By JUDY PATRICK
Vice president for editorial development, New York Press Association
If you missed Mike Reilly’s presentation for NYPA members on mobile and desktop apps for data storytelling last week, here’s a recap. Most of these apps are free. Some are a few dollars. Mike’s advice if the app wants you to buy a premium version: Free versions are typically all you need.
Note: Some of these applications also have both mobile and desktop versions. Some are just available on mobile.
Mike teaches data and digital journalism at the University of Illinois and is a Society of Professional Journalists trainer in the Google News Initiative training program. He also owns Penny Press Digital, LLC, a digital consulting company.
Before I get into the apps we talked about last week, I wanted to note that Mike does FREE training through a collaboration with the Google News Initiative and SPJ. The training provides an overview of the Google tools or in-depth training on one Google tool (Google maps, Google Public Data Explorer, Google Trends). Thanks to a grant from the Google News Initiative, SPJ pays the trainer’s fee as well as travel expenses. Here’s a link to information about that training: https://www.spj.org/google.asp.
The apps Mike showed us last week were primarily for social sharing, but there may be print capabilities as well. Many offered quick ways to add information, like text, to a photo or to present different views of images.
But here’s one that may be of great use to people who write print headlines: An app called Thsrs that provides shorter synonyms for words. Here’s a link to the desktop version.
A rundown of the other apps. You’ll find examples of how they’re used at the end.
Chartistic allows you to make a quick chart on your smartphone.
Icongraph is good for creating infographics
Photo Mapo allows you to insert photos into a map. It would be cool, for example, for illustrating a nature trail or covering a 5K race. There’s an easy share button at the bottom.
This by Tinrocket enables you to enhance photos with text, arrows and other images.
Point Out allows you to add arrows but it also has a fascinating magnifying feature.
Over lets you put text over a photo, enabling you to share a single data point quickly
Ripl helps you maintain a brand over posts
Canva: Another fun way to make a well-designed post
Adobe has two apps: Spark Post, Spark Page/Video. SparkPost is an easy mobile photo editor. SparkPage is good for visual storytelling.
For fun
Bubbli (iOS only): Makes dynamic spherical images called bubbles
Fyuse: Interactive 3D images
Vidometer: Record videos with Street Maps, Satellite Maps, Heart rate, Speed, Altitude, Compass Heading, G-Force + Acceleration Forces, GPS Coordinates, Latitude, Longitude, Elevation, Distance Traveled, Current Location, and other telemetry data.
Here are links to some of the examples Mike offered during the workshop.
Going Mobile: http://dataindiana.news/2017/02/06/going-mobile-five-days-in-south-bend-and-beyond/
Adobe Spark Think Different: https://spark.adobe.com/page/ZBP5MMouuYPm0/
Adobe Spark DIY Chicago: https://spark.adobe.com/page/P77IIOQQLNIVR/
Adobe Spark: Cronkite News Recycling
https://twitter.com/cronkitenews/status/1040624992923406336?s=12
Adobe Spark: Buttress on Hancock Tower. Kevin Sherman: https://twitter.com/Shermanator8088/status/963498530492092418
Adobe Spark: Yas! Fest at Millennium Park
On Saturday, September 22, 2018, Millenium Park hosted the Chicago YAS! Fest. https://t.co/RJMGJ1d3Qv @journtoolbox #uicdigital #YASfest
— Michelle (@mcmps156) September 23, 2018
Adobe Spark: Steak n Shake Opening
https://twitter.com/FPParco/status/1043562350534647808
