Ann Claire Johnson

Advanced Reporting and Data Analysis

Blog Post Due 2.20.18

Blog Post: Due 11:59 pm Tuesday Feb 20

1)–Based on the Cairo and Cohen readings, what are one or two things you want to try with your data visualizations going forward? What did you learn about info graphics.

• I want to try more map graphics. I enjoyed seeing that on page 77 of Cairo’s article and I found it interesting when we did it last class as well. I would like to test the theory of apophenia in a graph and see if anyone notices. I would also like to exemplify logic, statistics, and experiments in future graphs in the most efficient way possible.
• I learned that, “The more adequately a model fits whatever it stands for without being needlessly complex, and the easier it is for its intended audience to interpret it correctly, the better it will be” (Cairo, 70). This wasn’t necessarily news to me but it did remind me that just because the graph looks complex and hard, doesn’t mean that it’s an impressive graph. This is helpful when thinking about future tableau presentations.
• Another thing that I learned is that the larger and medium sized news organizations in the United States have been in decline in the past few years. (Just news publications?) The reason for this is that there are shrinking circulations and audiences, (maybe because reading this newspaper isn’t trendy) as well as diminishing ad revenue.
• I also learned about patternicity and apophenia. I haven’t ever heard these terms before but I am excited that there is a word for each because the instances in which they are relevant is totally relatable.
• I found this quote very helpful; “Don’t rush to write a headline or an entire story or to design a visualization immediately after you find an interesting pattern, data point, or fact. Stop and think. Look for the other sources and for people who can help you escape from tunnel vision and confirmation bias. Explore your information at multiple levels of depth and breadth, looking for extraneous facts that may help your findings. Only then can you make a decision about what to say, and how to say it, and about what amount of detail you need to show to be true to the data” (Cairo, 94). The reason why I found this helpful is because I am an immediate gratification type of journalist. Every time I find something that satisfies me when I’m reporting on or writing about a topic, I write about it immediately without further investigation about the rest of the topic.

2) –Based on the interviewing readings, what new techniques did you learn to help with these interviews of low income workers?

• In the “Getting the Goods—Interviews that Work” article by Jaqui Banaszynski I found the most help for my interviewing tips and techniques. The first two points, reveal emotion and character and then create partners, was something that I needed to be reminded of because I am not as savvy as an interviewer as I would like to be. In reference to point 1. I need to; ask not how people feel (or think) but what they do, ask specific moments or actions, and put questions into a frame. I also need to focus on coming off as invested in the person that I’m interviewing and not just the content that I am collecting by interviewing them. I also really need to work on slowing down and shutting up when I interview. I do feel like, in reference to 11., I am not afraid to ask about things that I don’t understand. When I interview my low income worker I will also refer to the article “Interviewing With Courage and Creativity” by Jacqui Banaszynski, and use it as almost a rubric or an outline/checklist for before my interview, during, and after my interview. I am really glad you included this article because it was detailed and will help with my organization throughout my interviewing process.

3) –Fix issues with your assignment #1 based on my comments. You will revise that Assignment #1 post.