MediaShift

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

ProPublica's ChangeTracker Lets You Watch Government's Moves

by Megan Taylor

The Obama administration has already made strides toward greater transparency and better use of technology in government, but has promised even more. It's important to make sure that President Obama and his people act on those promises. One way to do that is to watch the government's footsteps online. ChangeTracker makes this possible, and not just for government sites -- it can be used to track changes on any website.

• April 7, 2009
• No comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

Represent Helps New Yorkers Track Their Politicos

by Megan Taylor

The New York Times' Represent is a data aggregator and sorter that points to information about elected representatives in New York City. If New Yorkers enter an address, they can see their political districts (Congressional, Assembly, Senate and City Council) and representatives. Represent will also track what their representatives have been doing through a recent activity feed from NYT articles and congressional votes.

• March 18, 2009
• 2 comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

Laid-Off Arizona Journalists Start Online-Only Publications

by Megan Taylor

What It Is The Arizona Guardian and Heat City are two examples of web-only news sites started by recently unemployed journalists. The Arizona Guardian is run by four Phoenix-based journalists who were recently laid off from the East Valley Tribune. The Guardian covers legislative issues and other aspects of the state capitol. Heat City is run by Nick Martin,...

• February 24, 2009
• 7 comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

Washington Post's 'Web Ninjas' Build Map-Timeline Combo

by Megan Taylor

TimeSpace, a Washington Post project, is a coverage mapping framework that displays content from multiple sources in space (via a map) and time (via a timeline). A display map, covering anything from a single city block to the world, is tagged to show viewers where news is being covered. Viewers can also view the news map as it appeared at different points over the preceding hours or days, giving them a picture of how the news events unfolded over time.

• February 16, 2009
• 2 comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

BronxRhymes Uses Locality, Maps to Track History of Hip-Hop

by Megan Taylor

BronxRhymes is an attempt to raise awareness of the history of hip-hop in the Bronx, the northwestern borough of New York City where the musical style is thought to have originated. The history of hip-hop is illustrated through rhymes and plotted on an online map.

• February 4, 2009
• No comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

ProPublica Puts Spotlight on Tracking TARP Money

by Megan Taylor

ProPublica's Show Me the TARP Money is a simple map and chart reflecting the recipients of money provided through TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), a federal program that authorizes the U.S. government to buy assets from struggling financial institutions in an effort to remedy the subprime mortgage crisis. The site shows institutions that have been approved for assistance and keeps a running total of the number of institutions, the amount committed, and the amount invested so far. There is an RSS feed and a widget for the site as well.

• January 30, 2009
• No comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

Innovation in Inauguration Coverage

by Megan Taylor

This week, instead of focusing on one innovative journalism project, I'd like to highlight some of the many projects that came up covering Barack Obama's inauguration. The first question I asked myself as I started collecting links was, "Well, this is a cool way to cover the event, but is it journalism? For example, I saw a lot of "official"...

• January 20, 2009
• 4 comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

California Schools Guide: Database of Scores With News Hook

by Megan Taylor

California Schools Guide from the Los Angeles Times is a comprehensive data-based guide to private, public and charter schools in California. The guide includes test scores, enrollment, student-teacher ratios, demographics, teacher experience and reader comments. Schools can be searched by county, city or name, and ranked by each indicator.

• January 12, 2009
• 1 comment

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

Big Pictures Help Tell Big Stories at Boston.com

by Megan Taylor

The Big Picture is a large-format photo-blog operated by the Boston Globe. Each entry focuses on one topic and presents around 30 images related to that topic: Recent posts have covered the 2008 Greek riots, the Hajj and Eid al-Adha, and scenes from Guantanamo Bay. The photos are collected from wire services and presented with captions at 990 pixels wide.

• December 19, 2008
• 5 comments

MediaShift Innovation Spotlight

Neighborhood Watch Puts Florida Home Sales on the Map

by Megan Taylor

St. Petersburg Times' Neighborhood Watch is a database application that tracks weekly house sales in Pinellas and Pasco counties, Florida. Readers can search for home sales by county, ZIP code or neighborhood. Median price and sale count trends are tracked and graphed at one year, six month, three month, and one month intervals. On a neighborhood level, the site plots geographical data on Google Maps and suggests listings to prospective buyers by ZIP code.

• December 3, 2008
• 1 comment