Tool of the week for journalists: freeDive, to create a searchable database
A fantastic, easy-to-use tool to allow you to turn a spreadsheet into an interactive database
– 1 min read
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Tool of the week:
What is it?
A wizard to turn a Google spreadsheet into a searchable, embeddable interactive
How is it of use to journalists?
This is a fantastic tool from the Knight Digital Media Center , based at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism .
freeDive is a wizard that allows you to take a Google spreadsheet, turn it into an interactive database, embed it into a news story and let readers to explore the data.
A word of warning: the embed code created is mainly JavaScript which some platforms restrict.
WordPress users can download a plugin such as Artiss Code Embed which works with WordPress security settings, allowing you to embed JavaScript.
The tool generates a simple embed code and also has an option to allow you to download the HTML, upload it onto your server and use an iframe.
Here is one we made earlier. This searchable database shows the ABC-audited web traffic figures for regional news groups.
[iframe src="http://www.journalism.co.uk/uploads/abcembedtest.html" height="650px"]
Written by
Sarah Marshall is VP Audience Strategy at Condé Nast. She leads distribution and channel strategy globally. She is also the former technology editor for Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)
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