"So, reporting. When I get a new set of data, I spend a good deal of time deciding what's important, and where a story is. I might run it through a visualization tool, like ManyEyes. Starting with data but no story tends to be a slow process. Ending up with a story but no data makes me feel like I haven't done my job. "

"Launched as a Christian Science Monitor project by Dante Chinni and James Gimpel to cover the 2008 election, this incarnation of Patchwork Nation will evolve to cover more communities and more topics, with a focus on the economy and how it affects different sorts of communities." – see Chris Amico's "lessons" for more.