“Discoverable” databases: Is your data site truly user-friendly?

or

Lessons learned as a new journo-dev

Michelle Minkoff,Los Angeles Times,

IRE 2010

I’ve been thinking…

• Why data apps are essential– Tell thousands or millions of stories where we

once told one– Get more of our work out there– Let the user find their story

• Design of db pres informs reporting + editing• Then what?

Bookmarkable records

• People want to share (make discoveries)• People want to explore deeper– What user knows > what you think they know

• How to remember what’s relevant to them• Same problem as bookmarking part of

graphic-based interactive

So, how do I make it better?

• Geeky side– Record detail pg. via Web framework• Search-friendly (guessable) URLS

– Make query string accessible• Query string = where search is stored• Get vs. post

– Get – query explicitly defined in URL, > accessible, < secure– Post – query stored “behind the scenes,” < accessible, >

secure

Security

• Get is better for accessibility– Any errors need to be accounted for in search

string– People could type anything up there – what will

your site do?

Make navigation simple

• Always be able to get back to main page• Remind user what they searched for• Create list of similar records• Direct user to what might be most

newsworthy in a general sense– Gives ideas of how they can explore

Give context

• Why should I care?• How does this record compare to all of the

others?• Incorporate other methods of storytelling

besides data• Prepare reporting as if it could be published

Link out in simple dbs

• If posting a list online, allow people to go deeper

• Link to topic pages• Might be easy to include custom url in search– http://www.latimes.com/search/dispatcher.front?

Query=MYSEARCHTERMHERE&target=article&sortby=display_time+descending

• Caution: Would need to adjust for not displaying links that don’t exist

Link back (deeply) to source

• Attribute sources w/breadcrumbs others can find their way back to

• Ex: CA Secretary of State - http://www.sos.ca.gov/

• Don’t be a search engine• If you can google it, so can your reader

Encourage comments

• Comments get a bad rap• Maybe key is specificity• User knowledge is data point that can expand

your database– Miami Herald Mariel database– LA Times “California’s War Dead)

Data tells a story

• Give data room to create conversation• What would someone completely concerned

with that area want to know?• Sky’s the limit• It’s not a question of what’s possible, but

what helps the user most, and what time and resources we have available