Irene Choge arrived at the data boot camp with little experience using spreadsheets. But the reporter for NTV in Kenya knew that learning how to use data could help her nail down an important story: why girls in rural school districts started performing badly as they reached adolescence.
Stretching across a broad expanse of wilderness along South Africa’s Eastern Cape, the Transkei is the region set aside for the Xhosa people by the old apartheid regime, ostensibly as an experiment in black self-governance. It is also the birthplace of some of South Africa’s greatest freedom fighters, among them Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Thabo Mbeki.
With its focus on global environmental issues, NationalGeographic.com is highlighting a digital map launched by Knight International Journalism Fellow Gustavo Faleiros, including the use of layered filters that can help data journalists track the effects of forest fires, deforestation and extractive industries like mining.