The name’s Code. Introducing code. A basic look at using python to explore text using the lyrics from Bond Themes.
journalism Journalism.cards — Ideation for journalism. Journalism.cards is an ideation app aimed at encouraging creative thinking in journalists and journalism students
chrome Clean screenshots from Google Street View Getting better screenshots from Google Street view was the excuse I needed to try developing a Chrome Extension
news News, ritual and inflatable unicorns. A few months ago I found myself on the the Isle of Man for my brother’s stag do. The stag party had ended up in the seaside town of Port Erin and had barrelled into a pub with my brother in tow, dressed
python A quick look at UK petitions data in Python More gentle exploration of python. This time some lines of code for grabbing Parliament petition data.
hyperlocal Local news in a cashless society Sat in a nice coffee shop, finding an accessing local news is, like forgetting my wallet, a minor inconvenience solved with a tap of my phone. For many that's not the case...
coding Creating gentle introductions to coding for journalists... A brief look at how I'm trying to find gentle ways to introduce coding to students
Datashare and Workbench: Experimenting Data journalism apps. I got a bit of time to play around with two new data journalism tools that have been on my radar. They offer some interesting perspectives on data journalism
Defining the virtual journalist Virtual journalism is often interested in how we take our ideas of journalism into the digital space. But what if there are already journalists there?
Ethics Journalism ethics Vs. Research ethics How do you balance the ethical demands of university research with the practical and professional demands of teaching journalism?
journalism Novice and 'deep dive' journalism books Which journalism books would you pair up for a novice reader and a 'deep-diver'?
journalism Behind Local News and the hyperlocal challenge. The Behind local news conference was a chance to see the local news industry put its best foot forward. But also think about where community media fit.
data journalism Sentence reviews & Intelligent pivots: Google sheets gets an update The recent update to Google sheets adds intelligent pivot tables and makes asking some basic questions of the data almost too easy...
blogging Putting a Markdown In an attempt to rediscover blogging I've moved from Wordpress to Ghost and in the process I've rediscovered the world of Markdown.
maps QGIS and the joy of maps at the FT A fantastic inside look at how the FT design maps reminded me why QGIS might be worth a look if you're into mapping your data.
Experiments Beep. Boop. That’s the sound of my commute How an impulse buy and a bit of playing around with Python led to an ‘almost’ musical experience of my daily commute.
coding The GIANT CAP approach to coding for journalists. There are lots of approaches to coding and software development. Methodologies like Agile, Scrum and Lean are even becoming the norm in newsrooms. But I have a suggestion for a quick and easy methodology for journalist’s getting to grips with coding
Presentations Grounding journalism education This is a version of a Keynote speech I gave at the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia conference #JERAA17 in December 2017
data journalism Two fundamentals that define good data journalism Defining data journalism is a hostage to fortune but as I start teaching a data journalism module I’ve boiled it down to two things visible methodology and data.
data journalism Is Data Journalism any more open? What does the shortlist of the open data category of the Data journalism awards tell us about data journalism’s approach to open data.
data journalism Local votes for hyperlocal #DDJ There’s a good deal of interest in my feeds in a BBC report showing how local voting figures shed new light on EU referendum.
data journalism Why open data needs to be "Citizen literate" A “data literate” citizen isn’t someone who knows how to handle a spreadsheet — it’s someone who inherently understands the value of data in decision making.
hyperlocal The BBC, Local democracy, hyperlocal and journalism. I spent the afternoon in Birmingham at the BBC finding out more about their Local Democracy Reporters scheme. It’s a project I’ve been keeping an eye on for a number of reasons. The promise of 150 new jobs in journalism, especially ones
video Making Instagram video with Powerpoint Audio slideshows are something I’ve included in my practical teaching for a little while. The combination of images and well recorded audio is, for me, a compelling form of content and it can be an easy video win for non-broadcast shops.
Experiments Mapping Drone near misses in Google Earth* My colleague Andrew Heaton from the Civic Drone Centre set me off on a little adventure with mapping tools when he showed me a spreadsheet of airprox reports involving drones.