Hi everyone,
My name is Zahra Farah and I’m a journalism and international relations senior. I’m excited to learn about coding and data building, because I feel like it could help me become a better storyteller and writer.
Some of the best stories I’ve read have come from strong data and visual journalism, such as:
1. The Seattle Times’ Sea Change where photographer Steve Ringman and reporter Craig Welch traveled from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in the North Pacific to Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific to detail what is at stake as ocean chemistry changes.
2. The San Fransisco Chronicle’s Even Odds series, which documented the fear, struggles and loss that African American males face in Oakland. Over the past decade, the number of African American men killed on the streets of Oakland nearly matched the number who graduated from its high schools ready to attend a state university.
3. And the story that started it all (in my opinion) The New York Times’ Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.
Seeing the way journalism is changing, for the better, inspires me to want to produce these kinds of stories one day.
If possible, I would love to look at how certain kinds of music describe the cultural landscape of neighborhoods in Austin. For example, if someone is in a certain area of Austin looking for country music, how does the music correlate with the food, businesses, income or education of an area. Do places with a lot of jazz clubs have a more educated demographic? What kinds of businesses are around areas influenced by rap and hip hop?
Maybe by understanding the kind of music people listen too, we can get a better understanding of what kind of people live there and tell better stories. On the way, we could possible learn about different genres of music and subcultures within Austin.
I don’t know if this is feasible, but another idea I had is figuring out how many artists “make it big.” Austin musicians have so much talent, it would be interesting to find out how many people’s dreams come true and how many decide to change professions. This could be broken down by genre and neighborhoods.
This is what I have for now, but I’m really excited to see what kind of project we do this semester!!!!
-Zahra