’d require that for data journalism

Check the article. Rogers provides links to free data tools and curates a great discussion about the reasonable skills needed to getting started.

Image: Now Form a Band, from British punk fanzine Sideburns in 1977. Via the Guardian.

"Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but you could make..."

Thu, 10 May 2012 16:23:48 -0400

“

Programming as a profession is only moderately interesting. It can be a good job, but you could make about the same money and be happier running a fast food joint.

You’re much better off using code as your secret weapon in another profession. People who can code in the world of technology companies are a dime a dozen and get no respect. People who can code in biology, medicine, government, sociology, physics, history, and mathematics are respected and can do amazing things to advance those disciplines.

”

- Advice From An Old Programmer — Learn Python The Hard Way, 2nd Edition

So cool futurejournalismproject: A Finely Curated List of Data...

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:15:21 -0400

So cool

futurejournalismproject:

A Finely Curated List of Data Tools

A fantastic resource for getting started in — and advancing — your work with data from some of the best in the business.

Via Datavisualization.ch:

Datavisualization.ch Selected Tools is a collection of tools that we, the people behind Datavisualization.ch, work with on a daily basis and recommend warmly. This is not a list of everything out there, but instead a thoughtfully curated selection of our favourite tools that will make your life easier creating meaningful and beautiful data visualizations.

As Benjamin Wiederkehr writes on their blog, “It includes libraries for plotting data on maps, frameworks for creating charts, graphs and diagrams and tools to simplify the handling of data. Even if you’re not into programming, you’ll find applications that can be used without writing one single line of code.”

FJP Pro Tip: Jump in and start playing. If you’re just getting started, check out our short videos with Bitly data chief Hilary Mason for her advice on working with data.

Udacity - Free Classes. Awesome Instructors. Inspiring Community.

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:49:10 -0400

Udacity - Free Classes. Awesome Instructors. Inspiring Community.:

I’m only two videos into the first lesson of CS101, but this already feels more relevant to what I want to learn than Codecademy: building a search engine that scrapes links is definitely closer to where I ultimately want to be than anything I’ve come across in Codecademy.

Codecademy has been great for Javascript syntax and some basic concepts, but it hasn’t made me very excited about the potential for doing things on my own going forward. In fact, I have no idea how to do things on my own, without the very specific interface, and I think I’m about 8 weeks in. That said, I’ve got a bunch of badges…

This is so cool. jottingmatt: Hackasaurus.org Hackasaurus makes...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:34:38 -0400

This is so cool.

jottingmatt:

Hackasaurus.org

Hackasaurus makes it easy to mash up and change any web page like magic. You can also create your own webpages to share with your friends, all within your browser. (via the site)

I love this amazing product by Mozilla aimed at helping educators teach students to code using HTML, Java, and more web languages by remixing current websites online. Through “Goggles”, young coders can learn programming by exploring codes for their favorite websites. Then, they can change/add code to make the site their own. The best part is the ability to send remixed pages to others. Educational resources are also included on the “Teach Webmaking” page.

ilovecharts: Yeah, Tumblr!

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:05:26 -0400

ilovecharts:

Yeah, Tumblr!

futurejournalismproject: News Coverage of Trayvon Martin Case...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:22:01 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

News Coverage of Trayvon Martin Case Drops But Still Public’s Top Story

Via the Pew Research Center:

For the third straight week, the controversy over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin was the public’s top story, though coverage dropped considerably. A third of the public (33%) say they followed news about the death of the African American teenager in Florida more closely than any other news, about twice the percentage citing the economy (16%) or the 2012 elections (15%). News about the controversy made up 7% of coverage, down from 18% one week earlier, according to a separate analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).

African Americans continue to follow news about the controversy more closely than whites. About seven-in-ten blacks (72%) say they followed Trayvon Martin developments more closely than any other story, compared with 26% of whites. Looking at partisans, 45% of Democrats say this was their top story last week, three times the 15% of Republicans that say this. Among independents more than a third (36%) say this was their top story.

girl meets code: in brief...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:08:14 -0400

girl meets code: in brief...:

I’ve decided that the more we (women, that is) learn to code, the better the world will be.

girlmeetscode:

i’m excited to gain coding skill and expertise, and impatient to begin experimenting and building with it.

i intend to learn as quickly as possible, while also documenting as much of what i learn about learning about coding as possible.

i will share my findings here, and sincerely hope that…

Life and Code: The Kind of Programming Journalism Needs (Is Simple)

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:02:36 -0400

Life and Code: The Kind of Programming Journalism Needs (Is Simple):

Yes!

lifeandcode:

Computer programing is a vast domain, stretching from embedded systems that end up being the brain of your refrigerator to vastly sophisticated algorithms that let Wall Street traders ~~defraud the public~~ detect and capitalize on trends.

The good news for people who want to learn how to program…

Other things Facebook should buy:

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:19:15 -0400

inothernews:

$320 fugalicious Marc Jacobs shoes that only suckers would buy

Kodak

You some groceries

Great, now Mark Zuckerberg will control more of my...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:19:01 -0400

Great, now Mark Zuckerberg will control more of my life.

futurejournalismproject:

Facebook Buys Instagram for a Reported $1 Billion

That’s billion, with a ‘b’, in cash and stock.

Via Mark Zuckerberg:

[I]n order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

Glad to see they’ll keep it independent. — Michael

Joke time.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:02:07 -0400

leonsbuddydave:

What did one text editor say to the other text editor?

Nevermind, you wouldn’t gedit.

In case you needed further proof that XKCD was brilliant, this...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:51:59 -0400

In case you needed further proof that XKCD was brilliant, this is an awesome and super accessible data visualization.

sunfoundation:

Lakes and Oceans

Wikipedia: Goodbye Google Maps, Hello Open Street Maps

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:45:10 -0400

Wikipedia: Goodbye Google Maps, Hello Open Street Maps:

futurejournalismproject:

Wikipedia joins a growing list of high profile organizations leaving Google Maps and moving to the open source Open Street Maps. The move comes after Google announced in March that they would begin charging Web sites that receive more than 25,000 requests per month for use of their maps.

Via Wikipedia:

Previous versions of our application used Google Maps for the nearby view. This has now been replaced with OpenStreetMap - an open and free source of Map Data that has been referred to as ‘Wikipedia for Maps.’ This closely aligns with our goal of making knowledge available in a free and open manner to everyone. This also means we no longer have to use proprietary Google APIs in our code, which helps it run on the millions of cheap Android handsets that are purely open source and do not have the proprietary Google applications.

OpenStreetMap is used in both iOS and Android, thanks to the amazing Leaflet.js library. We are currently using Mapquest’s map tiles for our application, but plan on switching to our own tile servers in the near future.

Also, via Techspot, a look at mapping economics:

In March, Google announced it would be charging high-volume users for its once gratis Google Maps service. Developer accounts which pull in fewer than 25,000 requests per month are not considered high-volume and thus have remained free. However, for accounts that exceed 25,000 views, developers must pay between $4 to $10 for every additional 1,000 views generated. For popular websites and apps that rely on Google Maps APIs, this can add up pretty quickly…

…Although some may be quick to call out Google for its decision to charge a premium, Google Maps has really been the only mapping service to offer its product to everyone without cost. Traditionally, companies like NavTeq and TeleNav have always licensed their map data to third parties. It costs a lot of money to put together accurate maps and Google took some risk offering theirs free of charge. As a result, Google Maps has become the go-to place for many companies and users alike. In fact, comScore found that over 71% of Americans had used Google Maps in February.

"Even a lazy journalist’s car clock is right half of the year. #PartyLikeAJournalist #SpringForward"

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:01:16 -0400

“Even a lazy journalist’s car clock is right half of the year. #PartyLikeAJournalist #SpringForward”

- StuffJournalistsLike ‏ @JournalistsLike (via partylikeajournalist)

futurejournalismproject: An Illustrated Future of the New York...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:59:16 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

An Illustrated Future of the New York Times

ImageThink put together this very nice illustration for a talk given by the New York Times’ Jill Abramson’s talk at SXSW about the newspaper’s future.

Select to embiggen.

Aw yeaaaahhhh! I’m a blackjack wizard! OK, OK, maybe not....

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:45:00 -0500

Aw yeaaaahhhh! I’m a blackjack wizard!

OK, OK, maybe not. This week’s CodeYear lesson was all good but the Blackjack game was a bit awkward in its execution. Apparently we’ll be approaching this again later, but in the meantime I think I’ll be setting a couple goals for myself to tweak this program.

1) It kills me that the program does not check for duplication of cards; you just can’t draw the same card twice in real Blackjack

2) Come on, we really need some card names in there. Seriously, “42” — other than being the answer to life, the universe and everything — doesn’t mean anything to me in a deck of cards.

3) Maybe playing with arrays? It’s not a topic that’s been covered extensively yet, but it seems like that could be another way to set up the deck of cards.

I just stayed up unreasonably late trying to wrangle some census...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:16:00 -0500

I just stayed up unreasonably late trying to wrangle some census data into Google Fusion Tables.

The upshot: Change in median age by Vermont County from 2000 to 2010. Interactive. Exciting. Embarrassingly simple, considering the number of hours that went into making it.

But here’s to many more!

Learn to program: Make a free weekly coding lesson your New Year’s resolution. - Slate Magazine

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:40:10 -0500

Learn to program: Make a free weekly coding lesson your New Year’s resolution. - Slate Magazine:

Here’s Slate’s vote for Codeyear, which I signed up for earlier this week.

It’s not just a vote for programming lessons, which are created by the folks behind Codecademy. It’s a vote for learning to code. Now.

I’ll admit, December socked me a new one and I had very little time to program. But even though I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions, if I had one it would be to become a coding ninja. And with any luck, Codeyear will help.

Amazing.

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:43:46 -0500

Amazing.