Posts By Fred Vallance-Jones

New journalists find communities engaged with COVID-19 news, but important stories unrelated to pandemic going uncovered

The 2013 Joseph Howe Symposium begins Friday, Oct. 25 and continues all day Oct. 26 at the University of King's College in Halifax. Top investigative journalists from across North America will discuss why in-depth reporting still matters in an era of shrinking newsrooms and 140-character tweets.

Continue Reading 2013 Joseph Howe Symposium features top investigative journalists

The federal government is poised to roll out an upgraded version of its open data site. It's one of a growing number of open data sites, and journalists willing to take the time to dig into these storehouses will find a great deal of material to help find and report stories, and to build visualizations that can drive traffic on news websites. The site, first introduced in 2011, will be significantly improved, with better search abilities and more datasets.

 

Continue Reading Attention journalists: Federal government makes data site more searchable

When the CBC's Fifth Estate came calling for information on Canada's hospitals, the provinces responded with a collective "no."  Data journalism editor Fred Vallance-Jones says it happens all too often.

Continue Reading Commentary: Provinces wrong in colluding to deny CBC information requests

New legislation in Newfoundland vastly expands the ways the government can say no to freedom-of-information requests. J-source contributing editor and access expert Fred Vallance-Jones argues the bill goes too far.

Continue Reading A big step backward for openness in Newfoundland

The University of King's College Summer School in Data Journalism returns for its fifth year from June 25 to 29, and there is still limited space available.

 

Continue Reading King’s Data School still has limited room available

In the second of our continuing series of video tutorials on using data journalism tools, Fred Vallance-Jones shows you how to calculate percentages in a Google Docs spreadsheet.

Continue Reading Calculating a percentage in a Google spreadsheet

In the first of a series of video tutorials on data journalism tools, J-Source's Computer Assisted Reporting editor Fred Vallance-Jones goes over how to use a Google spreadsheet to do some basic sorting and summing of information from the Internet.

Continue Reading Data journalism basics with Google spreadsheets

Data journalism is changing, and so is this space. We're going to make it less a place for insiders and more a place where all journalists and journalism students can learn how to find and use data. We're going to talk a lot about free cloud-based tools that you can use to find stories, create stunning visualizations, and impress your bosses (or potential bosses!). We'll still bring you stories of new developments in the field, but every second Friday, we'll bring you what were calling, for lack of a better term, "data journalism for beginners."

Continue Reading This space is changing

Statistics Canada is going to make more of its data available to the public without charge, a move that has been years in the making.

Continue Reading Statscan to make yet more data available at no cost