As an aspiring data journalist, I was excited (and relieved) to flick through the new Data Journalism Handbook. The internet is awash with tutorials on visualising techniques and coding, but there’s a lack of documentation providing an overview of the field.
The Handbook, which started at a workshop at the London MozFest 2011 last November, represents the work of “an international, collaborative effort involving dozens of data journalism’s leading advocates and best practitioners.” It’s a free, open-source book that aims to help journalists find and report data – if you’re interested in data-driven stories, it’s a must.
Having spent the past two weeks rifling through the handbook and exploring all it has to offer, the most useful chapters are without doubt, “Getting data” and “Understanding data”. The chapters contain essential tips on advanced searching, a directory of data sources and useful programmes such as Readability and DownThemAll. Nicolas Kayser-Bril of Journalism++, also offers some invaluable guidance to journalists reporting data stories, emphasising the three questions every news gatherer should ask: where has the data originated, how it has been compiled – and what does it represent?
I really appreciated the book’s section on the legal obligations affecting data journalism. There is little guidance elsewhere regarding the ownership and licensing of data. When do “database rights” mean that you can’t distribute a data set in its entirety? And how can you release your own data under a public license or public domain dedication?
The resource doesn’t claim to be a comprehensive guide to data journalism and it doesn’t teach readers how to code or visualise – but technologies change so rapidly that how-to guides would quickly become outdated. There’s a basic guide to Scraperwiki, along with plenty of links to online tutorial and inspirational case studies .
No doubt the book will continue grow as new and exciting technologies emerge.
The handbook is available online at http://datajournalismhandbook.org