According to Bing Map’s blog post, the new tool called, GeoFlow allows user the ability to display geocoded Excel data in 3D space on a Bing map making for interesting stacked bar visualizations on an interactive map.

 “’Geoflow’ emphasizes visual storytelling through collaborative features that show changes in data over time with beautiful screenshots and cinematic, guided video tours.” ~Bing Blog

 

This seems like a simple tool, like using Google Fusion Tables but with the geo-coding aspect that can display up to a million rows of data. While the demo looks good, we are looking forward to seing how easy it is to use.

Check it out and let us know if you think it will be useful.

Developer & Programmer Positions

News Developer
PBS Newshour
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/jobs/webdev.html

Senior Front End Developer
The Washington Post
http://careers.washingtonpost.com/?q=content/senior-front-end-developer

Mobile Developer
The Washignton Post
http://careers.washingtonpost.com/?q=content/mobile-developer-front-end

iOS Developer
The New York Times
https://jobs.github.com/positions/5572a4f4-e15c-11e1-907c-7ca9799b41c6
via github

Android Developer
The New York Times
http://jobs.nytco.com/job/New-York-Android-Developer-Job-NY/2450386/

Web Developer, Web Products
The New York Times
http://jobs.nytco.com/job/New-York-Web-Developer%2C-Web-Products-Job-NY/2201513/

Developer or Designer/Developer
The Wall Street Journal
http://www.krop.com/#!/jobs/598j6/
via Krop

Web Designer/Front End Developer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/12696
via 37signals

Design Positions

UI/UX Designer
The Boston Globe
http://jobs.nytco.com/job/Boston-Digital-designer-Job-MA-02108/2125548/

Designer, Newsroom (Web, Interaction, Application)
The New York Times
http://jobs.nytco.com/job/New-York-Designer%2C-Newsroom-%28WebInteractionApplication%29-Job-NY/2203663/

Designer, Product (Web, Interaction, Application)
The New York Times
http://jobs.nytco.com/job/New-York-Designer%2C-Product-%28WebInteractionApplication%29-Job-NY/2203664/

Graphic Designer
charity: water
http://www.authenticjobs.com/jobs/16466/graphic-designer
via Authentic Jobs

UI Designer
charity: water
http://www.authenticjobs.com/jobs/16457/ui-designer
via Authentic Jobs

Producer & Editor Positions

Digital News Producer-Video
Associated Press
http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1478640
via Journalism Jobs

Digital News Producer
Associated Press
http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1478643
via Journalism Jobs

If you have jobs you would like added to the list please send information to steven.king@unc.edu

By  Jacqueline Kazil

Editors Note: Jacqueline Kazil participated in the recent White House Hackathon and is a web application developer for CACI at the Library of Congress. She previously worked a dynamic application developer for The Washington Post. She resides in Washington, D.C and works primally in Django, Python, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. ~Steven King

In the executive office space of the White House, 21 developers from across the United States gathered for a hackathon. For those unfamiliar with the term, this was not a secret gathering of rogue hackers, nor did it take place in a dark bunker with large screens.

This hackathon was about being open rather than secretive.

The White House invited a group of individuals, including myself, from the larger developer community to kick the tires on and build applications for a pre-release version of the (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/) “We the People” API. If I wasn’t there and someone told me this happened, I would have felt like this:

Why? Because hackathons do not happen in government. They are usually driven by non-profits or private businesses. But lately more agencies in federal government have been adopting openness as part of their workflow in the software development process.

One of the ways that agencies are opening up codebases and fostering collaboration is by using the website GitHub. O’Reilly author, Alex Howard, noted that 2012 was the ”breakout year” for the use of GitHub in government. (photo via @leighd2k)

Related Link: http://radar.oreilly.com/2013/03/github-government-bureaucat-open-source.html

GitHub is step one. Share your code. Check. Step two is hosting a hackathon, which encourages others to engage with your code.

Let’s start by looking at what a hackathon is.

What is a Hackathon?

A hackathon can have different focuses. In general, it is a time period (most often one day to a week) during which a group gets together to collaborate on a software project.

Some hackathons are more focused on the formation of ideas and solutions with regards to software rather than building the software itself. To me, this is more of a “brainstorming” session, however some will call this type of event a hackathon.

I want to make this distinction, because the U.S. House of Representatives had this type of brainstorming “hackathon” before the White House had its actual hackathon.

Link: http://majorityleader.gov/uploadedfiles/hackathonreport.pdf
The White House hackathon was focused on constructing software tools using the new “We the People” API. This was a hands-on software testing and development experiment. For this type of hackathon, the White House invited software developers to test and build on the new API.

By taking this approach, they exposed a product that was not fully polished. Brands as institutionally established and as a large as the White House do not often expose their weaknesses. Why should something with an established brand expose itself to potential criticism?

Because of the wins!

The goals of a hackathon can differ. With respect to a hackathon where a young API is the focus, there are two possible wins:

1. A hackathon is a way to test, improve, and polish the API before it is released.

2. A hackathon is a way to incubate applications to publicize the API.

There is no better way to test an API than to get people actually using it. If you open an API up to everyone at the same time and an issue is identified, it may be difficult to push a change out to the public API, because now people are depending on the stability of the API.

Let’s look at one of the bugs identified during the hackathon.

Bug: ZIP codes stored as integers. They need to be strings.

If you are not familiar with handling ZIP codes programmatically, this is an issue, because ZIP codes in New England start with zeros. If a value is stored as a string, the leading zeros are dropped. For example, the ZIP code for Burlington, VT, is 05401. If you store that as an integer, you end up with 5401.

Launching an application with bugs may lead consumers of the API to use duct tape on the receiving end to make it work. When you fix the bug, you could end up breaking whatever duct tape solution the outsiders built. Identifying the bug before an official launch leads to more stability after the launch.

The second win for both the White House and for outsiders is the incubation and development of applications before the API is released. Releasing the API with applications already built illustrates the purpose of the API and gives developers a head start.

How it worked

The White House posted a simple application form for the hackathon. Due to the simplicity of the form, there was a low barrier to apply. I found out about it hours before the application was due when I got a nudge from the Internet to apply.

The process took me 10 minutes, but only because I was multitasking at the time. Fully focused on the process, it probably would have taken about two. Living in such close proximity to the White House, in comparison to the rest of the country, I decided there was no reason for me not to apply.

In total there were 21 individuals invited to join the hackathon — four women and seventeen men. Participants came from all over the United States. The individuals that were invited worked together with developers from the White House to build applications based off of the new API and to polish the API product in preparation of its release.

The White House started a private page on GitHub for the hackathon, which started with basic documentation for how to use the API. By the close of the hackathon, the GitHub repository was populated with issues, fleshed-out documentation and sample applications based off of the API.

At the end of the hackathon, sixteen participants presented some of the work that they had accomplished. Projects ranged from mobile applications to data analysis.

Presentations of the hackathon can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjfsUzECqK0

Gallery of presented projects put together by Catherine D’Ignazio:

http://www.flickr.com//photos/50628274@N00/sets/72157632876127150/show/

After the hackathon was over, participants continued to engage in making the API better and to improve software built using the API. Currently, the API is scheduled to release to the public this month.

Misha Leybovich, an international technology consultant, likes to tell stories the old-fashioned way: in person. But, as a technologist, he also wanted to tell stories using the Web. “There needs to be an easier way to tell [digital] stories,” said Leybovich, as he recounted the conception days of Meograph, a tool he created for sharing stories in space and time.

There have been more than 22,000 Meographs created.  Some have been created media companies to tell time- and location-based news stories or to document historical events.  Others have been created  by students and teachers to explain scientific concepts. And one was even created by a husband to celebrate his wife’s birthday.

The best way to understand a Meograph is to experience one.

A Meograph is a linear multimedia infographic that combines maps, timelines, audio narration, photos and video in an evolving, intuitive online interface.

Meograph’s user interface and feature set has taken a multi-stop journey to arrive at its current, intuitive state. Leybovich explains that the first version, which the company thought was easy and groundbreaking, was surpassingly difficult for users. “We watched the numbers and watched people use the tool and realized something had to change quickly.” So Leybovich and co-founder and developer Francis Escuadro released a vastly different interface, going from a WYSIWYG editor to a more common wizard user input model, and quickly saw a change in user behavior.

The latest upgrade to Meograph includes longer voice narration and “drag and drop” map integration. Also, the road map includes adding custom styling and security features for subscribing customers.

The platform is built on Ruby on Rails hosted on Heroku and Amazon S3 with Haml and SASS front end. It integrates media services such as Flickr and YouTube and uses the Google Maps API.
Other posts that might interest you:

• Featured Tool: Infogr.am
• Behind the scenes: “Soul of Athens: Our dreams are different”

This yearly gathering of the interactive journalism community, which started last year as a way for professionals and scholars to come together to share ideas about storytelling in new mediums, is becoming an interesting event. Some pretty big names from across the industry will be presenting this year. Visionary and leader of Digital First Media, Jim Brady, developer Jeremy Bowers from NPR, innovator Matt Boogie from The New York Times and numerous teachers and researchers from all of the major journalism schools will discuss the present and future of our industry.

Some, like Fox, might be coming just to get away from snow, but the conference offers a lot more with sessions on everything from big data journalism to eye tracking usability studies to learning new tools for telling stories.

This is smaller and more intimate than the ONA meeting (also a great event), and hopefully generates more conversation and dialog between participants and presenters. The idea is that relationships will be made between professionals and researchers that will inspire new innovations in the interactive journalism industry.

It is just a couple of weeks away and registration is still open. You can join me, Fox and industry leaders to discuss the future of interactive journalism, or just come down for the weather!

Developer or Programmer Positions

Front End Developer | Contenly

Creative Technologist | Boston Globe

Graphic Design

Head of Graphic Design | SNL Financial, LC (via JournalismJobs.com)

Graphic Designer and Studio Photographer | Kansas (via JournalismJobs.com)

Producers or Editor Positions

Online Producer | The Virginia Pilot (via JournalismJobs.com)

Coordinating Producer | ideastream.org (via JournalismJobs.com)

Editor of Digital Products | Atlanta Journal Constitution (via JournalismJobs.com)

The mission of II is to provide an informative and inspiring forum for journalists and interactive professionals to learn, interact and be more creative.

Following this mission, the site will continue to present the current features of the site you find most valuable, especially the job postings but we are also going to focus the type of content we discuss. There are numerous photojournalism and video production blogs that do a great job in those disciplines  so II is going to focus on how multiple mediums come together. We will talk a lot about big data, user experience, storytelling on new devices, code, great visual integration, presentation, interactive tools and much more. I also promise it will not become a site just about UNC’s journalism projects, but when they are beneficial to the community and innovative, I will be sure to share them.

I am most excited about the workshops we will be offering. Our first, 2013 Interactive Designer Workshop, is for print and graphic designers who are great at what they do but want to expand into the medium of the web and learn HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript/jQuery. You can read more on the workshop page.

II is already a vibrant community, and most importantly we want to continue that dialog and grow the community. Your voice and suggestions are important. The main way we are able to find great content is from you, so please continue to submit work through innovativeinteractivity@gmail.com.

Throughout 2013 we will present the most innovative and inspiring interactive work across the industry. Please join us as we try to become better interactive professionals.

Editor’s Note: Each month we will feature a tool that’s purpose is to make interactive storytelling easier or better. If you have suggestions of tools you use, please let us know at innovativeinteractivity@gmail.com 

Any tool that makes it easier to create interactive infographics is a welcomed site in the industry. Infogr.am is successful making “data fun again.” The site has a simple four-step process using six basic templates with numerous configurations for creating a unique informative graphic.

You can easily add all of the typical charts like bar, line and area as well as pictoral and wordcloud through a simple wizard-like interface or by dragging and dropping. An important feature is that these are not just graphics but you can also add photos, video and maps to your interactive graphic. The data for the charts can be input manually or you can import CSV or Excel documents.

Tools are great but how are people using them to tell stories? Most users seem to be creating simple one or two-chart infographics but one of the best examples comes from Jason Kelly and his Academics, Institutions, and Digital Scholarship (embedded below). He presents a complete story that includes text, maps and charts that illustrate his points.

This is a tool that might frustrate interactive designers/developers but for non-designers, especially reporters, it seems quite valuable. I have not seen any major publications using this tool yet, maybe because of the required infogr.am logo, the inability to use custom CSS or to have a larger width display but it does empower anyone to create a graphic that is easily comprehended.

Other posts that might interest you:

• Meet Meograph, and online storytelling tool

It is no secret that the publishing industry is changing and will continue to do so. There are many great graphic designers and artists who are eager to create interactive graphics but have not had the time to build those skills. The first II workshop is custom tailored to successful graphic designers who want to learn how to create interactive infographics using HTM5, CSS3 and JavaScript (jQuery).

In this 5 day intensive project-based learning environment, taught by top working professionals and UNC professors you will not only learn technical skills but learn how to design for an interactive user experience. You will hopefully be inspired by the special lunch presentations from professionals from NBC, The Washington Post and Digital First Media. Hosted by the School of Journalism on the beautiful campus of UNC Chapel Hill, participants will be immersed in the languages, tools and concepts of interactive design.

Each day students will produce publishable work that builds on each day’s concepts culminating in a large-scale interactive graphic project.

Skills Learned:

• Designing for the Web
• Responsive Design (Bootstrap Framework)
• Basics of HTML5
• Basics of CSS3
• Implementing jQuery
• User Feedback (quizes)
• Multimedia presentation
• Eye tracking and Usability testing

Faculty

Kat Downs, The Washington Post

Kat Downs is an innovations editor and interactive designer and developer at The Washington Post where she leads a team in creating interactive storytelling. Some of her recent award winning work includes The D.C. Homicides Map, Coming Home A Different Person as well many of the best interactives published by The Post.

Nelson Hsu Digital First Media

Nelson Hsu is the graphics editor for Thunderdome a startup endevor from Digital First Media. Prior to moving to New York, Nelson worked for NPR and The Washington Post as a lead and senior interactive designer. His innovative work includes We Got The Beat, Russia by Rail and the fun Pop Up Politics.

Steven King, UNC Chapel HIll

Steven King is a professor of multimedia and interactive journalism at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is an award-winning journalist and former Editor of Innovations and Director of Video for The Washington Post. He currently write and publishes Innovative Interactivity and is pioneering the future of non-touch gesture based interfaces for news and information.

I graduated from the School in 2007 and hold sincere gratitude to all of my professors and classmates there who taught me about multimedia storytelling and the potential for visual communication. They initially sparked my enthusiasm for multimedia, which only grew stronger over the years as I engaged with all of you, thanks to Innovative Interactivity. I am forever grateful for all of those engaging conversations, both on and off the site.

Steven King, UNC instructor of interactive multimedia and former editor of innovations and director of video at The Washington Post, will be the new editor for the site.

“I am thrilled to continue the work Tracy pioneered with II. Over the next few months, I hope to advance the site, build a closer community and service the ever-changing needs of the interactive media industry. In addition to a redesign coming in January of 2013 we will also be announcing the first Interactive Workshop for early May of next year,” wrote King.

Going forward, I will blog occasionally as we make the transition so look out for those in the near future. Also, you can always find me via @tracyboyerclark on Twitter. UNC has some excellent thoughts on how to build out this site further and ensure it continues being a strong “watering hole” for you all. Steven and I both welcome your thoughts on how UNC can improve the site going forward and I hope you are as excited about this news as I am! Please provide your suggestions in the comments below or tweet them @iitweets

Best wishes to you all and with sincere gratitude,
Tracy Boyer Clark