How IJBA trains visualization skills

This is another short interview with a trainer for data visualization and journalism. This time from a school in Bordeaux, France. The instructor there is Anthony Thomas-Commin, reporter for the French website www.lequipe.fr.

Site: IJBA (full name: Institute de Journalisme Bordeaux Aquitaine)

Questions:

Please provide some background: Where do you train?

Anthony Thomas-Commin: “I will work with students of the IJBA, in Bordeaux. One of the 14 schools officially registered by the French national board of journalism. The students are in the last year of the Master and will be job-seekers in a few months. I will be teach them web journalism and specific tools: data, interactive media, Twitter, Gifs, …”

What is the focus, what do you teach?

“The core of training is finding the right data, the right amount of info you can show in one piece. All the work before using Datawrapper. Journalists tend to put too much info in the same dataviz. Once using Datawrapper, the goal is to pick the right chart, the right scale. To keep it simple. For me, it is the best quality of Datawrapper : simple to use, simple to read. “

What is the role of data-driven journalism in newsrooms?

“Data-journalism should not be a speciality in the newsroom. It can tell a story in itself but it should be used in every kind of story. One chart can be used instead of 400 words and let you write about other stuff to complete the story.”