Data, how do I love thee?
Let Excel, Pandas and Tableau count the ways.
Data journalism has too many parts and characteristics that I love for me to say that one in particular is my favorite. But one of the most powerful and satisfying parts of it is creating data out of information that's out there, and liberating data/information that sources tell me is locked up.
Whether it's a report, a tip from a source or an event, I'm always curious if data exists about it. More often than not, data does exist. But also more often than not, it's hidden or concealed, or buried within the dreaded PDF. It also may not be in typical "data" format yet.
One of my favorite moments as a data journalist comes when a source tells me, "I don't know," or "I know that data exists and we have it, I just don't know where it is or how to get to it." No problem, I say, that's what I'm here for.
In the past two months at Naples Daily News, I've figured out how to crack PDFs and mine website source code to get to data that otherwise might have taken days or weeks to get to me via calling sources. Calling a source and asking for the data still stands as the best method. I actually like it when my sources know what I'm up to; it makes me feel like I'm not going behind anyone's back.
Still, there's a little geeky programmer inside of me who feels an awesome victory when I get data and nobody knows I have it.
But what's more? When my sources become perplexed, unsure and not confident about their ability to get me the data, and I call them back the next day (or write an article/make a map or graphic the next day) saying, "yep, I got the data."
What are my secrets? How do I liberate the trapped data and get the stories?
C'mon; I've worked too hard to find these solutions and tricks to just give them away. If you want the data, and if you want to know, just start looking.
:)











