Three days of panels and workshops with some of the top investigative journalists and trainers in the world produced an incredible amount of information useful for digging up—and visualizing—powerful stories. In case you missed anything, GIJN compiled presentations from last week’s Uncovering Asia 2016 conference in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Spreadsheets
Even with all the fancy data tools out there, trainers agree that a good place to start is Excel. The program generates spreadsheets useful for structuring and analyzing data. Check out OpenNews fellow Sandhya Kambhampati’s recommendations to start organizing your own data here.
Data Scraping
Dealing with a large amount of online data that hasn’t been formatted into a spreadsheet? Save yourself hours of painstaking work with this collection of free and easy tools for data scraping, courtesy of Danish journalist Nils Mulvad.
Messy Data
Data can be messy, but don’t despair. OpenRefine is an open source tool that can clean, organize, and improve your datasets. Check out Nils Mulvad’s presentation on how to do it here.
Database Managers
Ready to work with large datasets? Need faster, more complex analysis? Check out Vox developer Kavya Sukumar‘s presentation on database managers.
Online Research
There is a lot of information online, but without proper verification it’s easy to be led astray. Bulletproof your online reporting with smart research tools, including reverse image search, geolocation verification, social media checks, and more with Reuters reporter Irene Liu‘s presentation.
Mapping
Spatial analysis can help you recognize the story buried within your data, and mapping can be used to effectively illustrate data. New York Times reporter Andy Lehren uses ArcGIS for spatial analysis and mapping. Check out his step-by-step presentation on using the Esri software, from basics to more advanced features.
Visualization
You’d like to illustrate your data with attractive graphic design but don’t have a coder or programmer on your reporting team. Check out a list of easy-to-use tools compiled by MoneyControl data and social media editor Sanjit Oberai here.
Mago Torres is GIJN Research Director.
