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Former Fellow Vadim Makarenko leads first data journalism website in Polish media

14 Nov 2014

Press Release

In a move to beef up visual content “GAZETA WYBORCZA” launches its first ever digital-native outlet – BIQDATA.PL. BIQdata.pl - the first data journalism website in Polish media - has been prepared by Wyborcza’s newsroom. The website is available only for subscribers of Wyborcza’s digital content. BIQdata.pl has been created for curious readers, people who seek intellectual adventure as well as for those who look for information presented in a friendly and attractive manner. The website describes the world in numbers by analyzing, visualizing data and helping to draw conclusions. Stories available on BIQdata.pl offer a broader view on social, cultural and economic issues. The project has been prepared by Gazeta Wyborcza team led by Vadim Makarenko, a long-time business reporter and editor at Wyborcza.  “Information is more attractive and easier to understand when visualized, it allows the reader to look deeper and discover something often missed in this fast-moving world. For newsmedia visualised information allows to take full advantage of the digital world with its open data as well as new design and analytical tools vastly available online. Time-consuming and labour-intensive data journalism requires passion to see a story in numbers. It also requires new skills, which for publishers mean new investments. So if not Gazeta Wyborcza, who else in Poland was supposed to launch such a project?”, says Vadim Makarenko, the editor of BIQdata.pl. Initially, BIQdata.pl will be available exclusively for active subscribers of Wyborcza’s digital content. For unlimited access to BIQdata.pl, one of the digital packages of Gazeta Wyborcza must be bought. Only selected stories will be published on Wyborcza.pl, Wyborcza.biz and other digital outlets of Gazeta Wyborcza in order to promote the website. Starting from 27th of September, special „BIQdata” column will appear bi-weekly in the the weekend section of Gazeta Wyborcza’s printed edition. The light and lucid layout of BIQdata.pl is responsive. Its content is interactive and easy-to-share in social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, e-mail).

BIQdata.pl is supported by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw (SWPS) and The Polish Society of Market and Opinion Researchers (PTBRiO).

View the European Journalism Obervatory's article on this topic 'Data Journalism: Number Crunching in Poland'