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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.