Data journalism’s secrets, no more math-bashing, and a new way to create visualizations.

The ProPublica Nerd Blog this week features an article by Hassel Fallas, a data journalist at  La Nación in Costa Rica. Fallas was a 2013 Fellow at the International Center for Journalists, where she studied up on Data-Driven Journalism’s Secrets. Spoiler alert: The secret is…don’t keep secrets.

Over at the data-driven journalism blog, A Fundamental Way Data Repositories Must Change includes some fascinating examples of how data has been historically manipulated in Romania and Rwanda, including some examples from the present day.

Google Chrome’s new extension, Knoema, provides access to more than 500 data repositories and provides visualization tools for use with those databases. Knoema’s CTO says the platform can be used solely as a data source, but more importantly, it can be used as a tool for journalists to create embeddable visualisations. Pretty cool.

Everyone knows that journalists hate math. I know I do. But if if we want to save journalism, we have to stop the math bashing, according to an AP/Google panel at the Online News Association’s annual conference.

And finally, take a listen to this USC Annenberg podcast featuring Len de Groot, the director of data visualization at the Los Angeles Times, discussing how media outlets are entering new territory with visual storytelling.

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