2 Stories on Developing a Nose for Data Stories and an Eye for Visual Reporting

Hone your storytelling skills with these two short Tapestry talks from two heavy hitters, Alan Smith of Financial Times and Enrico Bertini of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Alan Smith on Becoming a ‘Competent Critic’ of Visual Reporting

"If we want to achieve a culture change for growing and maturing visual journalism, we need to bring on those people that are not the visual journalists," says Alan Smith, data visualization editor of Financial Times.

Smith wants to turn all journalists into "competent critics—people who are capable of deconstructing the role of chance, spotting the potential for using visual methods in reporting." To do so, Alan is following the lead of those makeover shows you see on TV.



Here are some highlights as noted by attendees on Twitter.







Enrico Bertini on Finding the Story in the Big and Complex Data Set

"How do we help people generate great stories by looking at big and complex data sets? That’s a question that I find really, really important and intriguing," says Enrico Bertini, assistant professor of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

To help explain the process, Enrico shares how NYU InfoVis Lab’s collaborated with ProPublica on the analysis of millions of medical reviews from Yelp.



Here are a few snippets from the conversation on the Twitterverse:




Check out the rest of the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #TapestryConf.