How Open Source Experts Identified the US Capitol Rioters

Open source investigation teams around the world sprang into action as they watched a pro-Trump mob violently storm the US Capitol on January 6. A senior investigator with Bellingcat told GIJN how his team was able to scrape and preserve hundreds of social media videos from the attack, and shared ten tips on how any reporter can grab visual evidence during breaking news events.

Document of the Day: In Defense of Data Scraping

In a filing to the Supreme Court in the United States, a raft of media organizations including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Associated Press, The Boston Globe, BuzzFeed, The Center for Investigative Reporting, The Daily Beast, Dow Jones, VICE ,and The Washington Post, have argued that the interpretation of the country’s Computer Fraud and Abuse Act needs to be narrowed to avoid “serious constitutional concerns.” In the document, which can be read in full here, the organizations argue that an interpretation of the law by the court of appeals “chills ordinary journalistic activity protected by the First Amendment.”

Data Journalism Top 10: Chocolate Box Audit, Vaccine Lineup, COVID-19 Antigen Testing, Scraping Is Not a Crime

As the United Kingdom begins its rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccine this week, the world is watching with bated breath. Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from November 30 to December 6 found Bloomberg tracking the development of nine of the most promising vaccines around the world, The New York Times creating an interactive for Americans to establish where they are in the line before they can get vaccinated, and Spain’s El Pais examining the advantages of using antigen testing for COVID-19 infections. Meanwhile, ITV News’ Stephen Hull did a fun data analysis of the assorted chocolates in a Quality Street tin.

This Week’s Top 10 in Data Journalism

What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from March 19 to 25 finds a sobering study on income inequality between black and white males visualized by @nytimes, a cool time-lapse graphic of snow fall in the United States by @PostGraphics and peak baby-making seasons by country by @VismeApp and @ddjournalism.

GIJN’s Data Journalism Top 10: German Heat, Austrian Arms, Quebec School Fees and Salvadoran Kidney Disease

What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept 3 to 9 finds @FiveThirtyEight attacked by the green-eyed monster with their equivalent of Bloomberg’s “Jealousy List,” @daswasfehlt breaks down Austria’s export of arms, @GoogleAI announces the beta launch of Google Datasets Search, and @SZ documents how climate change is wreaking havoc on temperatures in Germany but boosting ice-cream sales.

GIJN’s Data Journalism Top 10: Useful Chatbots, Less-Is-More Tables and Data Mapping Billions of Birds

What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Sept 17 to 23 finds numerous data to map, from @NatGeo’s migration of billions of birds to @morgenpost’s Berlin schools and @A24COM’s internet access in Argentina. There’s also @dhanalytics’ tips on improving data tables and @mcrosasb on two useful chatbots.

GIJN’s Data Journalism Top 10: New York’s Luxury Homes, Climate Dangers, Inspiring Data Viz

What’s the global data journalism community tweeting about this week? Our NodeXL #ddj mapping from Oct 8 to 14 finds 25 inspirational data visualizations collated by @VismeApp, a @nytimes op-ed by climate scientists warning of the future dangers of heat and humidity combined, @FT maps of New York’s glut of luxury residences and @ejcnet with veteran data journalists on web scraping.