Related Guides
Data Journalism in Action
- Zhang, Christine. "How We Found New Patterns in LA’s Homeless Arrest Data." Source, 2018."Behind the scenes look" at how data was "interviewed" for LA Times story on homeless population arrests
- GitHub homeless-arrests-analysisData and methodology used to create the data visualization in the LA Times article
Digital Hygiene
Working with Spreadsheets
Data assignment: videos, written tutorial
- Industry Employment, 2001-2016Slightly cleaned dataset from The Data Center
- City of New Orleans Open DataOpen raw data ranging from parade routes to trash collection to NOPD use of force incidents. Also includes apps, maps, visualizations, and benchmarks have been built on City data.
- Free Investigative Journalism ToolsFree software and open-source tools for journalists, journalistic research, discovery, investigative reporting, privacy, data visualization, data driven journalism and datajournalism.
- WTFcsvWTFcsv gives you a quick overview of what is in your .csv (“comma-separated values”) file. It helps you quickly move to asking your spreadsheet some questions that can help you find stories to tell.
- How to "interview" a big pile of dataExcel tutorial from NPR on finding, questioning, cleaning, and manipulating data.
Questions to ask about your data
Who created this dataset?
Who is responsible for maintaining it?
What point in time or time-range does it apply to?
How was the data collected?
How was the data processed after being collected?
Mapping
Mapping assignment: videos, written tutorial
- New Orleans Festivals and Markets dataMake a copy of this dataset, originally from the New Orleans Open Data portal and edit in Google Drive
- Neighborhood Statistical AreasDownload this dataset as a KML file to show New Orleans census tracts
- StoryMap.JSAnother option for creating maps, StoryMap.JS allows you to tell stories and embed other media along with your map. An example of a StoryMap using the New Orleans Festivals and Markets data is available here.
- ArcGISArcGIS provides the underlying system for the maps on the City of New Orleans GIS page; you can customize the maps found on the City of New Orleans database, or signup for a free account at https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html
Technology for Checkout in the Learning Commons
Below is a selection of the technology that is available for checkout at the Learning Commons Desk or from Media Services on the first floor of the library.
- Digital cameras
- Digital video cameras
- Digital voice recorders
- Ethernet cords
- FireWires
- Headphones
- Headsets
- Mac adapters
- Microphones
- Laptops (Dell, Dell mini, Eee PC, Mac)
- Laptop locks
- Tripods
- Webcams
Software and Hardware in the Library
Four iMacs and four PC computers are located in front of Media Services on the first floor of the library. They have flatbed scanners for scanning documents and images. Materials on how to use the scanners are located at the computers. The staff in Media Services can also assist you with these computers. Follow the link below for a list of software on the Digital Media Workstations.
- Digital Media WorkstationsFour iMacs and four PC computers are located in front of Media Services on the first floor of the library. They have flatbed scanners for scanning documents and images. Materials on how to use the scanners are located at the computers. The staff in Media Services can also assist you with these computers.
Mac computers are located in the back of the first floor of the library.
- Adobe CS3: Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Flash, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop
- DVD Studio Pro
- FileZilla
- Final Cut Pro 7
- GarageBand
- iMovie
- iPhoto
- iTunes
- iWeb
- Microsoft Office: Excel, PowerPoint, Word
- Motion
- Photo Booth
