Author: Brendan Barry

  • Paying Federal Employees

    The Washington Post put together this infographic looking at paydays for federal employees who will still be working during the shutdown, e.g. military service personnel. Of course, if the shutdown drags on, the paychecks for those still working would be delayed. Credit for the piece goes to Lisa Rein and Todd Lindeman.

  • The US Government Shuts Down

    So the House Republicans’ Tea Party wing added several different non-budget riders centred around the Affordable Care Act (which they have labelled Obamacare) to the budget. And then the whole House Republican caucus passed it despite threats of immediate vetoes from both the Democratic Senate and the White House. The House Republicans have shut down…

  • Zaatari Refugee Camp for Displaced Syrians

    The Syrian crisis is pushing people out of Syria. Unfortunately, most of the refugees are fleeing to places not wholly equipped or supplied to handle such large numbers. In this interactive piece of journalism, the BBC explores the difficulties in just one camp, Zaatari in the desert of Jordan. My favourite element is this interactive…

  • Funding the Improbable

    This interactive map from the Washington Post is one part of a long-form piece that looks at NASA and the improbable tasks facing the agency. Specifically the piece looks at how NASA wants to get to Mars, but how difficult that is and how an also difficult asteroid mission is as a backup plan. Really…

  • Protests Around the World

    Today’s post features an animated map by a doctoral candidate at Penn State. It plots out month-by-month protests across the world. It moves a bit fast and could perhaps make use out of some guided navigation, e.g. focusing the user’s attention on specific areas at specific times, but is still an interesting view of the…

  • How Cruise Missiles Would Strike Syria

    While we are waiting for Russian help to destroy Syrian stockpiles of chemical weapons, we know that the Pentagon is still ready to strike (most likely with cruise missiles) various targets of the Syrian regime. This graphic from the Wall Street Journal explores some of the options. The interesting bit is the range of Syria’s…

  • Paying a Bribe

    Some say bribes grease the wheels of business. But if that is the case, where are the greasiest wheels? This interactive piece from the BBC showcases an interesting story. It maps who has paid bribes and the value thereof. Then it looks at corruption in the different sectors of the country and which is perceived…

  • Foreclosing on Homes in Washington, DC

    Today’s post comes from the Washington Post. It is a single interactive graphic, a map, that supports a long-form article about foreclosures in Washington. Credit for the piece’s graphics goes to Ted Mellnik, Emily Chow, and Laura Stanton.

  • Where’s the Wine?

    So my wine palate is neither as refined nor sophisticated as it was before I moved to Chicago. (Oh hi, whisky.) However, wineries are springing up all over the country—and not just in California. This interactive graphic from the New York Times details the country, mapping out wineries up top and then exploring the growth…

  • Mapping the Borders

    This map by Dorothy Gambrell looks at US state borders formed by natural, well, borders. None of those lines drawn by a bunch of old men wearing wigs. What I really like is how those artificial borders are drawn as a thin grey line and labelled as “just some line”. Credit for the piece goes…