Multiple Journalism

Gone Gitmo

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:11:41 +0000

Gone Gitmo

An immersive docu-game based on the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, originally designed for Second Life and now available in Unity, based on actual reporting and facts.

When

2007

Where

United States

Who

Nonny de la Peña, Peggy Weil

Website

gonegitmo.blogspot.com

What is it?

Guantánamo Bay, Cuba – colloquially known as ‘Gitmo’ – is one of the world’s most famous and controversial prisoner-of-war camps, home to hundreds of detainees from the United States’ ‘War on Terror’.

Following on her 2004 documentary Unconstitutional about Guantánamo Bay, journalist Nonny de la Peña teamed up with artist Peggy Weil to make Gone Gitmo.

A virtual but accessible version of the prison, in contrast to the real but inaccessible prison, Gone Gitmo is a fact-based simulation of Guantanamo Bay. The ‘player’ enters as a prisoner and discovers what’s it like to be imprisoned in the camp and lose his or her civil rights.

Since journalists are not allowed inside the camp, the reconstruction is based on interviews with former prisoners, videos and photos from a variety of official sources and legal materials that detail the plight of Gitmo prisoners.

How does it work?

The original version of Gone Gitmo, no longer running, was a virtual re-creation of the Guantánamo Bay prison in Second Life, a popular virtual world platform. In 2013, De la Peña and Weil recreated Gone Gitmo in Unity3D as a docu-game and first person experience.

In the game, users go through a virtual detention inside the prison camp and are immersed in the experience of being taken prisoner and losing their habeas corpus rights. The player’s avatar is briefly bound, hooded and forced to kneel in the same way that detainees were taken to the prison.

After arriving in the virtual replica of Camp X-Ray, players are free to explore the camp where various screens play clips from De la Peña’s film ‘Unconstitutional’ (2004) and from original U.S. Defense Department footage in order to create a spatial narrative.

Why did they make it?

Nonny de la Peña is one of the founders of immersive journalism, which uses new technologies to bring users a sense of ‘being there’. She defines immersive journalism as “the use of virtual reality and 3-D environments, built in a gaming platform, to convey the sights, sounds and feelings of news.”

Participants can enter the news stories as themselves, as visitors gaining first-hand access to a virtual version of the location of the story – or as a character depicted in the story. In this way, they can have a different level of understanding from reading a print story or watching news on television or online.

De la Peña believes that immersive storytelling is the future of the news and an important way to engage young audiences with global news stories. “We’re looking at a new medium that’s here to stay, and we need to be thinking about how to use it”, she said at a conference at USC Annenberg in 2011.

“How many kids are gaming? All of them. This is not a unique batch of individuals. It’s a growing audience. This has become a critical place where we can still tell news stories”, she said, comparing the state of gaming to the emergence of radio and television.

Why did we select it?

Gone Gitmo is a pioneering journalism project using fact-based virtual reality to tell an important news story about an inaccessible prison camp. It makes the invisible visible.

Furthermore, by offering a first person perspective on a hidden news event, Gone Gitmo opens up a range of new possibilities for users to be immersed in the news and to engage with it actively. Through immersion in virtual environments and first person storytelling, docu-game Gone Gitmo adds an innovative dimension to the news.

Although the building of virtual worlds for news games is still costly and time-consuming, we expect it will become more prevalent and influential in the future.

Besides prototyping immersive news stories, De la Peña also contributes actively to the discovery of best practices and the discussion about ethics for a largely unexplored field.

De la Peña: “For example, there is an issue here when you have virtual bodies – is it too subjective? How do you retain objectivity? How do you edit an immersive journalism story? You have to take pieces out and leave pieces in. There are always editorial decisions. What are the best practices for doing it in a virtual world?”

Some other docu-games

JFK Reloaded puts the player in the role of Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The player is then scored on how closely one’s version of the assassination matches the report of the Warren Commission: first shot missed, second hit JFK’s neck and third on the head.

According to the company, the primary aim of the game was “to establish the most likely facts of what happened on 1963-11-22 by running the world’s first mass-participation forensic construction”, the theory being that a player could help prove that Lee Harvey Oswald had the “means and the opportunity to commit the crime”, and thus help prove the Warren Commission’s findings.

The Guardian’s The Refugee Challenge invites the reader to make the choices real refugees have to make. After each choice players get a new challenge to solve, so they’ll get closer to the experience of looking for safety in Fortress Europe.

Project Syria is one of Nonny’s immersive journalism piece, first shown at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2014.

Related Cases

Gone Gitmo

An immersive docu-game based on the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, originally designed for Second Life and now available in Unity, based on actual reporting and facts.

Desert Rain

Desert Rain is a groundbreaking multi-media installation that immerses participants in the complex relationship between reality and virtuality, inspired by the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

Reportagem Pública

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 16:27:30 +0000

Reportagem Pública

Civic journalism through crowd funding and open editorial participation.

When

2013

Where

Brazil

Who

A Pública; Marina Amaral and Natalia Viana

Website

apublica.org

What is it?

The project produced a series of twelve investigative journalism reports for both television and print about contemporary Brazilian society. Reports focus on social, economic and political issues including human rights violations, police abuse, public services, corruption and the environment. The stories are published on a special website. The project is crowd-funded and an editorial board formed by the crowd-funders chose the subjects of the investigative pieces.

Jessica Mota (reporter) and Luiza Bodenmuller (former head of the editorial office)

A Pública, a non-profit Brazilian journalism agency founded in 2011 by professional journalists Marina Amaral and Natalia Viana, initiated the project. The self-stated mission of A Pública is “to produce great investigative reportages driven by public interest (…) strengthening the right to information, qualifying democratic debate and promoting human rights.”

A Pública encourages readers and other media “to steal their stories” and re-publish them, lightly edited if necessary. In case of substantial editing or shortening, the “thieves” are asked to communicate about their plans via email. All stories are distributed with a Creative Commons licence by-nd.

How does it work?

Unlike traditional journalism, the funding as well as the editorial process at journalism agency A Pública, is collective and characterized by open participation and crowd-funding. Independent journalists present their story ideas according to an intricate system of rules and procedures and produce the stories.

As a first step, Reportagem Pública was registered as a crowd funded project at Catarse, the largest Brazilian crowd-funding community. The project was open for online contributions during a two-month period, from August to September 2013. Contributions could vary from $20 to R$ 2,000 Brazilianreais(approximately US$8.70 to $870). A Publica’s goal was to raise R$47,500,00 (or $20,652), but instead it raised R$58,935 ($25,623) from 808 individual donations. As previously promised, Omidyar Foundation then doubled the amount raised via Catarse.

After collecting the funds, A Pública organized an open call for story ideas inviting journalists to submit proposals for investigative reports within the project’s five main themes: human rights, police abuse, public services, corruption and the environment. Proposals for print publications, radio, or television had to be accompanied by a budget and could not exceed R$6,000,00 each ($2,608). A Pública’s staff then selected story ideas from the open call and published a shortlist of 48 investigative reportage proposals online.

By contributing to the project, donors obtained the right to join the Editorial Board, which voted for 12 final projects to be executed with the money raised. Originally, the idea had been to elect ten story proposals, but this number was increased to twelve after fundraising exceeded expectations.

Chosen story proposals include investigations about water control in Brazil, construction of a hydroelectric dam in Belo Monte, abortion, and the Brazilian penitentiary system. During the process, Publica communicated extensively with backers and used online tools for information dissemination and social mobilization.

What is the impact?

The collaborative thinking animating the project led to its intimate connection to a series of political demonstrations in the spring of 2013 in Brazil. “Reportagem Pública” became intrinsically linked to the agenda of the demonstrations, which expressed concerns about the state of Brazil’s public services, corruption, social inequality and so on.

The project makes it evident that a crowd-funding apparatus combined with editorial decision sharing can result in modern reportage practices, reconnecting journalism with civil society. This is even more crucial in moments of intense social conflict, when societies need journalism as a tool for understanding themselves.

Why did we select it?

Reportagem Pública creates new bonds between the producers of news and the public, fostering civil society engagement and strengthening the public sphere. Introducing principles of procedural democracy and participation in the journalism cycle, the project provides a new approach to journalistic research, producing high quality investigave journalism reports and promoting public debate.

Reportagem Pública’s network philosophy reveals itself in a collaborative logic that combines a crowd-funding model with open editorial engagement. Those who help to fund and build it drive the project’s final shape, scope and objectives in ways that deepen mutual commitment.

It’s hard to exaggerate A Pública’s importance within the Brazilian political context or to dismiss the dynamic energy of its ongoing experiments in open participation and networked journalism. During the 2014 presidential campaigns, annoyed by the superficiality of public debate and control of media corporations by political interests, A Pública created a news site styled after the hugely popular card game Truco, which forces politicians to confront and respond to facts and promises or be shamed publicly.

It also started a one issue website dealing exclusively with human rights. By acting as an agency, A Pública is helping to connect a greater network of producers to its potential audience, widening these circles of relation in a concentric expansion and building on new technological resources.

Related Cases

Reportagem Pública

Civic journalism through crowd funding and open editorial participation.

Citizens’ Investigation

A participatory journalism and crowdsourcing project launched by the world-renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei on his personal blog. The project aims to discover the number and the names of the schoolchildren who died in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.

TRAC FM

TRAC FM A free, cloud based software platform using radio and SMS to track citizen reports and collect citizen feedback. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx_BivgFyww When 2010 Where Uganda Who Wouter Dijkstra, Javie Ssozi, Meier Boersma, Jurre de Beer Website tracfm.org What is it? TRAC FM is an innovative software platform used by media

Peivast

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 14:39:39 +0000

Peivast

A monthly hardcover magazine covering the latest’s insights on ICT developments in Iran.

When

2012

Where

Iran

Who

Arash Barahmand, editor-in-chief

Website

peivast.com

Case researched by

Luuk Ex

What is it?

As a printed magazine, Peivast is running against the flow of digitization. The magazine’s focus on developments in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) makes the choice of print medium particularly remarkable. The founders believe the physical presence of the 180 pages, full-color hardcopy suits their target market, which they consider to be “the decision makers of Iran.”

“If you are a manager in ICT in Iran, this is your bible,” says CEO Arash Barahmand. Peivast is a magazine someone wants to have on his or her desk during a meeting, with subscribers including important players in the private and governmental sectors.

The quality of the content is another reason to produce old fashioned print editions. “Peivast is famous for running long stories.” The online trend of short stories, published as quickly as possible, made the founders decide to try something different. “We take a month to write about a story,” says Barahmand. “People have heard of news events, but wait for us to get the real insights.”

Why did they make it?

Peivast was started by three friends after they were fired from their previous positions writing for magazines. They decided to launch their own start-up magazine in order to be their own bosses. They found an angel investor who contributed starting capital. As Barahmand explains, “this investor’s company focuses on the pharmaceutical industry, so therefore he does not have a special interest in political uses of the magazine. We are lucky with that.”

However, the investor did have a goal with Peivast. His vision is to enlighten the Iranian public on how to start their own business in the ICT-market. The magazine became a platform that informs a younger generation of ICT-workers about it’s history, faces, and power relations in the ICT-market of Iran. With articles on the impact of censorship and the empowerment of users, the magazine tries to inform its public about various urgent issues and debates.

The founders decided to write about a niche market where political interference is less likely. “By focusing on this niche”, Barahmand explains, “we can write more freely compared to working for a general newspaper. We try to stay neutral and out of politics by delivering stories from different perspectives and ideas.”

The magazine is illustrated with cartoons about the digital world, including those addressing the negative side of technology from an ironic perspective.

The founders believe ICT development is more than just technology. “In Iran, information technology is changing the way people think. It is changing our culture and society.”

Why did we select it?

In the essay “The Future of Journalism: Networked Journalism” (published on this website) the writers state that due to “technological changes journalism is being transformed in the ways it is used and produced. These developments are paving a path towards better journalism and towards more independent journalists.”

Peivast is both a confirmation and denial of this theory: while the founders chose technology as their subject due to its disruptive character, they also believe journalism needs thoroughly researched, with well-written, lengthy pieces in print in order to successfully connect with their audience.

As a successful combination of old world journalism and new world subject matter, it sheds new light on what works as journalism in Iran today.

Related Cases

Peivast

A monthly hardcover magazine covering the latest’s insights on ICT developments in Iran.

Malaysiakini

Launched in November 1999, Malaysiakini is one of the earliest online independent media portals in Asia, delivering news and opinion in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

The Nisoor Square Shootings

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:15:28 +0000

The Nisoor Square Shootings

A piece of graphic journalism, which reconstructs the Blackwater Killings in 2007 on a central roundabout near Bagdad through an interactive webcomic imported into Google Maps.

When

2010

Where

United States

Who

Archcomix by Dan Archer

Website

cartoonmovement.com

What is it?

The Nisoor Square Shootings is an interactive webcomic by graphic journalist Dan Archer (@archcomix) chronicling a killing spree in Bagdad that involved US private security firm Blackwater. The event resulted in the death of 17 Iraqi civilians and left 24 wounded.

Afterwards, the American guards claimed they had started shooting in self-defense, but eyewitnesses and traffic police told a different story, alleging that they shot unarmed civilians without being in any danger.

The event raised concerns about the role of private contractors in war zones. U.S. security firms operating in Iraq were immune to prosecution under an order by the U.S. State Department issued after the 2003 Iraq invasion.

In 2010, reporting on this then still unresolved bloodbath, Archer employs digital tools of webcomics journalism to offer a complex, multi-layered view of the incident, based on existing news reports and eyewitness testimonies.

How does it work?

Archer’s webcomic is embedded in a Google Map aerial view of Nisoor Square, which serves as the geographical background for the restaged crime. In addition, an interactive timeline documents what happened minute-by-minute during the 15-minute event.

On the home page, the user gets simple instructions on how to use the slider to move through the timeline linked to the webpages with the comic panels, as well as an explanation of the colour coding used for the various people involved in the event: red for Blackwater troops, yellow for civilians, and blue for Iraqi police.

The user can follow the shootings by clicking on the coloured geometric shapes and assessing the multiple viewpoints in the pop up windows with frames and speech bubbles. If the user clicks once more, the frames are hyperlinked to the multi-media source material from which Archer has taken the literal quotes of the eyewitnesses. Archer speaks of “an interactive comic with content underneath it.”

How is it made?

The webcomic is partly made by hand, and partly created by software. The panels are first sketched out and drawn by hand. The individual frames are then positioned on Google Maps at each instance of the timeline and related to the flashing colour icons linked to the three perspectives.

Dan Archer in his studio

Everything is then scanned into the computer, where screenshots are made of the panels (twelve in total). Each frame or frame sequence is cut out, and imported as a flash movie clip on the detailed map of Google aerial view. Using the timeline option of Flash CS4 software, the icons are animated and aligned with the panels and frames.

The word balloons of each frame are further linked to researched media sources, such as news coverage and video clips from The New York Times and Washington Post, a bestseller about the shootings, and a CNN documentary.

Why was it made?

The Nisoor Square Shootings have been widely reported on by the media, but according to Archer, what was missing was a piece of journalism showing various perspectives on the killings.

Following the slogan “There is more than one truth”, the graphic journalist wanted to draw a more complex picture by juxtaposing the various testimoniesin situ.

Since this is difficult to achieve in traditional news media, he explored the creative possibilities of web comics. Archer also felt that people were desensitised by the bombardment of media coverage during the Iraq war. He wanted to offer an alternative providing the public with options to judge the events for themselves, and feel reconnected to the tragedy and its victims.

Ultimately, Archer aims to create “non-fictional, journalistic comics to offer a new perspective on US foreign and domestic policy and give voice to stories that would not otherwise be heard.”

Why did we select it?

The visual and narrative qualities of comics have proven popular and the genre is effective as an alternative form of journalism. This is clear in the work of graphic journalists such as Joe Sacco, Susie Cagle, and others.

Visual storytelling draws readers into the story, allows them to identify with the characters, and turns news into a more personal and dynamic experience. Web comics have added interactivity and further expanded the tool kit and public reach of graphic journalism.

Archer is a pioneer of this new brand of interactive web comics, which further intensifies the reader’s interaction with the news.

While partly researched and investigated in a traditional way, Archer’s webcomic also intersects with the new genre of on-line news gathering identified by Alex Bruns as “gate-watching” which usually consists of an introductory front page with further links to detailed information of existing news sources and contrasting views on the issue.

Comics journalism has flourished on topics related to the Middle East, and helped to counterbalance the often dehumanized and stereotypical reporting on the region.

Related Cases

The Nisoor Square Shootings

A piece of graphic journalism, which reconstructs the Blackwater Killings in 2007 on a central roundabout near Bagdad through an interactive webcomic imported into Google Maps.

Next Media Animation

Next Media Animation provides the “missing images” of the news by producing news animations based on news feeds and factual reporting for international media outlets.

Firestorm

An online interactive story about a family’s harrowing experience during a severe bush fire in Tasmania that integrates various media in visually innovative ways.

Hong Kong In-Media

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:20:48 +0000

Hong Kong In-Media

An open public platform, free from political intervention and commercial influence, which promotes democracy and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

When

2004

Where

China

Who

Oiwan Lam, Iam Chong Ip, Chow Sze Chung, Fredie Ho Lun Chan

Website

inmediahk.net

What is it?

Hong Kong In-Media is the most influential independent online media platform in Hong Kong. It is also the oldest in the territory, having operated since July 2004. Since the 1997 political transition, China’s “one country, two systems” policy allows Hong Kong a degree of media autonomy, but widespread self-censorship and media monopolies threaten the diversity of opinions.

Confronted with this reality, the co-founders of HK In-Media aim to create an open public platform free from political intervention or commercial influence, in order to promote democracy and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

After a decade, the online traffic volume of HK In-Media surpasses 10,000 visitors per day. While it focuses on local news and opinions in Hong Kong, in text as well as multimedia, its influence continues to grow with more active coverage of social-political issues in Greater China and Southeast Asia.

How does it work?

Combining professional reporting with crowdsourced content, HK In-Media maintains a team of citizen reporters, while also encouraging the public to upload news and commentaries on a wide range of issues.

HK In-Media delivers timely and accurate news due to its “professional” reporting by citizen journalists working for the organization on a volunteer basis. This involves internship programs offering training in news production to students and citizens.

After training, they are able to deliver high-quality citizen journalism reports with enthusiasm. The organization also works to preserve the diversity of opinions on its website.

It almost never deletes articles or commentaries (unless there is hate speech or commercial spam). And deleting messages requires the prior approval of more than half of the members of HK In-Media.

In order to maximize its independence, HK In-Media accepts no donations from corporations or political parties. Instead, it relies on long-term membership support and project-based revenue from work with NGOs and foundations in Hong Kong and overseas.

Why does it succeed?

The achievements of HK In-Media reflect timing and persistence. HK In-Media offers an open and equal opportunity platform on the Internet. It brings together intellectual resources from different social groups: media workers, activists, university students, freelance writers, grassroots citizenry, researchers and educators.

The voices represent a wide range of opinions, thus facilitating democratic deliberation. United by a consensus that online news and discussion needs to break from political and commercial control, HK In-Media inspires considerable support from Hong Kong citizens, especially from young people.

During the past decade, limits to freedom of expression have shrunk online and offline public spaces in Hong Kong. Around 2004, several incidents demonstrated that the territory’s freedom of speech and media autonomy were being threatened.

Founding HK In-Media was part of a society-wide movement against political co-optation and commercialization in Hong Kong. HK In-Media also drew strength from interacting with forces outside Hong Kong.

For example, the 2005 anti-WTO demonstrations brought independent media activists throughout Asia to the neighborhood of HK In-Media. The organization has also collaborated with leading NGOs and foundations in other countries.

Why did we select it?

It is notable for its impressive archive of news and discussion accumulated over ten years. The online archive is a rare resource on social movements and grassroots activism in Hong Kong, for journalists, researchers, students and citizens.

The information is often detailed and rich with contexts, causes, and consequences for critical events, including the 2007 construction worker strike, the 2009-2010 anti-high speed rail movement, and the 2012 anti-patriotic education campaign.

Although independent media in Hong Kong dates back to the 1960s, HK In-Media has successfully capitalized on the opportunities provided by digital media to expose the public to a wide range of topics, especially those related to social movements, freedom of the press, and social issues facing disadvantaged groups.

Related Cases

Hong Kong In-Media

An open public platform, free from political intervention and commercial influence, which promotes democracy and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

Mediapart

A group of driven and accomplished French journalists in search of a new business model for creating a profitable independent press online.

Mídia Ninja

An activist journalism network specializing in real time broadcasting.

Malaysiakini

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 11:30:54 +0000

Malaysiakini

Launched in November 1999, Malaysiakini is one of the earliest online independent media portals in Asia, delivering news and opinion in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

When

1999

Where

Malaysia

Who

Steven Gan and Premesh Chandran

Website

malaysiakini.com

What is it?

Malaysiakini is the top online news portal for Malaysians and has inspired media activists across Asia. Since 2012 it has attracted about 2 million unique visits per day and over 300,000 unique readers.

The recipient of various local and global media awards, Malaysiakini has grown to encompass many sites, including Kinibooks for book publishing and sales, FeedGeorge for geo-tagged news and information, and CJ.my for citizen journalism sharing and training in Malaysia.

Adhering to high standards of editorial independence, Malaysiakini opens up new channels of information from news reports to videos, from editorials to cartoons.

Its angle often differs from mainstream media, which are usually owned by state authorities or pro-government corporations. Hence, Malaysiakini contributes to a diverse media ecology in the country.

How does it work?

Malaysiakini operates on the basis of “fast, accurate and independent news, and well-informed, diverse views.” Apart from professional news reporting and commentary, it integrates citizen participation in its daily operations.

The Letters section has spurred heated discussion among readers with diverse religious and ideological backgrounds, creating “an open and well-informed arena of public debate unseen in Malaysia since the 1960s.”

Topics on the site are not confined to the mainstream media agenda and cover controversial and even taboo subjects, such as the position of migrant workers, AIDS, Islam, and racial quota systems.

In order to remain independent, Malaysiakini avoids financial links to political parties and corporations. Instead, it relies on a mixed model of subscription fees, online advertising, and support from foundations.

The total revenue supports more than 70 editorial, technology, and business staff, united by a shared interest in independent media, social justice and democracy.

Adhering to high standards of journalistic professionalism, Malaysiakini endeavors to lower the threshold for user participation, welcoming people from all social strata to voice their opinions.

When Malaysiakini was founded in 1999, the country was experiencing a major social movement in support of Anwar Ibrahim, the opposition leader in Malaysia. This was the first time Internet had been used in Asia for citizen mobilization and large-scale political protests. This created special momentum for the initial growth and further consolidation of Malaysiakini.

Since then it has reacted quickly to new technologies and media trends, redesigning its interface for various devices, opening up new social media platforms, and creating multi-media content for dissemination. As a result, it has become influential among young people savvy with new media.

The mixed revenue model protects journalistic independence. Stable financial wellbeing based on a diversity of sources allows Malaysiakini to further emphasize high-quality content.

Why did we select it?

For more than a decade, Malaysiakini has served as an excellent example of independent media in Asia and a role model for media activists throughout the region.

Issues of nationalism and the politics of ethnicity have long complicated Malaysian politics. Against this backdrop, Malaysiakini plays a uniquely constructive role by shedding light on local politics from global and comparative perspectives.

Its rich offering of multi-language content remains rare among independent media organizations and enables Malaysiakini to expand its influence both locally and globally.

Malaysiakini emphasizes user participation and expands the scope of public discussion to previously taboo topics. It breaks the silence on various controversial issues, allowing citizens with different positions to confront dilemmas in contemporary Malaysian society.

Last but not least, the revenue model of Malaysiakini, though no longer the most creative, has proven sustainable and represents an important point of reference for independent media organizations around the world.

Related Cases

Peivast

A monthly hardcover magazine covering the latest’s insights on ICT developments in Iran.

Malaysiakini

Launched in November 1999, Malaysiakini is one of the earliest online independent media portals in Asia, delivering news and opinion in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

Data Atlas

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 03:00:14 +0000

Data Atlas

Online world maps visualizing existing data sets about major global development issues. Both the original data sets and the visualizations may be used free of charge.

When

2014

Where

the Netherlands

Who

Ellen de Lange, Winny de Jong, Jason Yergeau and others

Website

oneworld.nl

What is it?

The OneWorld Data Atlas is an online tool exploring global development issues through maps and infographics based on data sets provided by the UN and other international organizations.

Charting a changing world, the Atlas includes data visualizations on issues such as food security, natural resources, and population growth. The maps and charts can be easily embedded on other websites and raw data sets may be downloaded free of charge.

How does it work?

Many institutions working on development issues are starting to share their data. The World Bank, the World Food Programme and other UN departments, NGOs, and some Ministries of Foreign Affairs, for instance, have recently opened their databases to enrich public knowledge and enhance the transparency of their work. Together, these free data sets contain a wealth of information on how the world is changing.

However, most data are not immediately comprehensible for the general public. The Data Atlas editors find, analyse, and review online data sets and make them accessible and meaningful for a general audience (in Dutch). The Data Atlas editors also clean up data sets and store them in CKAN, an open source data management system that enables easy sharing.

Through Drupal software, different kinds of maps (e.g. choroplete, heatmap, moving maps, bubbles) and charts (eg. histograms, bar charts, line charts) can be made to show the data in various ways. Users can click on timelines to see the world changing over time and compare different data.

Background

OneWorld is a journalism platform covering international development and sustainability for a Dutch audience (in Dutch). The Data Atlas is a tool developed by OneWorld to visualize data in various types of maps and charts in order to enrich more traditional blog stories. The Data Atlas allows readers to explore the raw facts behind stories.

Online readers may be moved by a news story or photo, but through the Data Atlas, they can check the statistical context of a story to better understand its importance. OneWorld plans to make the Data Atlas available for international use in the future.

Who are the users?

The OneWorld Data Atlas has been developed for a broad range of users. News blog readers may use the Data Atlas to understand the news in context and further explore topics of interest. Each theme is highlighted from several different angles, for example, under “food security” there are data about hunger, obesity, meat consumption, and land grabbing.

Users can click through timelines of the maps to see how the world has changed over time, but they can also compare data from different countries in a bar chart, read background information, or pull up related articles.

Professional journalists and NGO-employees are using the Atlas to provide better information, for example by embedding maps on their own websites to enrich their own stories. Schools and universities also use the stats, maps and figures in the Data Atlas, because the data are offered in an accessible way.

Some have incorporated the Data Atlas in their curriculum. Finally, the Data Atlas is of interest for data journalists, designers and developers, who prefer to use the data sources that the maps are built on and design their own visuals. They also reconstruct analyses and findings to double-check the findings.

In this way, the Atlas is constantly improved through the efforts of the data community. In 2015, a tool will be added to the Data Atlas for organizations wishing to produce quantitative maps on global issues in their own (corporate) identity.

Why did we select it?

By making quantitative facts and figures available as context for news, analysis and anecdotes, the Data Atlas contributes to a more objective and fact-based information flow, especially as concerns the developing world. Furthermore, with the Data Atlas, OneWorld adds to openness and transparency in the development sector.

The often polemic debate on spending taxpayers’ money on development aid is too rarely backed by facts. The Data Atlas makes huge amounts of data readily available and comprehensible, thus contributing to the quality of this debate. Although the tool is currently only available in Dutch, OneWorld is planning to make it available in English and possibly other world languages in the future.

Compare

World Bank Data Viz: a Tumblr blog by the World Bank that collects visualizations about the fight against poverty.
Gapminder.org: a widely used resource initiated by statistics professor Hans Rosling that visualizes the most important global trends.

Related Cases

Data Atlas

Online world maps visualizing existing data sets about major global development issues. Both the original data sets and the visualizations may be used free of charge.

Mapping Arms Data

An interactive data visualization that tracks arms and ammunition flows in order to understand the global arms trade and inform public debate and policy interventions.

Million Dollar Blocks

A spatial information design project that looks at rarely accessible criminal justice data in new ways by using mapping software.

Citizens’ Investigation

Devid Ilievski — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:42:19 +0000

Citizens’ Investigation

When

2008

Where

China

Who

Ai Weiwei

Website

aiweiwei.com

What is it?

On May 12th, 2008, an 8 Richter-scale earthquake occured in Sichuan province, China. Among the many dead were over 5,000 schoolchildren.

Artist Ai Weiwei traveled to the disaster zone to document the post-quake situation with his camera. He wanted to obtain more information about the death toll and the names of the children, but local officials obstructed his investigation.

In response to the government’s lack of transparency, and suspecting that poor construction of school buildings caused by corrupt local authorities led to the high death toll among children, Ai started an investigative journalism project to uncover the truth.

In a blog post titled “Citizen Investigation” on March 20th, 2009, he wrote: “To remember the departed, to show concern for life, to take responsibility, and for the potential happiness of the survivors, we are initiating a citizen investigation.” Issuing an open call for citizen participation, Ai succeeded in recruiting around 100 volunteers on-line for the investigation.

How does it work?

In 2006, Ai Weiwei started blogging on Sina.com, a major Internet company in China. He used his blog as a daily journal for commentary on cultural, political, and social affairs relevant to contemporary Chinese society.

After the Sichuan earthquake, Ai began to use the blog more actively as a tool for public and activist journalism in the service of the Citizens’ Investigation project. On the blog he reported regularly on the investigation and its progress, but also on the difficulties that his team experienced while conducting research on the list of child victims, including threats and obstacles posed by the local authorities and the police.

After the Chinese government shut down his blog, Ai swapped to microblogging sites such as Sin Weibo and Twitter (blocked in China), which he likewise exploited as new methods of documenting and reporting stories related to the earthquake and beyond.

He also used Weibo and Twitter to record and distribute images of his emergency surgery for a brain hemorrhage caused by a police assault in Sichuan’s capital city Chengdu, and of the complaint he filed afterwards with the police. Ai has stated that he likes Weibo’s/Twitter’s “promptness” and its ability to reach large audiences.

Why did he made it?

Ai Weiwei began Citizens’ Investigation to remember the children who perished in the Sichuan earthquake, and to console the parents who lost them. Besides this act of remembering through an assembled name list of the departed children, he has called upon the government to take responsibility.

As he stated forcefully on his blog: “They say the death of the students has nothing to do with them. They say it was inevitable, unavoidable (…) They close their mouth and do not discuss corruption…”

More specifically, Ai wanted the Chinese government to take responsibility for the sub-standard engineering of the schools. Ultimately, the artist addresses the lack of democracy in Chinese society and the dismissal of basic human and political rights by an authoritarian government.

Through Citizens’ Investigation, Ai aims to increase people’s political engagement, and to provide them with research tools and alternative means of on-line communication to share information and bring about change.

What is the impact?

Citizens’ Investigation marks a turning point in Ai’s life, work, and mission. He has used the outcome of the project for highly visible public artworks, to begin withSo Sorry, his solo exhibition in the Haus der Kunst (Munich, 2009).

The centerpiece of that show was Remembering, made of 9000 children’s backpacks running over the museum’s front facade, which together spelled out “She lived happily in this world for seven years” (a quote of a mother on Ai’s blog).

Ai also published several YouTube documentaries on Citizen’s Investigation – such as the video about Chinese lawyer Tan Zuoren’s court case (2009) and the film So Sorry (2010) – distributing the links through Twitter. The entire project was also documented in Alison Clayton’s documentary film Never Sorry (2013).

Another major project by Ai is Remembrance, a Twitter campaign featuring the voice recordings of 3444 followers reciting the names of 5205 children confirmed on the death list.After Citizens’ Investigation, Ai became a leading political activist and prominent Chinese dissident, leading to his house arrest (2010), imprisonment (2011), and foreign travel bans (2012).

As an outspoken critic with an international reputation, he continues to voice criticism of China’s censorship, lack of democracy and political freedoms, and violation of human rights. While Ai is renowned in the West for both his artistic accomplishments and his political activism, the Chinese government persecutes him in his home country.

Why did we select it?

It is an inspiring example of the effective use of social media for participatory investigative journalism. Ai has experimented creatively with new media tools and energized public journalism by giving people in China an active role in collecting, reporting, analysing, and disseminating news and information on the Sichuan Earthquake.

He did so by his particular “brand” of art at the intersection of social and political activism, aided by the Internet. His citizen journalism is an effective alternative and activist form of news gathering born out of social uprisings and discontent with mainstream media in the context of a modern authoritarian state in which censorship is all-too-common.

The artist-activist Ai Weiwei informs and reaches out to Chinese citizens via SNS’s to mobilise people through crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. Like other instances of citizen journalism today (the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement, the Turkish protests on Taksim Square, etc.), Ai shows that online media provide powerful new tools for promoting active citizenship and investigating social injustice in the public sphere.

Compare

“Fairytale” (2007) was the first art project for which Ai Weiwei used crowdsourcing via the Internet.

Related Cases

Mapping Arms Data

Devid Ilievski — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 19:18:50 +0000

Mapping Arms Data

An interactive data visualization that tracks arms and ammunition flows in order to understand the global arms trade and inform public debate and policy interventions.

When

2013

Where

Brazil

Who

Robert Muggah, the Igarapé Institute, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

Website

nisatapps.prio.org

What is it?

Drawing from existing data sources, the project tracks the global trade in small arms, light weapons, and ammunition. Small arms are responsible for the vast majority of conflict deaths and homicidal violence across the globe yet the trade is poorly regulated and penetrated by illicit networks.

The MAD project increases transparency and promotes accountability in the global trade of small arms and ammunition in order to understand how they threaten security and development throughout the world.

How does it work?

The underlying data draws from over 37 publicly available sources documenting the authorized trade of arms and ammunition, covering 262 states and territories and aggregating over a million data points. Users can explore the interface to map weapons flows by country and year between 1992-2012.

The visualization displays the volume and composition of each country’s small arms transfers, differentiating between military and civilian weapons and ammunition. It also shows the direction of exports and imports and how much they are worth.

The opaque nature of much of the global small arms trade makes tracking these flows immensely difficult. MAD’s reliance on publicly available data makes it an imperfect guide to assessing the totality of the arms trade since much of it takes place in the shadows.

However, it represents the best effort by far to aggregate and visualize this data. One sees, for instance, a spike in the flow of Iranian arms exports to Sudan as fighting erupted in Darfur after 2003, or the huge inflow of arms and ammunition imports that followed Mexico’s declaration of a war on drugs in 2006.

Why did they make it?

Virtually all firearms begin their lives legally, but many are diverted into the illicit trade, fuelling organized crime and insurgency across the globe. The small arms market is remarkably opaque, poorly regulated, and linked to murky networks of armed groups. The absence of transparency, accountability and regulation is particularly shocking given the extraordinary human costs of gun violence.

The MAD visualization shines a light on the $8.5 billion market in small arms and ammunition. It assembles specialized research carried out by governments and think tanks to inform activists, journalists and the wider public in an engaging and graphic manner.

Indeed, the tool was used by diplomats during United Nations negotiations for an Arms Trade Treaty in 2012 and 2013. By increasing public scrutiny over authorized imports and exports, the Igarapé Institute and PRIO hope to curb the unregulated proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

Why did we select it?

It is a pioneering effort to inform debate about the flow of small arms and ammunition, a topic that is often hidden from view. It has sparked global media coverage that helped people grasp the scale of the problem – and the involvement of their own governments in the arms trade.

The MAD visualization has been viewed by over 4 million people and was the recipient of several international awards and nominations. It shows how technology can render huge amounts of publicly available information comprehensible in ways that shape debate and journalistic coverage with implications for global security and development.

Other projects

The Igarapé Institute has several other projects that employ technology in innovative ways to promote security and development, including:

– The Child Security Index, a smartphone app that allows Brazilian children and care-givers to map perceptions of everyday violence in their communities.

– The Citizen Security Database allows users to interact with trends in public security and safety interventions and explore micro-level data about individual projects across Latin America and the Caribbean.

– The Smart Policing initiative is an Android app that uses video, audio and GPS functions of phones to improve oversight over police in Brazil, Kenya and South Africa.

In 2014 and 2015 the MAD project is being upgraded. It will feature new data on arms and ammunition exports and imports. What is more, it will include a new filter that provides the average price for selected weapons per country. This will allow users to see how street prices for firearms vary from setting to setting. Such information is useful in predicting the demand for guns, and possibly future hot spots around the world.

Related Cases

Data Atlas

Online world maps visualizing existing data sets about major global development issues. Both the original data sets and the visualizations may be used free of charge.

Mapping Arms Data

An interactive data visualization that tracks arms and ammunition flows in order to understand the global arms trade and inform public debate and policy interventions.

Million Dollar Blocks

A spatial information design project that looks at rarely accessible criminal justice data in new ways by using mapping software.

Reshuffle turns a book about AI into an interactive knowledge map

Devid Ilievski — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:40:40 +0000

Author and platform strategist Sangeet Paul Choudary has launched an interactive online companion to his book Reshuffle, allowing readers worldwide to explore its ideas about artificial intelligence, work and the knowledge economy through a digital storytelling environment.

Source: reshufflebook.com

Rather than simply reproducing the book online, the website breaks its central arguments into 27 interconnected ideas. Readers can follow thematic pathways about jobs, organisations, business ecosystems and the economy, or move freely through an interactive visual map.

The project offers an interesting example of how books and other long-form publications can be transformed into modular, non-linear digital experiences. For journalists and publishers, it also raises the question of whether investigations, archives and complex stories could increasingly be presented as explorable knowledge systems rather than as a fixed series of articles or chapters.