Storybench Weekly: New Season, New Stories

Hey Benchies!

Happy newsletter Friday!

We're so thrilled to be back to school as the semester kicks into gear. It’s still a bit toasty out, but we’re already catching whispers of fall.

Meanwhile, some fun things have been happening in the tech world this week. Did you see ‘em? That’s alright — let us share some quick updates

✨Also, don’t miss what’s new on Storybench this week — fresh stories, and insights from your fellow Benchies are live now!

📱iPhone 17 lineup + ultra-thin iPhone Air - Apple unveiled its newest phones, including a sleek, feather-light model.

🤖OpenAI in the spotlight - The AI giant inked major new deals even as regulators turned up scrutiny.

🚕Zoox robotaxis hit Las Vegas - Amazon’s self-driving car service officially rolled out on city streets.

Here is our featured content this week:

🗺️✨ Quickly Transform Your DataWrapper Locator Maps from Meh to Magnificent

Love the way a map gives information with locator pins? Love the way an interactive pie-chart makes complex data easy on the eyes? Dislike how difficult and daunting this seems? We gotchu! Our very own, Prof. Dan Zedek has simplified one the most amazing data visualization tools. It’s online, it’s free, and it’s a user-friendly graphical interface transforming raw data into shareable viz (it doesn’t end there), dataWrapper can be easily embedded on websites and in print. Check out the full tutorial here! 

🤖📊What can GenAI really do for data visualization?

GenAI is shaking up the world of data visualization by helping non-experts clean, analyze, and display complex datasets more easily — but experts warn that speed can’t come at the cost of accuracy. Researchers from Tableau, Microsoft, and founder of Domestic Data Streamers say that using rule-sets, constraints, and templates helps maintain trustworthiness in visuals while making them more accessible. (Read here)

Cool Stuff Corner: What are we reading?

🛒🍎 Are the Foods in Your Cart Ultraprocessed?

When you cross items off your grocery list, do you check the calories, scan the ingredients — or just trust your daily routine to balance things out? 

Take a virtual grocery trip with Jancee Dunn in The New York Times’ Well Challenge to spot ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) and see how cutting down on them can boost your health.

🌍✈️ 4.1 million migrants: Where they’re from, where they live in the U.S.

The U.S. immigration debate often focuses on the Mexico border — but a 2024 data shows a dramatic shift. A The Washington Post analysis of 4.1M court records finds migrants now arriving from across the globe, with rising numbers from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and beyond.

💡Did you know?

Under a Donald Trump-era tax law, digital creators — from OnlyFans stars to podcasters and influencers — can deduct up to $25,000 in tip income from federal taxes through 2028. This break, meant for tipped workers, now lets creators keep more of what their audiences send them. (read more)

From The Vault🏛️

💻📊 Web scraping with Python

Data journalism always needs good information. But when there's too much of it, it can feel overwhelming to decide what's the most important. Python (is a blessing) can be used to analyze and filter that data you need to report. Check out the complete tutorial, along with the video here!

🎿 🏅 How The New York Times visualized the mental struggles Olympians face against fear

In October 2021, just ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a team of The New York Times reporters headed to the Swiss Alps to explore how winter sports athletes’ brains manage fear while attempting high-risk ski jumps and halfpipe tricks. In this Q&A, sports graphics editor Joe Ward shares what inspired the five-part series and the challenges the team faced along the way.

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].

And follow us on Instagram, Twitter (or X, or whatever) and LinkedIn for live updates on stories each week!