While I would never wish upon anyone the experience of publishing the biggest investigation of the year the day after NICAR, conversations at #NICAR23 crystalized for me the contribution I hope it makes to the data journalism community.

RT @gijn: Reforestation Failure. The Philippines’ National Greening Program (NGP) is considered the country’s most ambitious reforestation….

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RT @LHreports: Across Europe college-educated migrants are locked out of the skilled workforce due to policy failures. @publico & @LHReport….

RT @erc_earth: 🌍 ERC seeks a Managing Editor! 🌍.We need a journalist/editor with experience in investigative and environmental reporting to….

RT @LHreports: What do QAnon, anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers & Oxford car owners have in common? A year-long investigation of 100mn T….

RT @LHreports: We partnered with @BigLocalNews to archive the data analysis from our brain waste series to ensure journalists are able to t….

This part of the @LHreports series on brain waste features poignant, nuanced descriptions of the lives of migrant professionals to illustrate the root causes of the startling high rates of brain waste in Sweden. #ddj It tells the human story beyond the data.

This Brain Waste story led by @bearamalhosilva sheds light on bureaucratic barriers keeping doctors from working in their specialties as part of the larger European failure of degree recognition & tells the stories of impossible decisions facing migrant doctors shut out of jobs.

Part 2 of the @LHreports brain waste investigation with @unbiasthenews @elpais_espana @FT zooms in on the lives of migrants who struggle to overcome the systemic barriers locking them out of their professions in their new homes across Europe. In this piece @y_jus examines Sweden.

RT @LHreports: JOB ALERT! The deadline is looming (end of day June 15) to join us as deputy managing editor. If you want to be part of grow….

A @thibi_co @earthjournalism #ddj investigation and a @LHreports investigation featured the same week! I work with such a lots of talented people.

RT @thibi_co: 🧵 Has the Philippines created a garbage problem too big to dig its way out of? . In this data story by @PCIJdotOrg, Environme….

RT @thibi_co: READ | Has the Philippines created a garbage problem too big to dig its way out of? . 🇵🇭 Environmental data story by @JeloMan….

5. Data is only a part of the story. Our data analysis suggests hundreds of different storytelling possibilities and our ability to produce well-crafted stories that engage readers and bridge divides will make or break this series! Stay tuned for next round of stories.

4. Findings are not “self-explanatory.” The more that data and traditional reporters define & shape the main investigative questions together, the smoother the process of reconciling the analysis & the information that reporters need to understand the results & inform reporting.

3. A variety of data perspectives is key when conducting experimental analysis. Without the insights & contributions of the data team of @elpais_espana &@FT, including guest appearanes by @jburnmurdoch & @theboysmithy , our findings would be less robust, ambitious and reliable.

2. We learned from tried and tested social science techniques not only for statistical approaches but also in terms of documentation, processing and transparency are key credibility. Without a documented track record, we would not have been granted access to the data by Eurostat.

1. It requires many ongoing conversations for data and reporting team members to speak the same language and reach a common understanding of what the data can and cannot tell us. We definitely had miscommunication and misunderstanding about what we were measuring, why and how!.

I will be sharing some lessons we are learning as we go. I’ll start off with what we learned about our data approach with @jus_braun @ejhollowood @danielegrasso and @borjandrinot. Check out the full methodology here:

Also, as we quickly found out, could easily overwhelm our capacity, leading us producing literally hundreds of regressions that we had no capacity to evaluate. I was surprised about the lack of guidance available on how to pull together s collaborative shared data project.

‘Brain waste”, the brain child of @halimasalat, a @LHreports fellow, has been that opportunity for us. Read the first part of the series here: The EU Labour Force Survey unlocked potentially dozens of stories in even more countries.