Analysis ← #Interhacktives

Who did it best? Data coverage of the 2013 local elections 2

May

2013

Yesterday the final results were in for Thursday’s 2013 council elections, and true to form some of the biggest media publications were not content with simply stating by numbers which councils had won or lost seats (à la the less than inspiring Independent and Spectator’s election results run-downs). Ignoring paywalled websites and those who simply ...

Number of refugees rises steeply in Brazil and mildly in the UK. Brave new world ahead?

Apr

2013

The number of refugees applying to live in Brazil increased more than three times since 2010, according to United Nations figures just released. In 2012, there were more than 2,000 people asking for shelter in the South American country. That is just one tenth of the number in the United Kingdom in the same period. ...

Data shows why Barcelona might have trouble with PSG now Messi is injured

Apr

2013

Last night Barcelona against drew PSG in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals clash. Scoring two goals in Paris set up the Catalan giants for a spot in the semifinals. But not all was good news for them: Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, will miss the decider because of an ...

What is the point of having 100 international billionaires without a world map?

Apr

2013

A few weeks ago Forbes published in their website a list of the 100 top billionaires on the planet. They published graphs of these people’s net worth over time, a lot of background information and could even link every one of them to other important billionaires, in a way that it is clear to the ...

Heatmapped: Global drug prevalence

Mar

2013

I decided to experiment with Google Spreadsheet’s Heatmap gadget to visualise some basic global data. Using the UNDOC (United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime) World Drug Report 2012 and accompanying spreadsheet of data, I transferred the data to my own Google document, highlighted the columns of data I wanted to map, and selected Insert ...

Technology isn’t a guarantee of journalistic success

Feb

2013

Technology puts you in contact with people, but it doesn’t give you their attention. A reporter can have all the smartphones, iPads and software on the planet. If the interviewee doesn’t want to talk, there is no story. A journalist must know how to use gadgets in a way that don’t stop him or her from doing their job. ...

Can a Facebook ‘like’ Make You a Criminal? 1

Feb

2013

The Supreme Court of the Philippines has been debating whether ‘liking’ a defamatory comment on Facebook makes you guilty of libel. To date, no one has been prosecuted specifically for ‘liking’ a statement, link or photograph posted by someone else. Last year, a judge in Virginia ruled that ‘liking’ was not covered by the first ...

The Economist data book makes me believe in love at first sight 1

Jan

2013

It was a rainy afternoon I gazed sadly into the bookshelves of Waterstone’s for hours and hours. My ex-girlfriend was a few meters away, reminding me of how tough love can be. I just wanted to go home and drink as much Cherry Coke as I could (I don’t have drinking habits, sorry for that). ...

Social media tools to use (more) in 2013

Jan

2013

Being a student puts you in touch with new resources, but it also makes you wonder how people in real newsrooms are actually using tools to reach out to readers. So I asked some of my former colleagues what are the most interesting tools they will try to use more frequently in 2013. The three ...

Exclusivity and age in social networks

Nov

2012

Everyone knows that signing up to a social network means joining a community of millions. Why then do we straight away demand that our privacy should be vigorously protected and our details shielded from the other members of the network we’ve just joined? The function of social networks is changing. In the beginning, people rushed ...

Social media users in emerging countries want more than just flashy visuals

Nov

2012

Brazil and India don’t share much common ground. But, along with the United States, they are the top three markets for Facebook in the world. While more than 156 million Americans have already adopted Mark Zuckerberg’s creation, only recently did almost 100 million Brazilians and Indians migrate from their favourite social media platforms to Facebook. ...

A twitterstorm in a teacup 2

Nov

2012

Online communities have more in common with their offline counterparts than you might think. The capacity to share and transmit information, make contacts and form relationships can be offset by bullying or cliquishness that prevents communication with others outside the group. Striking a balance between the two can be tricky. A recent twitterstorm at City ...