Profile of the Data Journalist: The Daily Visualizer

Matt Stiles oversees data journalism on NPR's State Impact project.

Around the globe, the bond between data and journalism is growing stronger. In an age of big data, the growing importance of data journalism lies in the ability of its practitioners to provide context, clarity and, perhaps most important, find truth in the expanding amount of digital content in the world. In that context, data journalism has profound importance for society.

To learn more about the people who are doing this work and, in some cases, building the newsroom stack for the 21st century, I conducted a series of email interviews during the 2012 NICAR Conference.

Matt Stiles (@Stiles) , a data journalist based in Washington, D.C., maintains a popular Daily Visualization blog. Our interview follows.

Where do you work now? What is a day in your life like?

I work at NPR, where I oversee data journalism on the State Impact project, a local-national partnership between us and member stations. My typical day always begins with a morning “scrum” meeting among the D.C. team as part of our agile development process. I spend time acquiring and analyzing data throughout each data, and I typically work directly with reporters, training them on software and data visualization techniques. I also spend time planning news apps and interactives, a process that requires close consultation with reporters, designers and developers.

How did you get started in data journalism? Did you get any special degrees or certificates?

No special training or certificates, though I did attend three NICAR boot camps (databases, mapping, statistics) over the years.

Did you have any mentors? Who? What were the most important resources they shared with you?

I have several mentors, both on the reporting side and the data side. For data, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help of two people: Chase Davis and Jennifer LaFleur. Jen got me interested early, and has helped me with formal and informal training over the years. Chase helped me with day-to-day questions when we worked together at the Houston Chronicle.

What does your personal data journalism “stack” look like? What tools could you not live without?

I have a MacBook that runs Windows 7. I have the basic CAR suite (Excel/Access, ArcGIS, SPSS, etc.) but also plenty of open-source tools, such as R for visualization or MySQL/Postgres for databases. I use Coda and Text Mate for coding. I use BBEdit and Python for text manipulation. I also couldn’t live without Photoshop and Illustrator for cleaning up graphics.

What data journalism project are you the most proud of working on or creating?

I’m most proud of the online data library I created (and others have since expanded) at The Texas Tribune, but we’re building some sweet apps at NPR. That’s only going to expand now that we’ve created a national news apps team, which I’m joining soon.

Where do you turn to keep your skills updated or learn new things?

I read blogs, subscribe to email lists and attend lots of conferences for inspiration. There’s no silver bullet. If you love this stuff, you’ll keep up.

Why are data journalism and “news apps” important, in the context of the contemporary digital environment for information?

More and more information is coming at us every day. The deluge is so vast. Data journalism at its core is important because it’s about facts, not anecdotes.

Apps are important because Americans are already savvy data consumers, even if they don’t know it. We must get them thinking — or, even better, not thinking — about news consumption in the same way they think about syncing their iPads or booking flights on Priceline or purchasing items on eBay. These are all “apps” that are familiar to many people. Interactive news should be, too.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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