Thursday: Attended session called Data Visualization: It’s Alive! Data Presentations That Won’t Bore Readers to Death. Fascinating presentation by Sanjay Bhatt with Seattle Times reporter, Matt Stiles, database reporting coordinator, National Public Radio’s State Impact Project and Sha Hwang, Data Visualization with Stamen. Sanjay says visualization is simply a reincarnation of what we used to call “graphics.”  Today’s graphics, however, are many times enhanced by the use of technology.

Bhatt says we should think of visuals the same way we think of editorial: Who is involved and whom does it impact; what is the data, when did it happen and where.

Stiles says visuals can incorporate data that matters to journalists and are important because they can:

1. Increase transparency and credibility
2. Increase audience engagement
3. Tells stories in unique ways
4. Can be more powerful than text (like a photo)
5. Can be used as story reporting tool, not just a presentation tool.

Panelists say many graphic formats available online that can be enhanced/updated by merging additional information. Some examples: Many Eyes, Google fusion tables, Public Data, Batch geo. Intermediate sites include: Google Viz, tableau public.

One graphic or visualization tool Stiles created recently was a map that showed where poor people lived in London. He then merged this graphic with a graphic that showed where all the recent riots took place in London. The resulting graphic showed that many of the riots took place in London’s poorer districts.

Isn’t there a Chinese proverb about one picture tells a thousand stories?

Esther Wu

Texas AAJA