The Seattle Times Engages Readers with Interactive Data

Over the course of the last two years, we’ve been on a journey to build a data tool for journalists, bloggers, and others who have not traditionally been part of the business intelligence world. On the way we’ve been fortunate to develop an extraordinary collaboration with The Seattle Times.

The Seattle Times is a hard-hitting news outfit in the best tradition of journalism. As hometown readers we watched with pride when they took the Pulitzer for breaking news in 2010. They have consistently innovated with new ways to tell stories, from interactive data to video to local blog partnerships. In today’s sometimes impoverished news environment, we’re proud to have a vibrant, forward-thinking partner to teach us a thing or two about journalism.

And they have been a vital partner for us. As early adopters, they provided crucial feedback to the ongoing product development process. From watching the journalists and news designers learn our software to fielding their questions later, we’ve learned what news organizations and publishers need. We’ve been amazed with the creative ways they’ve found to use Tableau, and we love to wake up in the morning and find a new visualization in our hometown paper. They’ve been generous with their time and their thoughts. We’ve gotten feature ideas and yes, occasionally found a bug.

This video tells a bit of the story of The Seattle Times and Tableau. Cheryl Phillips, Data Enterprise Editor, Justin Mayo, Computer-Assisted Reporter, and Whitney Stensrud, News Designer talk about what they use Tableau and how it helps them engage their readers.

Read more of the interviews here.