And we’re back!

Hey there, Benchies!

Did you miss us? We sure missed you.

We're so happy to be back with another newsletter Friday. We know the much needed summer break was long and hope you had some time off as we did. We're glad to be bringing you all the best digital and data journalism news in this new academic year. From Boston’s 08:00 pm sunsets to 07:00 pm sunsets, now’s a fun time to catch up on exciting stories.

What's your resolution for this new semester? Ours is to keep you up to date with all the tips, tricks and trends in the digital world. Happy reading!

Here is our featured content this week:

💻🔍 How to use R to dig for ideas

At the 2023 Investigative Reporters and Editors conference, Charles Minshew of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution demonstrated using basic R code—with tidyverse and readxl—to explore datasets and uncover story ideas by asking questions of the data rather than just visualizing it. We hope you have fun exploring! Check out the full tutorial here. 

🌱🌸 Growth as a metaphor: how Kristian Baumann used flowering plants to explain poverty

Kristin Baumann’s interactive “Blooming” visualization uses flowering plants to represent poverty levels across Pacific regions by age, gender, and urbanization. Through this creative metaphor, she transforms complex data into engaging visuals that make disparities more relatable and insightful. For the full Q&A, click here.

Cool Stuff Corner: What are we reading?

🌍✈️ Have foreign tourists really avoided America this year?

Charts from The Economist show a dip in international arrivals. This summer, traffic fell about 8% at Boston Logan and Chicago O’Hare, and 7% at New York’s JFK compared with last year. It seems America isn’t always a smooth landing for visitors.

🧅🔪 Dicing an onion the mathematically optimal way

Why? Because tens of millions on YouTube want to know how to dice an onion. According to The Puddings Andrew Aquino in 2021, chef J. Kenji López-Alt applied math to find the most uniform pieces. Turns out, there’s more than one way to slice it—and geometry might just be your best sous chef.

 🍂🗺️ This foliage map tells you when to see peak colors across the U.S.

Fall lovers, assemble! The 2025 fall foliage prediction map — or as we call it, the most helpful tool for planning your autumnal adventures — has arrived. The Washington Post has created a fun interactive map that’ll make sure you catch the fall colors this year.  

Photo of the Week💪🏼

Here’s a little glimpse of Morocco. Chefchaouen, known as the “Blue Pearl,” is a historic city in Morocco’s Rif Mountains famous for its distinctive blue-washed buildings. And cat lovers, beware: you’ll be kitten around the whole city!

[ 📷@Marian_Siljeholm_Photography ]

That's all we've got for this week! Thanks for reading, and let us know if there's anything you'd like to see in these newsletters or in our coverage at [email protected].

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