About this blog

Believe the data is an experiment. I’d like it be an open dialogue with data to which you are invited to listen. Maybe it will end up as a conversation.

Words about numbers

More straightforwardly, I’ll be investigating topics I care about using whatever data I can get my hands on, and trying to tell interesting stories with them. I have particular obsessions with religion, education, politics and elections (amongst other topics), and I’m based in Northern Ireland, so you can expect a UK/Ireland slant on things with some local weirdness thrown in to the mix. If any of that sounds interesting to you, stick around.

Radical transparency

It's a data journal then. But good data journalism, like any good research, should be transparent, and that’s where I’m aiming to be quite radical. Much of the data behind my articles will be publicly available, but it may be challenging to extract or collate. Sometimes I will need to request data from public bodies, using freedom of information laws if needed. I’m aiming to share that process too, as well as all of the data behind my stories in full.

For larger articles which involve non-trivial work, I’ll publish companion articles that explain the tools and techniques used. And I’ve set up a parallel github site where you’ll be able to download the data for all articles, as well as any code I use to derive results.

This means you'll be able to kick the tyres for yourselves, or at least trust that others can. If I make mistakes, they will be on display, if I draw bad conclusions you'll be able to call me out.

Get in touch

I’ll be learning journalism as I go, and sharing that process with you. However by profession, I’m an experienced data scientist, analyst, consultant and trainer.

I work with several companies, non-profits and campaign groups to analyse and communicate data. I also run training courses on Python, data analysis and data science.

If you'd like to explore working with me, please email jack@believethedata.org

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