1. One thing I learned from these blog posts is that you need to be consistent. I liked that he said you can’t compare the auto accidents in Chicago and Lincoln, NE, that’s just not fair. To represent data in a fair way, you need to either find two comparable data sets to analyze, or make two unlike data sets comparable using simple math. Another thing I learned is that visualization is essentially the key to welding patterns and storytelling together. It not only confirms the data and that there is a pattern, but left with just the visualization alone there is a story to be told.
2. I learned the importance of communicating terms up front – and never assuming that the same goals are attempted. I also learned that one source can lead to another, and another and that there are networks made just by interviewing one source. I also learned that there are relationships to be built in each individual interview and to treat those ethically the same, but all differently in a way.
3. We spoke about the tardiness of my assignment due to personal circumstances, and I have not received feedback yet!

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.

• To further improve my data visualizations going forward, I want to learn how to apply controls to the data when comparing certain populations and situations. For example, knowing how to generate a relative variable to a graph that needs to make the numbers related and fair to one another. (ex: ratio/population) There is most likely an outlier sometimes, and instead of settling with the outlier like I normally would do, I want to make sure that the outlier is fair and accurate when comparing it to the rest of the data.
• I also want to be able to analyze a visualization better to make it the truest model it can possibly be because that is the most important point, isn’t it? Truth. Cairo encourages to always ask yourself “compared to whom, to what, to when, to where…etc.” when creating a visualization. I forget to ask these simple questions, and they can really aid your data visualization in the most important aspect.

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

• Preparing big time before the interview. Truthfully, I did not realize how important it is to prepare before the interview. Identifying the “stakeholders, storytellers, audience, and other experts.” I need to know my surroundings and the people involved in those environments in order to get a clear and truthful interview with someone. I really want to work on analyzing my surroundings more and be as detailed as possible.
• I am a talker. I love to talk a lot and try to relate myself to people as much as possible. I think it is a kind of comfort mechanism for me, but when interviewing I need to shut up and listen. This is something I am going to have to train myself to hold my tongue and listen. “Ask short and direct questions and listen!”
• I get afraid to dive deep as well because I am intimidated that I might be overstepping boundaries, but the interviewing tips about how to approach people with phrases like “Tell me more about that” is extremely helpful with not sounding too forceful.
  1. I need to just be confident in this process and get to the know the interviewee as much as I can. After reading these tips, I am more excited and feel more comfortable about going out there and starting the interview process.

3) – My revisions were made on the original post.

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.

Ann Claire Johnson

Assignment 1- Final

2.22.18

Advanced Reporting and Data Analysis

Poverty consumes Arkansas’s population more than what is brought to our attention. After observing most recent economic statistics based on poverty in counties throughout Arkansas, I have discovered that in some Arkansas counties over a quarter of that county’s population has an income of under $25,000.  This first graph compares the percentage of households with an income under $25,000 a year to the median household income per county. The counties that have the highest percentage of households whose income is below $25,000 a year also have the lowest median household income. In Sebastian and Madison County, where roughly 32 percent of the households in each county have incomes below $25,000 a year, the median household income is around $40,000 a year. Benton County consistently stands out throughout all of the graphs. Benton County has the lowest percentage of households whose income is below $25,000 a year. Benton County then also has the highest median income at $59,016, which is on average $3,000 more than what the median income for the United States as a whole.

The graph below shows the statistics on the comparison of single-mother households that are in poverty in Arkansas counties versus total households below poverty level. What is so alarming about this graph is that the single mother factor is what makes the difference in poverty in these Arkansas counties. Even in Benton County there is a large jump from 8.8 percent of households below poverty level to 38 percent of single mother households being in poverty.

This graph represents the percentage of people that are employed in poverty. Benton County has the lowest percentage amount of people employed in poverty, 4.9 percent. The highest percentage amount of people employed in poverty are in Washington County, 11.4 percent. The United States had the second to lowest percentage of people that suffer from poverty but are also employed.

This last graph represents the association of the percentages of people based on their racial and ethic background to where they live. The strangest thing about this graph is that in Madison County, the Asian population has the largest percent below poverty level. This contrasts all of the other Asian percentages in the other counties.

1. After reading Cairo, one sort of graphic that I look forward to learning how to make is a percentage change graphic. I think it is a good visual and helps explain a more ambiguous set of numbers and statistics that a reader doesn’t see every day. I also learned the importance of the headline when Cairo talked about the grad school and job prospect survey. Journalists can almost twist the meaning of a story in their favor if they aren’t careful.
2. One thing when interviewing that I need to work on is “for every one question ask 5 more.” I usually try to go into an interview very organized and with a set of questions that I want to make sure I hit, and while that is important I need to also make sure that the story is going in the right direction and have flexibility that it might change. I also haven’t had much experience interviewing people in their “natural habitats” or on the job in action, but for this project it will be important to set the scene of the employees working so I will need to make sure I am more observant and incorporate their surroundings into the story.
3. See updated post