In this TEDx talk by Simon Rogers of the Guardian, one of the real exemplars in data journalism (see their Datablog, including their nice approach to Dr. Who villains and many weightier subjects), Rogers compares the ease of data journalism to punk: anyone can do it. The ease of new tools, such as Many Eyes, Easel.ly, and Gapminder, allow neophytes to upload spreadsheets and create amazing graphical representations. Balls of varying sizes and colors can bounce around and respond to cursors with dizzying dives into deeper info.
But really, just like punk, not everyone can do it well. Simon Rogers does it well. The Guardian tells wonderful stories using data that is thoughtfully selected and presented. Here are some of the other folks that do it well:
If those seem like the usual suspects, here are a few more:
- ProPublica’s investigative piece on nursing homes
- Civil Statistician (a dude with the U.S. Census Bureau)
- Liz Fosslien (don’t know who she is, but I like her stuff)
And if you want to do it, and do it well, check out Enrico Bertini’s How to Become a Data Visualization Expert: A Recipe.
And here, also, is good punk. Enjoy!