“We used Tableau because we had no programmer” says @PauGuisado at #dhplus .This sentence is becoming a #ddj mantra.

— daniele grasso (@danielegrasso) May 9, 2014

What is Tableau?

Tableau Public is free software which allows you to visualize data in many ways and create all kinds of maps, charts and graphs (and there are pay versions of Tableau too). A great function of Tableau is the ability to put multiple data sets together into a so-called “Dashboard”, which among other things, allows the filtering of results. This is one of the software’s strengths because it lets you analyze the data in more detail. For example, in the visualization I produced below of net energy imports, you can click on a particular year and a particular region to see how energy use is changing.

How can journalists use Tableau?

Unlike several other web-based services, you need to download and install the software onto your computer (only available for Windows). You then open up your data and drag and drop to create different types of charts or maps. Then you can upload the results publicly to the web. You can then embed the visualizations in your own website or easily share it via social media.

Is Tableau easy to learn?

In short, yes. But I recommend that you first take a look at this helpful introductory video:

By following the steps in the video, it should be quite straightforward to start creating basic visualizations. But if you want to do more complicated work, you’ll probably have to take some additional time to play around and explore all the software’s features. It took me a few hours to create the visualization shown above, but this also included time spent cleaning up and arranging the World Bank data in Excel (if you would like to have a go at doing this on your own, look at my spreadsheet on Google Drive).

Advantages

Apart from the introductory video above, many other great tutorial videos are available. Some data journalists advise you to visualize your data in as many ways as possible so you don’t miss any patterns. This is simple with Tableau – once you have uploaded your data, it suggests appropriate visualizations methods. The filters are easy to add and you can configure them so that they are interactive. Everything is highly customizable: you can change colors, alter fonts and adjust text sizes just as needed. All this is done offline. Once you’ve installed Tableau you can start working on your computer. The internet is only required when you save your project to the web.

Disadvantages

Tableau is however not as intuitively hands-on as Datawrapper. I tried to start using Tableau straight after installing the program, but quickly realized that I’ll have to watch some how-to-videos. Another con is that once you’ve uploaded your data set, you cannot refine it within the program. You would have to change it within the spreadsheet itself and then upload it again. Though it is great to have many ways to customize your visualization, it is not always that easy to do. I found it time consuming to set the right color steps for my map or to choose the boundaries of the scale within a sheet, for example. Another annoyance was that sometimes when I dragged and dropped elements to the Dashboard, they didn’t drop where I wanted them to and I had to spend time reorganizing the elements. It means you better sit back for a moment to think of what you want your final structure to look like to avoid frustration (get some tips on this here).

Upshot

All these cons would not keep me from using Tableau. It is an interesting tool with a great variety of options. For simple graphics I would still use the Datawrapper. But for more sophisticated visualizations, I would go for Tableau – simply because then you can explore your data in more ways and put all your graphics together neatly in order to tell a multifaceted story.

For some more examples of what Tableau Public can do, take a look here.

Written by guest author, Gianna Grün.

Gianna Grün is a science journalist with a penchant for data. She works for Global Ideas, Deutsche Welle’s multimedia magazine on biodiversity and climate protection. She also has her own blog, where – among other things – she writes about what’s going on in the data world and takes data tools for a test drive (in English and in German). And in case you prefer to read German, here’s her German post on Tableau.

Whether you're a working journalist, trainer or j-student, here is a selection of resources useful for radio journalism and producing audio materials.

Thanks to Twitterfolk @aventures, @richardgperry for helpful suggestions.

1. DW-AKADEMIE Manual for Radio Journalists

DW-AKADEMIE's Manual for Radio Journalists covers everything from writing radio news through to interview technique and producing mini-features. It offers plenty of examples, tips and analysis of radio formats – a useful book for any radio newsroom.

The manual is available from the DW-AKADEMIE website as an electronic download in pdf format – scroll down to the bottom of the page.

2. Knight Digital Media Centre

The Knight Digital Media Centre website is packed with multimedia training resources.

The kdmc audio tutorials focus mainly on technical audio production. For example, step by step guides for using editing software such as audacity and Pro-Tools or how to use an audio flash recorder.

3. MediaStorm

This leading New York based multimedia production company has produced a great practical guide for gathering audio – useful for multimedia journalists or photographers taking their first steps with recording audio to produce audio slideshows.

4. Journalists' Toolkit

Mindy McAdams has shared many excellent tutorials through her Teaching Online Journalism blog. The Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency is a must read.

Mindy's companion blog Journalists' Toolkit now offers a page devoted to audio resources.

It also includes a screencast tutorial for audacity.

5. Transom

The tools pages of Transom has reviews of new audio equipment and software useful for radio production.

There is also a very handy post on recording telephone calls for broadcast.

6. Skype for interviews

Perhaps as a partner to Transom's post on recording telephone interviews, The Conversation Network has produced a slide presentation on how to use Skype for radio interviews – downloadable from slideshare.

7. BBC

Given that it is such a large media organisation you'd expect the BBC to have extensive web-based training resources for all sorts of broadcast and online skills. The good news is yes it does, the not so good news is users from outside the UK might find certain materials such as video tutorials are unable to be played. Here's a quick overview:

BBC Academy

This is an older site and all the content is open. Although some of the flash based tutorials, such as this one on microphones might look a little bit dated, the information is absolutely spot on and very useful as an introduction to radio production.

BBC College of Production

This website looks like it is open beyond UK shores, but non-UK users are likely to find that access to video tutorials is blocked. Nonetheless it looks like it will evolve into a very good training website and lets hope the Beeb opens it up for everyone soon.

BBC College of Journalism

This is an excellent resource for journalists but as with the College of Production, non-UK users will need to explore the CoJo website to see what content is open. Don't let that frustrate you. There are a number videos (and yes some appear to be open to non-UK users) that take you into newsrooms, or behind the scenes in studios, to give you an insight into how BBC journalists go about their work. If you're unable to watch the video there is often an accompanying transcript. The tips from working journalists are also very useful. New material appears regularly and blog posts in the Discussion section from BBC editors and trainers make it well worth subscribing to the CoJo RSS newsfeed.

(A little disclaimer, your blog editor does appear in a CoJo video on citizen journalism.)

8. Media Helping Media

Media Helping Media is an excellent website providing training resources for journalists and journalism trainers.

For starters, check out their 20 tips for TV and Radio Packages and 10 Tips for Producing Radio Bulletins.

9. UNESCO – Open Training Platform

UNESCO offers a number of radio management, editorial and training handbooks, primarily aimed at community radio. Some of these handbooks are also available in several languages.

Tracking down publications on the main UNESCO website is a little difficult, but the Open Training Platform is more user friendly.

10. Poynter's News University

The Poynter Institute's NewsU is a leading e-learning platform offering "webinars" and online courses for journalists. Many are free and self-guided.

Sign up and try this Writing for the Ear course.

We'll keep updating this post as we find useful materials. If you spot anything in your web wanderings on radio journalism and audio production training please let us know.
 

Author: Guy Degen

Is there a proper definition of journalism in the Lao language? Since DW-AKADEMIE’s first workshop on journalism at the National University of Laos in Vientiane, there is. It was conceived by 15 staff teachers of the Department of Mass Communication at the Faculty of Letters – after long discussions revolving around somewhat abstract terms like “media”, “the public”, “society” and “information”. 

Lao is not a language that lends itself to describing abstract ideas. Yet the 15 teachers feel it was worth the effort to lay a foundation they now can build upon. They are learning the mindset, tools and skills that in combination make a journalist. The reasoning behind this is that they are the ones training a new generation of Lao students who are eager to take on the profession.

Redefining public and professional understanding of journalism

Laos is opening up its state-controlled media market. The new economic era, started in the late 1980’s, only recently reached the media.

Today, more and more print publications and privately funded but state-controlled television and radio channels are starting up.

In this era of transition there is a dire need for new concepts. This involves exploring the very definition of journalism and the role of journalists.

Previously, a journalist served the government, “explaining the party’s policy to the people”. This is a concept that a growing number of people reject by simply switching off. The ruling People’s Revolutionary Party now officially wants to swap this premise for one that includes two-way communication between politicians and the people.

Uniting practice and theory

Still, the old mental models are deeply rooted – and so discussions about changing them are lively.

The idea is for the university to become the focal point for dialogue about the concept of journalism in the making of a new Laos.

Until then, practical training is interwoven with more theoretical exploration. “Types of questions and how to use them” was the main focus of a workshop in March. 

The trainees are trainers themselves, so DW-AKADEMIE trainers put emphasis on creating a learning situation that conveys not only knowledge but also methods.

Here’s one training method that was both fun and effective. It’s called “Human Bingo” and is quite helpful for training the mechanics of open and closed questions:

Each participant tells the trainer something special about himself that the other participants don’t know or expect. It can be a talent, dream, wishes, plans. The trainer collects the statements individually (and hidden from the rest of the group), writes them down on individual cards that are then redistributed. Each participant gets one card and has to find out which statements belong to whom. Their first questions have to be general and open questions. If the interviewer thinks that the statement he’s holding in his hands fits the interviewee, he can ask directly about his assumption. But he should choose carefully when to guess because this is only allowed twice per person.

Try it yourself – it also works well as a warm up for all kind of group activities.

Contributed and photographed by Daniel Hirschler and Michael Karhausen