One: Journalism professor and summer tech camper Dan Kennedy created this awesome virtual tour of the Massachusetts State House after last week’s ThingLink session.
Two: ThingLink is now mobile… at least for those of us with iPhones.
Fun with Google Fusion
Yesterday’s technical issues have been resolved,* so here, as promised, is a guide to using Google Fusion Tables.
Once you learn the basics of Fusion, it’s possible to build a fairly sophisticated map or chart in a matter of minutes — but those basics can be tricky to master. There are lots of steps and lots of places where things can get wonky so, before we get started, remember:
Click here to download my instructions for using Google Fusion. And here are some examples of how news organizations are using Fusion to tell stories of all kinds.
We’ll delve deeper into Fusion at next Tuesday’s Summer Tech Camp, so plan to bring your data and your questions.
* The solution involved two trips to Best Buy and a new wireless router.
Garbage in, garbage out
This week’s Summer Tech Camp session was focused on Google Fusion Tables, and I had planned to post detailed instructions and other information today. Those plans are on hold for the moment, though, because I’ve been mysteriously locked out of Fusion.
Oh, technology.
In the meantime, here’s a story from Poynter.org that explores some of the challenges of finding solid electronic information. Just like in any other kind of journalism, your final Fusion project will only be as good as its data. No amount of fancy styling can make up for inaccuracies.
Careful journalists, however, can find a wealth of useful data though this Google interface.
Meg Heckman 