For this assignment I interviewed Director Dan Steadman about the woes of production and his upcoming film “Ybor City” which is currently in production in Tampa, FL. On this particular day he was shooting a flashback scene in a local shop known as MC Film Fest located in Ybor City, FL. The scene is set during the 1980’s.
Note: WordPress.com does not allow for the use of embedding or iFrames. Therefore I could not embed my Google Fusion table onto this blog. However you can view the table by clicking the following link: Schools located within Osceola County. Screenshots are also included below
Using Google Fusion tables is much easier than everyone assumes it is. Their program is very user friendly and a cake walk if you have even the slightest inkling as to what you’re doing. That’s how I was able to create a Google Fusion table which you can view by clicking here. The table displays the locations of all the schools located within the Osceola County School District.
Finding the information to plug in was easy, but setting it up in Excel was the difficult part. Luckily with a few quick shortcuts I was able to take something that would take hours to do manually and whittle the time down to just over an hour to create the table. Not too shabby.
Check out below to see a screenshot of the table itself. Click the image to see the final product!
A screenshot of the table created by utilizing Google Fusion tables. Click the image above to see the table I created.
Created using Python and Excel
Utilizing Python and Excel I was able to create this example of data journalism all on my own. After finding temperatures on wunderground.com I was able to plug them into the right place and out popped this little beauty. Is it just me or was it abnormally mild for JFK in 2011? Even on the coldest day the temps were comparable to those here in Florida during winter.
Global warming!
“We’re living in a data-driven culture. A data-savvy journalist can use the Twitter API or a spreadsheet to find news as readily as he or she can use the telephone to call a source. Not only that, we serve many readers who are accustomed to dealing with data every day — accountants, educators, researchers, marketers. If we’re going to capture their attention, we need to speak the language of data with authority. And they are smart enough to know whether we’ve done our research correctly or not.” – Anthony Debarros, senior database editor at USA Today. (cited in In the Age of Big Data, Data Journalism has Profound Importance for Society)
I’m not a math person. Never have been. Despite my inability to understand even the simplest of figures I have found that it is easier to comprehend numbers through visualization. Graphs, charts, typography, inforgraphics. Even if I’m not the most math-savvy, these items all make it so I can understand the information.
Thanks to data journalism that sort of thing is possible.
Numbers are universal. They are the only things that remain the same in every language. Their importance is astronomical. As technology becomes an even bigger part of our lives on a daily basis it’s clear to see that as the Internet connects every corner of the world it has also made it wholly possible for data journalism to take the universal language of numbers and make it accessible for anyone no matter what part of the world they are in.
Data journalism takes statistics, numbers, percentages, and figures that are normally complicated and turns them into visualization or a form of information that is accessible to any reader, regardless of their familiarity with the topic.
Across the board it seems many journalists agree. After an extensive Google search I found numerous sites and blogs all brandishing headlines like “Why Data Journalism Matters.” I even discovered the recently published “Data Journalist’s Handbook.” Journalists are recognizing the changing face of journalism in light of society’s dependency on technology.
Using figures and numbers to tell a story has made it easier for journalists to gather large sets of data and turn it into something exhibits the same hook or emotional leverage of any prose found in a newspaper, audio heard on the radio, or images found on a television screen. In lieu of bits pieced together to convey a message we are left with information presented in a way that simply let the facts speak for themselves.
Journalism is evolving and data journalism is playing a huge role in that evolution.
Every Tuesday night a group of 37 people meet to discuss an event known as Dance Marathon. Dance Marathon is a philanthropy benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network and Shands Children’s Hospital. Dancers participate by raising money and standing for 26.2 hours. The 37 people in this meeting are known as “morale captains.” Their job throughout the event is to ensure that the dancers are having fun and have the energy to keep going.
My photo story can be categorized as “little known but interesting.” This group of people work for an entire year to ensure that the people participating in this event are having a wonderful time. As someone who is required to be energetic non-stop for 26.2 all members of this group share the same eccentric characteristics.
Below are photos taken at their first meeting of the year. To see any additonal photos, you can find them here: The Hardest Working People at Dance Marathon (via Dropbox)
It takes a strong man to stand naked in front of a stranger and an even stronger one to allow that stranger to recreate their nude form through artistic expression. Andrew Norton explores this idea in his radio piece titled “Buck, Naked.” The piece is the story of Buck. Buck is a man who makes his living as a figure model. He poses nude for artists. Using silent films and show tunes as inspiration, Buck finds solace in posing for art.
Andrew Norton does a phenomenal job exploring the eccentric world Buck lives in through his audio and interview. With the exception of one instance Norton utilizes crisp and clear audio to create a story that is easy to understand, but hard to believe. His editing decisions are spot on as he strings together tiny glimpses into Buck’s life to tell a story that is strange and fascinating.
The audio sounds great with the exception of a single bite around a minute and twenty seconds in which sounds like it was taken inside a large, tiled room. The ambiance of an air conditioner or halogen lights takes over the bite while Buck sounds as though he is miles away due to the echoes that take over the interview.
Incidentally the use of natural sound of the artists entering for their sketching session around two minutes in was beautifully done. The bustle of the studio adds personality to the piece which is already thriving due to Buck’s larger than life persona. Additionally the use of Buck’s singing allows the listener to delve even further into his mind. Edited alongside narration regarding Buck’s practice of singing showtunes while he poses, Norton presents these moments in a way that the listener feel like they can better understand Buck’s motives behind his choice to sing showtunes all the while displaying who Buck is as a person.
Buck was a wonderful choice for a subject. It’s not everyday someone could encounter a nude model. Had this story been done in a video format it might lead to some highly uncomfortable moments, however because it’s done in radio we are allowed to experience this world without ever having to step outside the boundaries of our comfort zone.
Four days ago I launched a Kickstater campaign to fund a project titled “Bro-ing Pains.” It’s a web series I wrote and plan to star in about three frat guys who are involved in a series of outrageous events as they attempt to juggle the various pressures of college. I’ve asked friends, family, and complete strangers to donate $2,500. The total is only half of the anticipated budget. While this may seem like a hefty sum to the average college student living off financial aid, it pales in comparison to the totals requested by other budding filmmakers, musicians, authors, and more. I dread to think what may happen if something were to fall through with my project and I was forced to give donations back to the people brave enough to believe in me. In fact I wouldn’t even know where to start returning money. It seems I’m not the only one.
In a recent piece called When a Kickstarter Fails, Does Anyone Get Their Money Back? NPR investigates the consequences following the failure of a massive Kickstarter campaign. Where does the money go? Are donors required to get their money back? If so, how do producers refund the amount?
At four minutes and 34 seconds the piece is enthralling. The fact that it is so enthralling is incredible in the fact that it’s a radio piece about a very visual topic. Kickstarter utilizes the web, photos, and video to allow creative minds to pitch ideas to potential donors so that they are able to fund a project. Kickstarter has allowed the principle of “crowd-funding” to go beyond it’s original incarnation. However, despite how wonderful the radio piece is the web story and single screenshot of the Kickstarter page leave little to the imagination of what this story may have been capable of beyond radio.
As I’ve noticed the transcript differs entirely from the audio piece. This is because there is none.
[UPDATE: The transcript was posted late night/early morning on September 4th. It was posted after this blog was posted.]
To have a topic about something so incredibly visual the package could’ve have easily benefitted from the addition of video. Examples of videos produced for Kickstarter campaigns as well as other examples of completed projects and projects that have failed would have been terrific tied in with interviews from donors and producers.
Keeping up with the changing face of media and journalism continues to be a challenge for many formats. In this case to put so much effort into something, yet to never recognize its full potential is a lot like allowing a handful of people to fork over their hard earned money only to be forced to refund it when you fail to complete what you intended to do.
Jonothon Mitchell Reporting 