I’ve written many articles that were largely based on a set of data, such as this piece for The Canberra Times, which merely summarised information in a table. It would have been much more exciting (yes, data can be lots of fun) if readers had been provided an interactive table of the data to explore themselves.

There are some great examples of this being done around the world. USA Today has a very slick table for their College Football Coach salary database. ProPublica also has much simpler (but very clean) embedded table that allows readers to filter and sort the data.

I’m going to compare a range of freely available tools for journalists/non-programmers to embed tables into their articles using a sample set of data from tenders.gov.au data. Please, email me with any thoughts or suggestions.

tablesort.me

This is a super-simple way to create an embedded table using a CSV file. The program was created by @deepfryed, my colleague at The Wall.

Steps:
1. Paste a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file into the space provided on tablesort.me (I’ve deleted a few columns because this application does not allow the width of individual columns to be edited)
2. Click “Make me a pretty table”
3. Pick a style
4. Paste the HTML code into your story page
Tip: Add a container around the code to change the width around the table
EG:
<div style=”width:600px”>
<script id=”ts-js-8″ src=”http://tablesort.me/table/8/embed.js?theme=aristo” type=”text/javascript”>
</div>

Pros:
- Easy and quick to publish and edit
- Readers can sort, search the data
- Readers can specify how much data is displayed

Limits:
- 1MB data limit
- Can’t edit the width of the column

Google Docs

Another quick way to get a table into your web page is to embed a Google Spreadsheet.

Steps:
1. Upload your data to a new Google Doc
2. Format the spreadsheet
3. Click “Share” and select public
4. Click “File”, then “Publish to web”, then “Start publishing”
5. Under “Get a link to published” select “HTML to embed in a page”
6. Paste the HTML code into your story page

Optional:
You can also publish the table as a chart and place this chart on a separate tab.
1. Select the data and click the “Insert chart…” button
2. Name then chart then click “Insert”
3. Click on your new chart and select “Publish chart…” (make sure you select the “Interactive” option on the next screen)
4. Then move the chart into its own tab using the “Move to own sheet…” button

Pros:
- Easy and quick to publish a non-interactive table
- Can publish multiple tabs
- The journalist can specify the size of the table
- Formatting and updating the table is easy

Limits:
- A little fiddly to publish a table that can be sorted
- Can’t search the data

Zoho Sheet

Zoho is another online spreadsheet editor that allows embedding into HTML.

Steps:
1. Upload your data to a new Zoho spreadsheet
2. Format the spreadsheet
3. Name and save the spreadsheet
4. Click “Share” and select your preferred options (one option allows you to let users download the spreadsheet)
5. Select the range of data you wish to publish
5. Click “Publish” and copy the embed code for your web-page

Pros:
- Easy and quick to publish a non-interactive table
- Can publish multiple tabs
- The journalist can specify the size of the table
- Formatting and updating the table is easy
- Allows data edited locally and downloaded
- Allows full screen view and you can also lock the formula cells
- Readers can comment directly on the spreadsheet

Limits:
- Quite messy as it publishes the whole spreadsheet
- Can’t search or sort the data

Other Options

A range of options for those who want to get their hands dirty with HTML.
1. Tableizer takes spreadsheet data and generates HTML code for your site. You’ll need to know HTML to format the table
2. Mr. Data Converter will also convert spreadsheets into a number of formats including HTML

Senior Defence brass opposed the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s bid to use the remote Scherger RAAF base as a detention centre, documents released under freedom of information show.

Defence refused to release more than half the pages in the heavily redacted package of documents.

But the documents it did release about the arrangements between it and the Immigration Department show preparations to convert the base into a detention centre were being made on an ad hoc basis.

Read more about how Defence resisted its base being used for immigration detention at The Canberra Times.

By Bianca Hall and Edmund Tadros

Senior Defence brass opposed the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s bid to use the remote Scherger RAAF base as a detention centre, documents released under freedom of information show.

19 Sep, 2011: ADF refugee role attacked

By Bianca Hall and Edmund Tadros

The Federal Government is improperly using the Defence Department to support its refugee policies, the Australian Defence Association says.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has entered into contracts worth at least $176million since 2010 – including $35million with Defence - to prepare and operate the Curtin and Scherger remote RAAF bases as detention centres

12 Sep, 2011: Border security’s real cost

By Edmund Tadros and Bianca Hall

Detention centre operators, an international training company, a NSW Government department and a multinational IT firm are the big winners from the Federal Government’s immigration policies.

An analysis of tender data by The Canberra Times has identified, for the first time, the companies that have won the most lucrative contracts from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship since 2008.

The Federal Government is improperly using the Defence Department to support its refugee policies, the Australian Defence Association says.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has entered into contracts worth at least $176million since 2010 – including $35million with Defence - to prepare and operate the Curtin and Scherger remote RAAF bases as detention centres.

Read more about the ADF’s refugee role at The Canberra Times.

Detention centre operators, an international training company, a NSW Government department and a multinational IT firm are the big winners from the Federal Government’s immigration policies.

An analysis of tender data by The Canberra Times has identified, for the first time, the companies that have won the most lucrative contracts from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship since 2008.

Combined with information from DIAC, a fuller picture has emerged of the true cost of the Federal Government’s asylum-seeker policy, with a refugee advocate saying the money could be better deployed in cheaper community-based alternatives.

Read more about the cost of Australia’s immigration policies at The Canberra Times.

Australia’s military university has filed at least 29 formal reports of alleged sexual offences over the past decade, including claims a female cadet was king-hit and raped while unconscious.

But the records, obtained under freedom of information law, may represent a mere fraction of all reported assaults at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

One colonel warned the school’s commandant, Commodore Bruce Kafer, in April that its archives were ”patchy” about incidents before 2009 and could not be relied on as a full account of the academy’s troubled history.

Read more about ADFA at The Canberra Times.

Christchurch resident Renea Mackie took these photos of her city four months after the massive earthquake that rocked the city in February. Photo: Renea Mackie.

The massive earthquake that destroyed large parts of New Zealand’s second biggest city struck at 12:51pm on an overcast Tuesday in February, as Grant Wells was eating a Chinese meal in a Christchurch food court.

“As soon as the shaking stopped, I got out of there as fast as I could,” the 43-year-old consultant says.

“I had to climb over a fridge that had fallen over as I left.

“Then there was about two hours of just utter, well, the world had turned upside down.

“Cell phones weren’t working, the streets were gridlocked.

“My car was on the fifth floor of a car park and I couldn’t get it out.”

ADFA’s decade of sex claims

Australia’s military university has filed at least 29 formal reports of alleged sexual offences over the past decade, including claims a female cadet was king-hit and raped while unconscious.

But the records, obtained under freedom of information law, may represent a mere fraction of all reported assaults at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

APEC 2007 – Truth revealed by Freedom-of-Infomation

Activist ‘Paddy’ Gibson lands payout after APEC arrest  POLICE made a secret payment to an activist wrongly arrested during the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit and then used this payout as an excuse to stop an internal investigation into the arrest, documents released under Freedom of Information laws reveal. NSW Police made the payment to activist Padriac “Paddy” Gibson after he launched a civil case over his illegal arrest and detention after the major anti-APEC rally in September, 2007. The APEC wall that couldn’t keep The Chaser out cost $2m THE steel and concrete fence that became a symbol of the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit cost an amazing $2 million to hire for seven days, documents released under Freedom of Information laws reveal. The “Great Wall of Sydney” – which left police and the NSW Government red-faced after it was breached by The Chaser comedy team during APEC – infuriated locals and tourists by caging off the Sydney Opera House and sections of the CBD.

Prison Guards rob and bully: FoI report

NSW Police, a big group of teenagers and the ensuing riot

Universities violate privacy laws

Bashings, robberies rife at city stations

Hidden truth of joyflight crash pilot

Qantas loses fight with Falun Gong flight attendant

QANTAS has been ordered to reinstate a flight attendant banned from international duties over her practise of Falun Gong.

Sheridan Genrich, of Sydney’s Lane Cove, was demoted to short-haul after she was threatened by authorities during a 2008 Beijing stopover and deported due to her spiritual belief.

Qantas passengers exposed to toxic air, alleges book

Law firms ban workplace gossip site Firm Spy

Casino stood by as clerk lost stolen millions Retail
Costco pumps $140m into Aussie growth 

THE nation’s most powerful shopping centre owners are trying to stop the expansion of US discount warehouse chain Costco, claiming a planned multi-million dollar development is illegal.

In a raft of objections, the group – including Westfield, AMP and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia – says the proposed store breaches existing state planning laws, is “inappropriate” and that to create any exemptions would be “anti-competitive”.

Cult fashion label Ed Hardy collapsed owing $15 million

The IKEA ‘honey pot’ effect Economics
Interactive economic charts 

news.com.au has a series of interactive economic charts using the amCharts tool that I helped to create (along with the talented designers).

The pictured interactive Australian dollar vs US dollar chart allows readers to zoom in and out and highlight key events during the Aussie’s 30 year journey.

More: unemployment, interest rates, inflation and GDP.

Other economic stories ]]> http://www.edmundtadros.com/business/534/feed 0 http://www.edmundtadros.com/crime-stories/544 http://www.edmundtadros.com/crime-stories/544#comments Sat, 02 Apr 2011 04:00:45 +0000 Edmund Tadros http://www.edmundtadros.com/?p=544 The murder of Jody Galante

Book: What the Mother Knew, the true story of the murder of Jody Galante

On January 7, 2006, pregnant mother-of-one Jody Galante was reported missing by her husband Mark.

A week later Jody’s body was found in bushland and Mark was later arrested over her murder.

Whistleblower Gillian Sneddon exposes child sex allegations about NSW minister Milton Orkopoulos

Crisis in care series

NSW prisons, a captive State: A Special Investigation

Rougher-than-usual justice

Dead at 19: killed by a drug cocktail in his cell

The high cost of being a police officer