Guest speaker: Kevin Quealy, graphics editor at The New York Times and The Upshot. (@KevinQ)

Midterm Details:

The midterm project will be to create a compelling and authorative multimedia explainer of an issue important to students at The New School. You will work with a partner to co-author the piece and we will iterate on stages of the project together each week in class. You should pick a topic where you already some expertise or experience reporting — or a topic you are passionate about. Some examples might include immigration, student loans, affording New York City, housing, rights and regulations, diversity or any complicated issue that needs to be untangled and explained.

Relevant reading: Explainer Journalism – New Literacy Project and How journalists can create better explainers

First deadline: You should spend the second half of class today brainstorming with your partner and begin drafting the pitch due next week. You and your partner should develop a one-page story pitch and submit it by Wednesday, February 22. It should an overview of the issue, some basic facts and an explanation for why this story is important and compelling to your audience. Outline what you hope to discover and a plan for reporting that includes potential sources or datasets you could pursue. Begin to consider what form it might take (do you want to produce a video? charts and maps? an interactive quiz? a photo essay? some combination?) This pitch doesn’t commit you to produce everything you outline, it’s merely a starting point and guide for the next few weeks.

Subsequent deadlines: Each week between now and March 15, I will ask you to complete an aspect of the midterm or to refine or rework what you’ve already produced. Additional details and deadlines forthcoming.

Final deadline and expectations: Your midterm project will be due by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 15. Absolutely no late submissions. You’ll be expected to present your story and answer questions in a group critique on March 16. You should approach this project as if it were going to be published and the caliber of work should be strong enough that you could pitch it to a real-world publication.

Midterm Project Collaborators:

  • Katherine Claire Badala (KC) and Ritika Karnik
  • Penelope Eaton and Chloe Richman
  • Tzu Yun Lu (Jennifer) and Taylor Kugler
  • Allison Griffin and Tyler Elmore

Weekly Critique:

Select one of the stories below to critique — focus on the use of data and visualization as a storytelling device.

  1. Watch How The Measles Outbreak Spreads When Kids Get Vaccinated — And When They Don’t
  2. Next to Die
  3. 100 years of hurricanes hitting and missing Florida, visualized
  4. The Two Americas of 2016
  5. Gun Deaths In America
  6. This is every active satellite orbiting earth
  7. Mapping Segregation
  8. Hip-Hop Is Turning On Donald Trump

Before next class, submit a critique that generally answers the following questions about each piece (fewer than 300 words).

  • Substance: What story was this visualization attempting to tell? Was it successful? What was the source of the data and do you consider it trustworthy?
  • Form: What decisions did the authors make about what data to show, and were they clear and effective? Did the charts, maps or other forms of visualization aid or deminish your understanding? Could you imagine other ways to show the data? Compare the experience on a desktop or laptop computer and a phone and highlight any differences and explain if one version was stronger.

Deadline: Submit your critiques on Canvas by midnight on Wednesday, February 22.