An illustrated tour of the skies in an elevator

Neal Agarwal is up to his wonderful ridiculousness again. Imagining an elevator that goes up to space, a long scroll through the skies gives you a sense of elevation up until you leave Earth. See how high birds fly, where the wild yak resides, and who was the first person to break the sound barrier in a free fall.

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Scrolly video JavaScript library

ScrollyVideo.js is a JavaScript library that makes it easier to incorporate videos in a scrollytelling layout. The examples look really straightforward, which means I’m saving this for later.

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Shifting currents and melting ice in the Antarctic

Based on data from autonomous sensors floating in the oceans, researchers are able to model the flows and characteristics of ocean currents in more detail than ever before. For The New York Times, Henry Fountain and Jeremy White show how the shifts have unwelled centuries-old water deep in the ocean, which releases carbon into the air.

The scrollytelling format of this piece works well to show sensor estimates over time. You get a sense of the currents without needing to see animated lines.

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Treemap tour of political donations

The Digital Story Innovation Team for ABC News in Australia looked at political donations from the gambling industry. The piece goes all-in with treemaps in a scrollytelling format to show categories and individual donations.

It starts with an individual point and keeps zooming out more and more. Then when you think it’s done, it zooms out more.

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Collapse of Mexico City Metro explained

The New York Times investigated the collapse of the Metro, which killed 26 people. They explain their findings with a 3-D model of the train and the tracks:

The Times took thousands of photographs of the crash site and shared the evidence with several leading engineers who reached the same conclusion: The steel studs that were vital to the strength of the overpass — linchpins of the entire structure — appear to have failed because of bad welds, critical mistakes that likely caused the crash.

Impressive use of visuals and scrollytelling to take you through the seemingly small mistakes that added to a terrible outcome.

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An atlas for the world’s development indicators

The World Bank tracks global development through a number of indicators. (You can see and download much of the data through their catalog.) With a story-based approach, they published an atlas for 2020 that focuses on 17 development goals, such as end poverty, end hunger, and stop global warming. There’s one story per goal, charting out multiple indicators in each story.

There’s a lot to look at, but one thing you’ll probably notice across all of the topics is progress. It’s not all spikes and waves out there.

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Red counties mostly stayed red

For The New York Times, Denise Lu and Karen Yourish looked at the red and blue shifts for the counties that voted red in 2016:

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the popular vote by more than five million — and his margin is expected to grow as states finish counting. Still, results so far show that President Trump’s support remained strong in most of the counties that voted for him in 2016. Here’s how.

Always enjoy scrollytelling through spaghetti.

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Maps of Home

Dots on a map can feel like, well, just a bunch of dots. Dylan Moriarty zoomed in on the dot of his hometown, making the dot feel more real:

The map concept at the top of this piece has been kicking in my head for a long while. Came from a dream: Meandering in a museum space, from far, far away you see a map introducing a new exhibit on New York City. Walking closer, the standard .NEW YORK CITY dot became more detailed until you’d get to up close and discovered that each inch had a drawing detailing that block’s history. A historical illustration with the energy and detail of a Where’s Waldo page. No doubt inspired by the wonderful 1981 illustrated map of Chicago gangs.

This is very good.

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Fires in the west and climate change

This is some advanced mapping and scrollytelling from the Washington Post. The piece examines climate change in the context of the fires in the western United States.

Starting in the beginning of August, the piece takes you through the timeline of events as your scroll. Maps of temperature, wind, lightning, and fire serve as the backdrop. Berry Creek, California, a mountain town that burned to the ground, provides an anchor to show how large climate shifts can affect the individual.

Well done.

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If the unemployed lose $600 per week

A $600 per week benefit expires for the unemployed at the end of July. Congress is still deciding what to do after. For The New York Times, Ella Koeze highlights the percentage of usual income the unemployed will receive as a function of annual earnings and weekly benefit amount if the benefit goes away.

Each dot represents a state. The percentage ranges in the background provide a point of reference for where each income group and state falls. The scrollytelling format starts with individual points and then tours through the shifts.

An aside: I might just be imagining things, but I feel like there’s been more scrollytelling lately. Is this a function of doomscrolling on our phones? Also, whenever a chart anchors in the background and a text frame scrolls over, I think of Snow Fall from 2012.

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