A brief look at what the beauty industry looks like in Canada
Design
Data visualization, two ways
Part of journalism is about data and finding the most effective ways to use data to tell stories. This can include making animated videos and creating charts or graphs in a way that makes the information easier for audiences to absorb. To test out my data journalism skills, I analyzed data from our 2021 Megapoll survey. I brought the information to life by creating a graph and animated video using the Adobe Creative Cloud. From the data, I found that this year students at Ryerson feel less like their tuition is worth the money. Check out my video below for the whole story.
The first step in using data in journalism is to analyze the data in order to find the story you want to tell. It can be confusing at first to look at all the data you have and pinpoint what information is important. The most effective way to do this is to create pivot tables from the dataset to compare different aspects of the information to determine if there is a story within the data. I created pivot tables using the Megapoll data set to compare the responses to questions. I thought that analyzing how students feel about the worth of their tuition would make an interesting story so I created pivot tables for this question from the datasets of the Megapoll from 2019, 2020, and 2021. I then created a final table combining the information in one table. This is the basis of the graph that you will create.
After analyzing the data and pinpointing the information you want to use in your story, the next step is to create a graph or chart using your pivot tables. Graphs and charts are an effective way to make information more appealing and easier to understand. A great tool for creating understandable graphs is Adobe Illustrator. In Adobe Illustrator, you can choose an artboard (I used 1920 by 1080 pixels), which is where you will create the graph. You can then choose the Graph tool to create a graph by copying and pasting the data from your table into the one provided. Choosing what type of graph to use is very important. You want to make sure it’s accessible and easy to read. The best type of graph to use is a bar or column graph because each data set can be easily distinguished. In journalism, you want to avoid pie charts in most situations because having to distinguish each colour is not accessible. The bar graph comes with a legend that in most cases you want to delete, although I used the legend to distinguish each bar. I used different colours, shades, and patterns to make the bars accessible. Next, it’s all about customizing your graph using your branding colours, background and fonts. Below are the chart and table I created from the data using Illustrator.
This graph compares the number of students with to what extent they agree with the statement “I am getting my money’s worth for my tuition” in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. (RSJ/Julia Tramontin)
| To what extent do you agree with the following statement: I am getting my money’s worth for my tuition? | |||
| Year | Agree | Disagree | Neutral |
| 2019 | 390 | 386 | 400 |
| 2020 | 430 | 459 | 413 |
| 2021 | 224 | 376 | 164 |
One of the best ways to bring animation to life is through animation and a tool that I used is Premiere Pro, which can be tricky to use at first. Using Premiere Pro, you can import your graph and include any graphics, effects, and a voiceover to your video. To create my video, I first used a template to up my Premiere Pro workspace. Using what I created in Illustrated, I imported my media into Premiere Pro and arranged this on the timeline based on my time limit. I then wrote my script and recorded this using the app Voice Record Pro, which I imported into my timeline. I then used different video transitions and effects to animate my video. Check out the finished video below.
Data journalism can be difficult to navigate but tools like Adobe Illustrator and Premiere Pro make it easier. By using pivot tables, you can analyze the data to find a story and you can then use Illustrator to make an effective graph to display the information. Premiere Pro is then an effective tool to create animated videos that bring the data to life. Hopefully, this post helps you in your future endeavours in data journalism.
Visualizations that work: 3 tips to create more effective graphics
Visualizations can be tricky to create, especially when you’re learning ways to make them more effective. There are several ways to create visualizations that always work. Take a look below for 3 different tips and examples of graphics to help make your visualizations the most effective that they can be.
Tip 1: Create accessible graphics
Using contrasting colours and readable font can help make your visualizations meet accessibility standards (RSJ/Julia Tramontin).
When it comes to visualizations, one of the most important things to remember is to make sure what you create is accessible. There are accessibility laws in Ontario to help make sure that a wide variety of people, such as people who are visually impaired or have cognitive challenges, can read your work. This means choosing fonts, typefaces, and colours that you know meet the accessibility standards every time. In the graphic above, I compared what an accessible colour contrast looks like to an unaccessible colour contrast. The top one is very effective because you can clearly see the text in comparison to the background, unlike the bottom combination that does not have good contrast and could cause people to have a hard time reading it. Be careful with the elements you choose in your graphic and make sure they are readable and have good contrast to meet accessibility standards.
Tip 2: Create logical flow in your visualizations
The layout of your graphics is important in making sure they have a logical flow (RSJ/Julia Tramontin)
When it comes to creating graphics, the layout is very important and helps create logical flow. This includes creating space around elements to separate them, emphasizing important information, and keeping your visualizations consistent with your branding. In the above graphic, I used accessible font, white space, and emphasis on the word “logical” to create a graphic that is easy to read and flow. This also means using headings and paragraphs accurately and in a logical order. For example, throughout this piece, tip 1 follows tip 2 and is separated by headings. The layout of a visualization is a great way to create effective logical flow throughout your graphics.
Tip 3: Create clarity in your visualizations
Using consistent font and contrasting colours makes your graphics clear and versatile (RSJ/Julia Tramontin)
One of the most important things to remember when creating visualizations is to make sure that they are clear. By choosing consistent, readable typography and only a few contrasting colours in your visualizations, your visualizations will be very clear. This sets the standards for the rest of your work and creates readability for your audience. In the above graphic, you can clearly see that the most readable version of “clarity” is the one at the top with clear font and only one contrasting colour. Clarity creates consistency within your work that is accessible to your wider audience.
It can be difficult to remember all of the elements you should include to make your visualizations work. These are just a few tips that I’ve learned to help make your visuals effective every time. This includes making your graphics accessible, have a logical flow, and clear. Hopefully, you will keep these in mind when you’re making visualizations in the future.
How audience engagement makes for better journalism
Engagement with audiences in journalism is constantly changing, with social media now becoming a huge part of how individuals engage with news (jmexlusives via Pixabay)
As journalism has evolved throughout history, so have the ways in which audiences engage with the news. Through a few clicks, tweets, likes, and scrolls, it is now easier than ever for individuals to connect with the material that is reported and the person who reported it. With this comes a great opportunity to make human connections and listen to the voices in your audience to build community, find spaces for discussion, and tell stories that your audience values. With engagement playing a bigger role than ever before in journalism, join me as I explore different methods of engagement and practice the multimedia skills that I have learned throughout this semester.
THE RSJ PODCAST
In the RSJ Year One Podcast, our instructors Nicole Blanchett and Sally Goldberg Powell tackled the topic of engagement and methods to make engagement more effective. Take a listen to the audio excerpt of the podcast below where Nicole discusses the importance of loyal readers.
While analytics are important to figuring out who is in your audience, as Nicole describes, it is about distinguishing between who found your articles on social media and who is a loyal reader that comes back for content constantly. Making unique content plays a huge role in transforming occasional readers into your long-term audience. Creating a strong relationship with your audience is one part of how audience engagement can make for better journalism.
NEWS OUTLETS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
With people constantly on social media, news outlets are broadening their approach by having more of a presence on social media’s most popular apps like Twitter and Instagram. To find out more about how news outlets are using social media for engagement, I followed the Vox Twitter account to see what they post throughout the day and how that could affect how their audience engages with them. Vox tweeted consistently throughout the day, so check out three examples of what they posted on Dec. 8 below.
Vox uses a variety of types of Tweets to promote audience engagement by tweeting about a diverse number of topics from the news in Congress to how to keep your houseplants alive, as well as by promoting their own content. They are not only very active on Twitter and often retweet comments or tweets from their journalists, but also appeal to different audiences through the content they are tweeting about.
As you’ll notice above, the tweets I am using as examples are all very different. In the first tweet, Vox posts a cheeky tweet about getting a hobby during winter and links that to a news article (with an equally silly headline) published by Vox. This shows a more casual side of Vox that can appeal to readers, while still appearing professional. In the second tweet, they are promoting a new podcast created by Vox about the new Biden administration, which they link to in the thread. Then finally in the third tweet, they link to a Vox article about the first people to get the COVID vaccine. These tweets not only promote Vox’s publications but also appeal to different audiences due to their casual, yet informative approach.
According to the Vox website, the news organization has the main goal to “explain the news” to its readers. The tweets above correlate with this message by using simple, casual language that would make viewers more likely to click on their articles and continue going back to Vox to read the news. Twitter leaves opportunities for audiences to comment, like, retweet, and click on links which all serve to engage the Vox audience.
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE INSTAGRAM STORIES?
Instagram stories are also a great way to engage with your audience and promote your work. Check out an Instagram story mock-up I created based on my photojournalism story below:
Image One: Toronto streetcar with a blurry image of a street in the background.
Image Two: Backshot of a woman walking into front doors of an empty subway station on a rainy day.
Image Three: Disembodied hand holding a phone with a blank screen.
In these images, I tried using a variety of tools for engagement, as well as choosing images that would appeal to my audience and relate to what I am promoting. In the first graphic, I asked my audience to think about their experiences by asking a yes or no question and paired that with an appealing image of a TTC streetcar. In the second graphic, I give an example of what my story includes and link to my story in the post. In the final graphic, I use the space to link to my Twitter account and the homepage of my blog. By doing this, I created multiple opportunities for audience engagement and promoting my work by asking a question that the audience can actually answer, linking to the story while also giving a sample of what the story is like, and leaving opportunities for the audience to reach out to me through social media.
Through methods like these, Instagram stories can allow you to get your audience thinking by asking questions, while also leaving opportunities for them to reach out to you and check out your work, which is key in building trust with readers. Instagram stories are one great way that social media can help you build a connection with your audience.
OTHER METHODS
Through research, I was also able to discover a variety of other ways to involve your audience without just using social media. One way that came up in multiple articles such as in News Literacy 2018’s New Strategies for Reader Engagement, is the platform Hearken which is now a widely used platform for engagement. According to the article, Hearken aims to promote reader engagement by involving the audience in reporting and story pitches, as well as gathering information about who the audience is through votes, polls, and reader-generated stories. This is just one way to gain insight into the metrics of the audience, as well as building a relationship with the audience.
Another great method for engagement is showing the “behind the scenes” of journalism. According to the International Journalists’ Network’s Five ways journalists can engage their audiences in storytelling, by showing audiences what journalism is actually like, they are more likely to understand why paying for news is necessary to create quality journalism. A recent Reuters study found that most people are not willing to pay for their news, so by showing audiences the work that goes into creating a news story, journalism institutions are more likely to build a transparent and loyal relationship with their readers.
Journalists can use a variety of tools, from social media to metrics, to gain more insight into audience engagement. The Conversation’s Journalism needs an audience to survive but isn’t sure how to gain its loyalty details just this conundrum. While some newsrooms are using digital metrics to learn more about their readers (such as what they like and dislike) and which stories got the most reads, other newsrooms are getting in touch with the audience by holding discussions with journalists and the public about what stories they want to hear. Some newsrooms are taking opposite approaches to engage with audiences, but there is no clear “right” method to use. While there are many different ways to engage with the audience, I found one clear similarity between the articles: ultimately, audience engagement means creating a strong and transparent relationship with the public.
SO JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT?
Overall, researching this article has taught me that audience engagement plays a major role in journalism. One of the most important takeaways is to create a loyal relationship with your audience to keep them coming back for your content. By looking at how a news organization uses social media, creating my own Instagram story, doing research, and learning about engagement in the RSJ podcast, I learned just how important audience engagement really is. You can learn so much about your audience through engagement, and not just through analytics. Social media is a great way to engage with your audience and promote your work, such as through Instagram stories which I explored by making my own. Even more unique methods include using platforms like Hearken to host discussions and show the “behind the scenes” of journalism. There is no doubt that audience engagement makes for better journalism and you can find your own unique way to do so.
Three verification tools put to the test
I was scrolling through Twitter the other day when I came across an article from an alleged doctor claiming that masks are not effective in preventing COVID-19. At a time where wearing masks is the protocol for most establishments, this article contradicts most medical advice out there. As most people are well aware, fake news can easily spread throughout social media (like the viral picture of a shark swimming on a highway that turned out to be a photoshopped picture of a shark in the ocean). So how trustworthy is this post? Let’s find out.
The Story
The article appears on Dr. Joseph Mercola’s website, which is allegedly the “#1 Natural Health Website.” The headline claims More Evidence Masks Don’t Work to Prevent COVID-19. According to the article, there is mounting evidence from sources, such as the British deputy chief medical officer, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, and a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, to suggest that wearing a mask to prevent COVID is not as effective as it might seem. Mercola details how he believes mask-wearing to be “psychological manipulation” in order to get more people to vaccinate when it becomes possible.
The Source
The original article was published on the Mercola website and was written by Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, which can be found by clicking here. The article was also shared in a post on Dr. Mercola’s Twitter account on Sept. 11:
The Reach
According to Twitter, at the time of writing this, the post has 152 likes and 95 retweets. This also includes about 10 comments with mixed reactions from other twitter users- some claiming that Mercola is right and the government is “lying and bombarding the public with misinformation”, while others strongly disagree. One person went so far as to call the publication “garbage”. It’s important to note that while the number of likes seems minimal, Dr. Mercola has over 289, 000 followers, so there’s no telling just how many people saw the tweet. The article was also published on the Mercola website and has about 80 comments.
Verification Tools
The tool: Linkedin
I first wanted to investigate Dr. Joseph Mercola’s credentials to see if he has any expertise in what he claims. Linkedin is an online platform that showcases an individual’s professional experience, career milestones, and skills or interests.
The Findings
According to Dr. Jospeh Mercola’s Linkedin, he graduated from medical school in 1982. He founded his own brand, Mercola, and his specialties are claimed to be “natural medicine and physician journalist”. He also states in his About section that his main goal is to “catalyze a complete transformation of the fatally flawed health care system that is responsible for prematurely killing thousands of people every day.” Dr. Mercola is indeed a true doctor, however, he is invested in natural medicine, rather than scientific research that COVID-19 is based on. In addition, I noticed the tone of his goal is very negative towards the healthcare system and could come across as radical.
The tool: Snopes.com
I then used snopes.cpm to investigate the actual claims in the article. Snopes.com is an online fact-checking website that reliably validates or debunks specific facts.
The Findings
To find out more about whether the actual information in the article is credible, I turned to snopes.com. I wanted to find out how effective mask-wearing actually is. I looked up phrases such as “how effective is wearing masks” to come up with some search results. Every source that came up describes just how effective wearing a mask is. In Mercola’s article, he describes how cloth masks are useless. In one article found on Snopes called Why wear face masks in up public? Here’s what the research shows actually says that while cloth masks are not as effective as surgical masks, a study by the National Library of Medicine illustrated that masks “did reduce droplets and were better than no protection at all”. Another article found on Snopes also proves the scientific value of wearing a mask. In Masks help stop the spread of coronavirus- the science is simple, the author (a data scientist) uses several studies to show the effectiveness of wearing a mask. This includes a study from the National Institutes of Health illustrating how wearing a cloth mask prevents nearly all saliva droplets from reaching the person wearing the mask. This information clearly contradicts the few studies that Mercola cites in his article.
The tool: Google search
While this seems like a very basic tool, it is effective in bringing up multiple sources at once while using specific keywords to concentrate your searches on a specific topic.
The Findings
I used keywords including “Dr. Mercola”, “COVID-19”, and “effective” to pull up results. The first few websites that came up claimed that other information spread by Mercola has come up as fake, with headlines such as “Alleged COVID-19 Treatment Claims Land Doc in Hot Water” and “Chart of Illegal Claims Pertaining to Mercola Group Products” popping up below the search bar. The next search, using keywords “Joseph Mercola”, “claims”, and “trustworthy” brings up even more dubious headlines claiming Mercola’s false assertions. One article by McGill University even describes Mercola as an “osteopathic physician whose practice is now limited to offering mostly iffy medical advice on his website and selling a variety of questionable products.” With such adverse headlines popping up first in multiple Google searches, the information provided in Mercola’s article is clearly not as trustworthy as one might think.
The Verdict
So is this article trustworthy? I would say no. Overall, Mercola is not a credible source. Using these tools, I was able to effectively look at Dr. Joseph Mercola’s credentials, use Snopes.com to fact-check his claims, and see the most relevant information when Googling Dr. Mercola, by searching keywords on Google. This ultimately led to confirming that trusting information from this source is not only doubtful but also problematic. By confirming his “natural medicine” approach, as well as finding multiple articles detailing his questionable methods, it’s clear that Mercola is not new to the term “fake news”. Then, by searching for specific facts that turn out to disprove what Mercola says using scientific proof, I was able to conclude that this article is misinformation.
While Dr. Mercola is a real doctor and there may be at least some truth to his claims, this is no match to all the scientific evidence that proves otherwise. The ultimate assertion that masks are ineffective is not just “fake news”, it’s also biased and dangerous to tweet in the midst of a pandemic. Some people following his Twitter account radically agree with his views based on politics rather than fact and would not follow government health protocols. This can lead to people not following COVID protocols, possibly making other people sick. In conclusion- definitely consult other medical journals before taking Mercola’s claims to heart and, yes, wear a mask.