Murders, Mating and a Chihuaha named Princess

Those often repeated instructions in journalism - show don't tell - are taking on a whole new life digitally. Some mainstream news organizations, most notably the Los Angeles and New York Times, are finding creative, interactive ways to display databases of information.

The Data Desk at the L.A. Times uses geographic information systems (GIS) to show locations of everything from homicides to red light cameras and the ratio of single men vs. women. Watch the "Where the boys/girls are" map dramatically change from blue to pink after the age of 44!

The homicide map is especially informative - a click on a placemarker displays an info box with a picture of the victim and circumstances behind the crime.

The Data Desk also features searchable lists by zip code. One hot topic, the most common dog types and names, reveals that more than 1200 L.A. residents are walking a Chihuahua named Princess.

Eric Ulken, former interactive technology director for the Times, has details on building the data desk in his OJR blog post. The good news is you don't have to be a computer programmer or spend a lot of money to get one going.  Open source (meaning FREE) software is out there like Ruby on Rails and Django.

Nor does the display need to be fancy to tell a story. KPBS received much attention for its map during the San Diego fires last year. They started with a Google map then began piling on the data about damaged homes and evacuations. 

As many traditional reporters fear the death of journalism by the Internet, online databases are positive examples of how digital technology is lending context to complex information.