#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – data and visualisation blogs

Flowingdata.com has compiled an updated list of blogs on data and visualisation which may be of use to data journalists.

The list includes a section on journalism-related blogs, including chartsnthings, “a personal blog of data sketches from the New York Times graphics department”.

See full list.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving self-editing skills

On the Independent Journalists blog, part of the Society of Professional Journalists blog network, sports content editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch David Sheets outlines some of his tips for better self-editing.

Tips include ensuring your work has “reason and focus”, consider “brevity when writing briefly” and to make use of active verbs which he says “can stand alone and bear their own weight”.

See the full post here.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – dive into the data journalism handbook

Any journalist interested in data journalism and improving their skills in this area should take a look at the new data journalism handbook, published this weekend. The handbook started as a draft guide pulled together in just 48 hours at last year’s Mozilla Festival in London.

Contributors to the guide include data journalism experts from outlets including the Guardian, Wired.co.uk, the BBC, the Open Knowledge Foundation and the New York Times. The guide includes advice on finding and using data, with plenty of case studies along the way.

The handbook also states that it “can be freely copied, redistributed and reused under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license”.

Contributors to the Data Journalism Handbook retain copyright over their respective contributions, and have kindly agreed to release them under the terms of this license

Journalism.co.uk runs training courses in data journalism. There are two levels: introduction to data journalism, being held on 9 or 28 May, and intermediate data journalism, which will run on 29 May. Both are being run by Kevin Anderson.

Those looking to expand their skills quickly can book on one of the introduction to data journalism courses and the intermediate course. If you book both options the cost is at the reduced rate. 

This is the last time we will be offering this course led by Kevin Anderson due to his commitments – so take advantage of the final opportunity to learn from this former BBC and Guardian journalist.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – 30 specialist search engines

The Next Web has compiled a list of 30 specialist search engines.

Journalists may find TinEye and PicSearch particularly helpful when verifying photos from social media, Greplin handy to search their own accounts, and should take a look at some of the blog and social media search options.

The list is well worth reading and bookmarking. I would add Topsy to the list of search engines journalists should know about.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – practise liveblogging at home

For any aspiring journalist, being able to tell an editor you have liveblogging experience is a definite bonus.

Tools such as Cover It Live mean even if you aren’t working for a media organization, you can practise from the comfort of your own home.

Just pick an event which allows for constant different updates (a conference, debate or for those with a political bent Prime Minister’s Question Time is perfect) and get going.

Practice allows you to get a feel for what makes a good live blog, which is usually a mixture of direct and reported speech, some colour commentary and the ability to use links and other content to put the event into a wider context.

For  expert tips on what makes a successful live blog, see Paul Bradshaw’s tips on what to report and Ed Walker’s thoughts on things to include in your coverage.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – lessons from the ISOJ conference

The Nieman Journalism Lab has published an article summarising key lessons from the International Symposium on Online Journalism, which took place in Austin, Texas on Friday and Saturday (20-21 April).

The takeaways from the journalism conference were “human-assisted reporting, mass intelligence, and mobile mobile mobile”.

It is worth reading the lessons from ISOJ.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to measure the impact of Google+

Daniel Waisberg, founder and editor of Online Behavior, has written a guide to Google+ analytics.

He states that he will be updating the article as Google releases new features.

The detailed guide is at this link.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – build your news brand on Foursquare

Earlier this month Foursquare published a blog post advising users of the location check-in network to follow various (US) newspapers in order to get restaurant reviews, recommendations and “local tidbits”.

It is worth checking out what “local papers like Metro Focus in the tri-state area, the Baltimore Sun, the Austin American Statesman, and the New York Daily News” are doing to inspire ideas for using Foursquare as a news organisation.

Foursquare’s blog post is at this link.

For more ideas listen to this podcast from September on how journalists and publishers can best use Foursquare.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – getting started in data journalism

On his Online Journalism Blog Paul Bradshaw outlines the key steps that those keen to enter the data journalism field will need to get to grips with. These range from collecting together sources of data relevant to your patch, as well as learning the skills required to get the data, clean it up and find the story within.

Here is a link to his detailed guide, complete with advice from other experts also.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – creating an online portfolio

Looking to set up an online portfolio? Mashable has a post by Heather Huhman which details five different platforms you could use to upload an online portfolio: WorkSimple, Behance, Carbonmade, Pinterest and Dribble.

If you’re also after some inspiration for your portfolio then take a look at a collection we have previously pulled together here, offering five examples of portfolios other journalists have created, as well as their top tips for others.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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