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#7 📊 All sorted
24 February 2023
Hi,
If you're here, we know that you love learning and expanding your skills as much as we do. Data Bites is the newsletter to get your fix of tools, techniques and inspiration.
Please feel free to contact us if you have a data-related question, need assistance, or want to suggest something. We are eager to hear from you.
Alastair & Tegan
alastair@mediahack.co.za
tegan.bedser@mediahack.co.za
In this week's issue👇
▶️ How to sort data
🌍 Mapsplaining
🙋🏽♀️ Your questions answered
⏰ Worth your time
🎁 Bonus: Glitch in the matrix
One of the key skills you need when working on any data project is the ability to sort information in a logical way. There are many ways to sort information but few are easier than using a spreadsheet.
In this short video, we show you how to sort information in a table in just a couple of clicks.
⏱️ 1 minute tip: How to sort data in a spreadsheet
Graphic: Tegan Bedser
Sam Ellis, a senior producer and graphics editor at Vox, has been doing some interesting work by combining data visualisations and animations with maps and news clips to create short, engaging explainers.
You can watch his videos, like “The world’s biggest wave, explained” and others here and be inspired to create your own.
📖 Read more on how he does it: Vox Atlas: Producer Sam Ellis on his distinctive map animations
Picture: OpenAI/ DALL·E
🙋🏽♀️ Your questions answered
We train a lot of people so we know how easy it is to get stuck when you’re working with data, especially if you’re just starting out.
In each issue of Data Bites we will answer some of the common questions we get asked. So, if you have a question, share it with us and we’ll try to answer it: training@mediahack.co.za
Question
I think I’m starting to get the hang of data sourcing... But it is really a skill that takes a bit of time to understand who stores what. How does Media Hack get its data and decide what to use?
Finding the data you need for a project can be hard. We can't tell you exactly where to find the information you need but here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Ask for data: A lot of organisations will share their data with you happily. If they won’t share, you could look at doing a PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) request if you think the data ought to be public. You can find more information on how to do a request with this guide by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
- Official statistics: A good place to explore available data is the national statistics bureau for your country. These official bodies exist to collect and maintain relevant datasets about a country and they usually have more up-to-date data than many other sources. For example, see the African directory resource below.
- Create your own dataset: If you really can’t find the data you need then consider collecting it yourself. Start a spreadsheet and add to it slowly. It’s time-consuming but as the dataset grows it could become increasingly valuable, especially if it is the only dataset of its kind.
Resource
🌍 🔢 Official statistical bureaus in Africa directory
If you’re looking for data, we’ve compiled a spreadsheet of the official statistical bureaus in Africa that may help you here.
📨 We help folks find data too. Can we help you? Send your questions to training@mediahack.co.za
If you're enjoying this you might like The Outlier and our other newsletters
The Outlier publishes regular data stories and visualisations. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest data viz.
💡 Did you know that we have other newsletters that cover a range of topics like sports, environment and local government? Now you do!
⏰ Take some time to explore these
Resource wrap
🗳️ Nigerian general elections
Nigerians will be casting their ballots tomorrow in the continent’s largest election. Here are four things we thought you may find interesting:
✳️ Fast facts: Three things to know about Nigeria’s presidential elections
✳️ Guide: How to make a Nigerian election map — a simple guide: Make your own map!
✳️ Tools: MyCandidate: If you’re based in Nigeria, you can use this tool to find out more about who to vote for. This tool was used for the recent Kenya and South African elections too.
✳️ Dashboards: For historic and upcoming election results take a look at Stears Elections and Dataphyte’s election coverage.
Tools
🎨 Mapping 101 webinar
Did you miss Flourish’s free webinar on the basics of interactive map visualisations last week? Catch-up on YouTube here.
🤖 Seven ways to use ChatGPT
Practical tips on how to make the most of this popular AI tool for your writing, as well as extra resources.
📹 Can ChatGPT do
data analysis? (Spoiler alert: No!)
The title pretty much sums it up but the video is worth watching for the discussion on the various ways a very simple dataset can be visualised (with and without AI). Watch the first three-and-a-half minutes for one of the simplest examples of the various ways a dataset can be visualised.
💘 My type on paper: The data behind Love Island’s success
Valentine’s Day may be over, but there’s a cool data viz piece analysing the data behind the longevity of couples on the reality show Love Island. Us, judge you? No ways! We’re closet trash TV junkies over here too. What’s great is that you can create your own version of what they’ve done by using Flourish (we see you, The Bachelor fans).
🔎 They built a corruption scandal tracker for Kenya. Here’s what it took
Want to know what it takes to make a big data project? We spoke with Odipo Dev’s Odanga Madung about how they - and Africa Uncensored - built (and are expanding) corruption tracker Wizileaks.
🥀 Awash with grief
Reuters graphics reporter Ally J Levine has published a cyanotype-inspired data visualisation piece on the scale of grief after the Covid-19 pandemic. She explains her process of making this emotionally delicate representation of loss in a Twitter thread here.
🗓️ Opportunities
Ongoing
👉 The Pudding has launched an opportunity for data viz cool kids to be able to book an appointment with their team to talk data. Office Hours gives you a chance to connect and chat, but you’ll need to be quick. They’re booked up a month in advance, so keep your eyes peeled for openings.
👉 Do you have an idea for a data journalism story or project, but need some help in getting it off the ground? Send a proposal to the Pulitzer Center for a data journalism grant. This opportunity is open to everyone, not only US citizens.
On the horizon
👉 25 March - Kenyan climate and data journalist Kehinde Ogunyale will host a free series of weekend classes on basic data visualisation in March. Find out how to participate in “Learning Data Visualization and infographics” here.
Last chance
👉 28 February (application due): The Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC) is offering over 150 fellowships to journalists in developing and transitioning countries for its bi-annual international conference. This year’s conference will be held in Sweden. Don’t miss this opportunity to rub shoulders and learn from investigative and data journalists! Apply here.
💗 What you liked in our last newsletter
The Journal of the Data Visualization Society, The Nightingale, sparked joy in our readers.
Picture: Nathan W. Pyle, Twitter
🎁 Bonus: Glitch in the matrix
At Media Hack Collective, we always tell our trainees that data is all around us. Literally.
Where, you ask? Think of the grocery receipts you get at the shops or how you track your sleep on your smartwatch. All you need to do is look - which is what Strange Planet’s Nathan W. Pyle has done with his photo album called IRL CHARTS.
📨 What data do you “see” daily? Share it with us at training@mediahack.co.za.
✋ And finally...
The Data Bites videos that you receive in this newsletter are all available on our YouTube channel. If you’ve missed any of them, catch up with the playlist here.
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