13 May Kika Kubanova: digital journalism 2 workbook
Week 1: Introduction to the module, what we’re going to do this semester, we talked about final assignments and what we are expected to do.
Week 2: We went through the homework we had. For the homework we had to choose a database and create a story based on that. The ones that our class used were, for example, databases from Wikileaks – war diaries, Gapminder, MPs expences, … This week we had a look at different types of infographics and how to visualise a story.
In the afternoon class with LJ we were introduced to www.lynda.com which is a website where we can create infographics and we are going to need it later on this semester. We also had a look at www.informationisbeautiful.com website and talked about how presenting of information can influence the way we process information.
Week 3: For the previous homework we had to choose at least 3 stories from those about the State of the union speeches and write a 200-word story. We talked about visualising data and learnt that we cannot just publish raw data but we have to tell a story. After we went through some data terminology and looked at averages, medians, means and modes and how they are used to manipulate different datasets. We also had a look at percentages, percentage point and the differences between these 2.
In LJ’s class we talked more about infograpichs and what makes a good infographic. We had a lesson in the newsroom and each table chose a different infographic to talk about, what they’d change about it, what was good about it…
Week 4: In class with Michael this week, we took a look at business data. We began looking at stock exchanges and currencies before considering how we can manipulate the datasets to find stories. We also looked at the colours of the stock exchange across different countries and spoke about why the meanings of these colours vary. After that we talk about finding data set stories and were tasked to find 3 stories on BBC and think about how we’d develop the stories using data.
We had an Excel tutorial instead of LJ’s class today and it was quite helpful even though I used it years ago, I forgot how to use it, so this refreshed my memory.
Week5 : We had a guest lecturer who talked about storing data in today’s GDPR society and how security protections help to protect the data sets from ending up in wrong hands. Michael then introduced us to several websites where we can get data sets from, even for our final projects.
In the afternoon we had another Excel class.
Week 6: Today we started with our homework, again. For our homework we had to choose a data set we want to use for our final project. I chose one from www.ons.co.uk about loneliness in children and young people.
Later we had a guest speaker – Valandis Zotos who came to us to talk about Fighthoax, which is a technology company serving news analysis to media and businesses worldwide.
In the afternoon we had another excel class.
Week 7: We had Michael’s class as usual, we talked about Fighthoax and were using Fighthoax app , which helps us recognise whether articles and websites are trustworthy sources of information. In the afternoon we had a talk about a collaboration with Ryerson University in Toronto.
Week 8: In the morning lesson we were talking about the New Zealand tragedy, and how several newspapers wrote about it and what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate in situations like these and how should we approach people in situations like these as journalists (Editor’s Code of Practice). Then we were using Fighthoax. Also we were talking about data sets we found and were using for our final assignments.
In the afternoon lesson we had an introduction into an Adobe app called InDesign which is used for layouts by magazines, etc.. we can write our CV and cover letter in it as well. Were going to use it to create our infographics as well.
Week 9: In the morning lesson with Michael we were using Fighthoax again to identify trustworthy sources of news. Then we were talking about our final stories , how we’re using our data, where they’re from, etc…
In the afternoon class with LJ we used www.visme.com to create an infographic using the data are using for our final assignment.
Week 10: We had a final look at Fighthoax and our results as groups, in the afternoon we had 1-2-1 sessions with LJ to talk about our final stories and infographics.
Week 11: 1-2-1 sessions with Michael
Workbook covering the process of creating my data story and infographic.
- when we were first meant to decide what our final assignment will be about , I found data on www.ons.gov.uk about mental health in young people and decided to stick to that one as mental health is a big issue, nowadays. But for the very last moment I decided to change my data to another data set about travel and tourism from the same website.
- the 1-2-1 session with LJ we had just before Easter was really helpful and made everything much clearer to me (i hope i understood it right though)
- over the Easter I spent some time reading and trying to understand my data set. Firstly, I was going to compare amount of trips taken in 2015 and 2018, but the more I looked into the data set, I figured out a different angle. From the total amount of trips taken in 2018 and the cost for all of these trips I calculated an average cost of 1 trip. Then I calculated a price that a 4 member family would pay for holidays, if the cost of one trip was 636£. So a four member family would pay approximately 2540£, which is quite a lot of money, specially if you have other expenses as well
- so I decided to have a look on an average family income in 2018 as well as on an average family expenditure
- after having a closer look at these, I realised that some families might be in debt even without going on holidays
- so that made me wonder : how do Brits afford to go on holidays then? I did some research and found a report from Nationwide Building Society on www.yourmoney.com couldn’t find a report itself, but this same information from this report was used on several websites
- in my data story I also put reasons behind the trips that Brits took in 2018 , which I figured from my data set
- and I put some tips how to make holidays cheaper in my story too
- when I was done with my story, I started creating my infographic, which was quite fun. I used www.visme.com , first I wrote my ideas down, what I wanted to put into my infographic and then I started creating it, I had to recreate a few times because there was always something that I didn’t like.( just to say, I don’t like the colours of the pie chart in my infographic , but I couldn’t change them, I was trying to figure that out, but did not work. I wanted to keep the whole thing in shades of brownish? except for the part with the flag) so I know , it might be too colourful now
- I HYPERLINKED ALL MY SOURCES IN THIS WORKBOOK
