University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Hate crime tracker: how to make local news relevant and visually engaging

(USC Thesis Other)

Hate crime tracker: how to make local news relevant and visually engaging

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content

HATE CRIME TRACKER:
HOW TO MAKE LOCAL NEWS RELEVANT
AND VISUALLY ENGAGING

by

Hannu Kivimäki

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL
FOR COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)

August 2022

Copyright 2022 Hannu Kivimäki
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ iii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... v
CHAPTER 1.0 : INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1
Chapter 1.1 : Project Goals ....................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 1.2 : Design Process ................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 1.3 : Project Case: Hate Crimes in Los Angeles ..................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2.0 : FRAMING THE PROJECT IN NEWS CONTEXT ............................................. 8
Chapter 2.1 : Making News Local and Relevant in The Age of Expanding News
Deserts ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 2.2 : Making Data Visualizations Engaging, Informative and Accurate ........12
CHAPTER 3.0 : COMPARING AVAILABLE JOURNALISTIC PRODUCTS ............................. 14
Chapter 3.1 : The New York Times: Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case
Count ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Chapter 3.2 : The Oaklandside ............................................................................................. 18
Chapter 3.2 : Los Angeles Times: Homicide Report ......................................................... 20
CHAPTER 4.0 : DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE PROTOTYPE ........................................ 22
Chapter 4.1 : User Research and Interviews ...................................................................... 22
Chapter 4.2 : A Premise for Design Work: Metabase Data .............................................. 24
Chapter 4.3 : Early-Stage Mockups .................................................................................... 27
Chapter 4.4 : Key Features .................................................................................................... 30
Chapter 4.5 : Visual Design Guidelines............................................................................... 33
Chapter 4.6 : User Tests & Feedback ................................................................................... 35
Chapter 4.7 : Revising and Iterating the Prototype ......................................................... 40
CHAPTER 5.0 : CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS: TOWARD AN ACTUAL PRODUCT ..... 44
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 47

iii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles from 2010 to 2021 by Crosstown. ............ 5
Figure 2. A definition of a hate crime by the United States Department of Justice. ......... 7
Figure 3. The New York Times uses well-designed maps and charts to convey
information about the pandemic to its readers. .................................................................. 16
Figure 4. The Oaklandside focuses on ultra-local news that their audience can use to
make decisions in their daily lives. ......................................................................................... 18
Figure 5. The Los Angeles Times’ Homicide Report reports stories of every homicide
victim in Los Angeles County. ................................................................................................. 20
Figure 6. A part of the LAPD’s Consolidated Crime Analysis Database Manual
illustrating modus operandi (MO codes). ............................................................................. 24
Figure 7. The list of MO Codes shows motivations related to hate crimes and incidents
in the LAPD’s Consolidated Crime Analysis Database Manual.......................................... 25
Figure 8. The hand-drawn sketches illustrate the initial features of the prototype. .... 26
Figure 9. The early-stage mockups show three data visualizations from the
Metabase’s hate crime data. .................................................................................................... 27
Figure 10. From left: 1) the landing screen, 2) the neighborhood selection menu closed,
3) the neighborhood selection menu opened, 4) a view of the selected neighborhood.
....................................................................................................................................................... 30
Figure 11. From left: 1) the hate crime trend over time in Downtown Los Angeles from
Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021, 2) the hate crime trend over time in Downtown Los Angeles
compared to the whole of Los Angeles from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021. .................................. 31
Figure 12. From left: 1) the hate crime motivation in percentages in Downtown Los
Angeles from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021, 2) the hate crime motivation in numbers in
Downtown Los Angeles from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021, 3) a comparison of the hate crime
motivation in percentages between Downtown Los Angeles and the whole of Los
Angeles from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021. ....................................................................................... 32
Figure 13. From left: 1) a map shows specific locations of reported hate crimes, 2) a
pop-up shows key information about the specific crime. ................................................. 33
iv
Figure 14. Typographic guidelines: headline typeface (Sora Bold) and body text
typeface (Nunito Sans). ............................................................................................................ 34
Figure 15. Color palette. ............................................................................................................ 35
Figure 16. On the left: the subsequent structure used in user testing. On the right: the
redesigned tabbed structure. ................................................................................................... 41
Figure 17. A zoomed-in view of the map featuring the dark map style. .......................... 43
Figure 18. The Hate Crime Tracker map demo website. The overall view shows every
reported hate crime recorded by the LAPD from Jan. 1, 2010, to April 30, 2022. ........... 43
Figure 19. A pop-up window containing more information about a specific hate crime.
MO Codes and other numeral information should be translated into understandable
language. ..................................................................................................................................... 44

v
ABSTRACT
As my thesis project, I’m designing a prototype of a news product that addresses a
local societal phenomenon through data, graphs, and charts. The goal is a mobile-
friendly prototype that is scalable for other news phenomena in an easily reproducible
way.

Hate crimes, the subject of my news product prototype, have been surging in the
United States for the past couple of years. The rise of hate crimes has been widespread
in major cities, especially Los Angeles.

I’m calling my news product the Hate Crime Tracker. It is a journalistic tool that would
serve the hyperlocal Los Angeles communities that the major media outlets have
forgotten. Because of the expanding news deserts, Los Angeles has many underserved
communities that don’t have access to reliable local news and information. The Hate
Crime Tracker allows the audience to explore hyperlocal hate crime data in a visually
engaging way.

I’m taking influence and ideas from similar news products in the market and
improving these ideas with user feedback. The project follows a user-centered design
approach and iterative product design philosophy.

The thesis outcome is an interactive product prototype and an interactive map demo,
which are a solid start for taking the Hate Crime Tracker toward an actual product.
1
CHAPTER 1.0 : INTRODUCTION
This thesis started with a piece of news published on the Crosstown news site in May
2021
1
. The article reported an alarming increase in hate crimes in the city of Los
Angeles. In the article, reporters Lauren Whaley and Ethan Ward wrote that the Los
Angeles Police Department (LAPD) recorded 62 hate crimes in April 2021 – “more
than any other month since at least 2010 when the LAPD began making its records
public.” The previous year 2020, was the seventh consecutive year when hate crimes
increased in the city.

Unfortunately, Los Angeles is not an outlier. Hate crimes are on the rise across the
country. The FBI’s annual hate crime statistics report
2
, released on Aug. 20, 2021,
reported 8,052 hate crimes in 2020 – the highest number in 12 years.

I read the Crosstown article as a part of Prof. Gabriel Kahn’s fall 2021 data-driven
storytelling class. Prof. Kahn had started Crosstown, a nonprofit news organization,
to use data to tell stories about the diverse neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Crosstown
reporters have been tracking hate crimes and hate incidents since 2018.

1
Ethan Ward, Lauren Whaley, “April hits new record for hate crimes in Los Angeles,” published May 20, 2021,
accessed March 14, 2022, https://xtown.la/2021/05/20/hate-crime-record-los-angeles/
2
“Hate Crime Statistics 2020,” FBI, published August 20, 2022
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/press-releases/fbi-releases-2020-hate-crime-statistics
2
The core of Crosstown is its Metabase, a data ingestor that allows reporters to sort
through and analyze publicly available data quickly. Metabase updates weekly with
incoming crime data from the LAPD and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD).
Metabase also contains regularly updated traffic, health, and air quality data.
Metabase is full of stories in numbers, and Crosstown’s reporters work to dig through
the data to find these stories. To help with the digging, reporters have an artificial
intelligence (AI) assistant, Crosstown Detective, a bot that seeks anomalies in the
data.

Using data as a source for stories and a means for storytelling has been an essential
part of my work as a visual journalist. I have over ten years of experience in visual
storytelling and have developed and introduced visual tools to display data in easily
digestible ways. Crosstown’s commitment to covering hate crimes caught my
attention, and I wanted to create a visualization tool to illustrate the alarming hate
crime trend in Los Angeles. The tool, Hate Crime Tracker, will be a journalistic product
connected to live data and designed to display hate crime data with charts and maps.
Most importantly, Hate Crime Tracker would be easy and intuitive to interact with, and
it would provide useful information for the target audience – the people of Los
Angeles. Angelenos could explore how their neighborhood is affected by hate crime.

My thesis goal is to create a prototype of the Hate Crime Tracker and design the steps to
implement it in a newsroom production environment. I’m building the prototype so
that other data-driven journalistic products could benefit from its structure and
3
functionality. Dynamic geocoded data-driven infographics could also illustrate other
social issues that impact people’s daily lives, such as air quality, transportation, and
housing costs.
Chapter 1.1 : Project Goals
Purpose of the thesis project
● To design a prototype of an engaging news product that addresses a local
societal phenomenon through data, graphs, and charts – and that is scalable
for other news phenomena in an easily reproducible way.
● To demonstrate that it is possible to build a digital news product that makes
local news relevant and usable to the audience.
● To create design deliverables (visual design guidelines, mockups, a prototype,
and user test reports) required for an actual news product featured in a local
news media.

Long-term goals
● To serve communities that have been underserved because of the collapse of
the local news in the United States.
● To strengthen local news production.
● To make news more usable and understandable through engaging visual
design.
4
Chapter 1.2 : Design Process
● In my thesis project, I will apply an iterative user-centered design product
development methodology in which designers focus on the users and their
needs in each phase of the design process.
● In my design process, I will focus on visualizing data in a way that is engaging,
informative, and accurate in a journalistic context. I will take influence from
the principles introduced by information designer and professor Alberto Cairo.
I will go through his thoughts in Chapter 2.3.

My project follows a two-step design process that consists of a problem phase and a
solution phase. This user-centered design approach was introduced to me by Jake de
Garzia
3
, a Product Manager at Artium Studios. I was intrigued by this lightweight, fast
and iterative product design philosophy, where you first try to figure out what is the
problem you’re trying to solve with your product. The problem is defined and refined
by doing user research. The solution phase comes in when you have validated the
problem and start building a solution with mockups and prototypes, which you test
with users. Feedback from the users is essential when iterating the design and
functionality of the prototype toward an actual product.
Chapter 1.3 : Project Case: Hate Crimes in Los Angeles
Hate crimes have surged in the United States in recent years. The rise of hate crimes
has been widespread in major cities, especially in Los Angeles. According to

3
A Zoom video call with Jake de Garzia, October 26, 2021.
5
Crosstown, the city of Los Angeles hit a grim record in 2021, recording a 56% spike in
hate crimes. There were 594 reported crimes in which a victim was targeted based on
race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or gender.

Figure 1. Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles from 2010 to 2021 by Crosstown.

Brian Levin, the Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at
California State University, San Bernardino, told Crosstown in February 2022
4
that the
number “is the highest recorded number of hate crimes in any city in the United
States this century and very well may be the highest in Los Angeles ever.”

4
Lauren Whaley, “Record-breaking hate crimes in L.A.,” accessed February 20, 2022,
https://xtown.la/2022/02/01/hate-crime-record-los-angeles-2021/
6
I’m trying to find the best way to illustrate this social phenomenon in a local context
using LAPD publicly available data on reported hate crimes and visualizing the data
with dynamic infographics. I aim to create a product that allows the users to easily
explore the data from a mobile device and find relevant information.

A hate crime, also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime, is a prejudice-
motivated crime that occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their
membership (or perceived membership) of a specific social group or racial
demographic. In my thesis project, I’m using a definition used by the LAPD
5
:

“A hate crime is any criminal act or attempted criminal act directed against a person
or persons based on the victim’s actual or perceived race, nationality, religion, sexual
orientation, disability or gender.

Examples of hate crimes include:
● Acts which result in injury, even if the injury is slight.
● Threats of violence that look like they can be carried out.
● Acts which result in property damage.
● Any criminal act or attempted criminal act, including property damage,
directed against public or private agencies.”

5
“What are Hate Crimes?”, LAPD, accessed March 16, 2022, https://www.lapdonline.org/what-are-hate-crimes/
7
According to the United States Department of Justice, in the simplest terms, a hate
crime must include both “hate” and a “crime.”

Figure 2. A definition of a hate crime by the United States Department of Justice.

In addition to hate crimes, there are also bias or hate incidents that are acts of
prejudice that are not crimes and do not involve violence, threats, or property damage.
Racial insults not involving violence usually fall into the category of hate incidents.

Crosstown’s Metabase contains systematically structured LAPD crime data. Every
reported crime is a data set, including information on the time, place, perpetrator,
victim, weapon used and mode of action. Bias-motivated crimes are marked in the
data with a four-digit modus operandi (MO) code. Also, hate incidents are stored with
a specific MO code. With these unique codes, it is possible to isolate and examine hate
crimes and incidents from a mass of data.

The crime data is geocoded and contains both verbal and exact coordinate information
on where crimes took place. For example, a single crime in the data includes verbal
information on the area (e.g., West LA), neighborhood (e.g., Hollywood), street (e.g.,
1300 Westwood Bl) and premise (e.g., synagogue/temple). A single crime is also
8
recorded with exact information on the location’s longitude and latitude. This
comprehensive spatial data enables investigating and comparing hate crimes in
different parts of Los Angeles.

The components I’ve described above make the data very useful for journalistic
storytelling. When I studied the data structure at the very beginning of this project,
questions started to flood my head. Which neighborhoods are the most affected by
hate crimes? Are there areas where hate crimes are not committed? Who are the
victims and what are the motivations behind the crimes?

I understood that the LAPD data and thoughtful infographic storytelling could answer
all the questions.
CHAPTER 2.0 : FRAMING THE PROJECT IN NEWS CONTEXT
Chapter 2.1 : Making News Local and Relevant
in The Age of Expanding News Deserts
In my thesis project, I’m designing a journalistic product for a local media outlet,
Crosstown, that serves the many local communities in and around the city of Los
Angeles. This section discusses the current state of local journalism in the United
States. It sets a target for my hate crime tracker on how to serve Angelenos better than
the major media outlets.

9
The local news landscape in the United States has struggled for its existence in recent
years. In 2004 newspaper advertising, circulation, and employment were at – or close
to – peak levels. After that, the direction has been downward for over 15 years.
Penelope Muse Abernathy, the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media
Economics at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, has examined the loss of local news from the end of 2004 to
the end of 2019. More than one-fourth of the country’s newspapers disappeared,
leaving residents in thousands of communities – inner-city neighborhoods, suburban
towns, and rural villages – living in vast news deserts
6
.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the rise of news deserts. The
economic fallout from the coronavirus has turbo-charged the decline – more than 100
local newsrooms have closed during the pandemic. At first, the pandemic cost
newsrooms jobs and communities critical work. Now it’s starting to end entire
newsrooms.
7

The high production costs of local news and the digitalization of the news industry are
considered reasons for the emergence of news deserts. According to Abernathy,
“much of the decline in the past 20 years was inevitable, as the business model
collapsed for news organizations and a viable substitute digital model has so far failed

6
Penelope Muse Abernathy, “News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive?”
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020), 5–8.
7
Kristen Hare, “More than 100 local newsrooms closed during the coronavirus pandemic,” Poynter Institute,
updated December 2, 2021, accessed February 21, 2022, https://www.poynter.org/locally/2021/the-coronavirus-has-
closed-more-than-100-local-newsrooms-across-america-and-counting/
10
to emerge. There was an initial naiveté about the possibilities of the digital age that
blinded policymakers, the industry, and news consumers to the unintended political,
economic, and social consequences. Instead, the intrusive, always-on internet swiftly
siphoned off readers, advertisers, and profits. With Facebook and Google capturing
the vast majority of digital revenue in many communities today, traditional news
organizations, as well as online outlets, have been reduced to fighting over the digital
scraps.”
8

Abernathy emphasizes that “without increased funding to support for-profit,
nonprofit and publicly-funded news enterprises, digital start-ups – as well as
newspapers, public and commercial broadcasting outlets, and ethnic media – have
struggled to attain the strong financial footing necessary to experiment with and
develop new business models that will allow them to address the local news deficit
adequately.”

This trend has led to a situation where underserved communities living in news
deserts don’t have access to reliable local news and information. Without enough
relevant information, it is tough for a community to make wise decisions about issues
that will affect the quality of their everyday lives and those of future generations.

8
Penelope Muse Abernathy, “News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive?”
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020), 9.
11
Los Angeles County currently has 66 newspapers
9
, the most significant number of
newspapers in the state of California. Despite its diverse media outlets, many Los
Angeles communities live in news deserts.

The number of newspapers declined 24% between 2004 and 2019. Many inner-city
neighborhoods are, at least in part, neglected by the leading newspapers and news
organizations such as the Los Angeles Times, NBC Southern California, CBS Los Angeles,
and abc7 Los Angeles. Some neighborhoods end up in the news only when a spot news
event, such as a traffic accident or shooting, happens. Instead of random bits of
information, these neighborhoods would need constant coverage of issues affecting
the daily lives of those living there. Issues of importance might range from small
things, such as the number of potholes filled in the area, to discussions in the local
neighborhood council.

Abernathy says that rethinking the local news necessarily involves reinventing the
business model and gaining traction on the internet for public service journalism –
investigative and analytical reporting on matters of critical importance, such as
education, the environment, politics, and the economy. She also discusses that new
policies and regulations need to simultaneously acknowledge and address the
interconnectedness of journalistic mission to the business model and technological
capabilities.
10

9
“The Expanding News Desert in California,” accessed February 21, 2022,
https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/states/california/
10
Penelope Muse Abernathy, “News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive?”
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020), 89–91.
12

Even if the local news landscape has eroded on the verge of extinction, there are
examples of start-up news organizations and nonprofit outlets that try to patch the
expanding local news gap. They explore the means to survive and eventually prosper
in a difficult situation.

Crosstown is an example of a start-up news organization striving to serve
communities that have been forgotten in news deserts. Crosstown’s spatially
customized email newsletter that compiles key information on every Los Angeles
neighborhood is a prime example of using data-driven journalism to offer locally
relevant news to a vast audience. Users can subscribe to the newsletter by choosing
their community and they receive a weekly newsletter containing news about health,
crime, traffic and other areas of interest specific to their neighborhood.

I’m trying to design my Hate Crime Tracker with Crosstown’s hyperlocal philosophy,
embracing the idea of serving the many communities of Los Angeles with a data-
driven, interactive and visually engaging news product.
Chapter 2.2 : Making Data Visualizations
Engaging, Informative and Accurate
With data visualizations, defining what is not desirable is practical before going into
detail about what consists of an optimal outcome. In his book How Charts Lie, Alberto
13
Cairo addresses the most common mistakes and pitfalls when displaying data as
visualizations and the ways to avoid these mistakes
11
.

Cairo writes that we associate charts with science and reason, and their flashy visuals
are appealing and persuasive. But charts can also lead us astray. Charts can lie in
various ways:

● Charts can display inaccurate data.
● Charts can oversimplify stories.
● Charts can suggest misleading patterns.
● Or charts can just be easily misunderstood – many of us are ill-equipped to
interpret the visuals politicians, journalists, and advertisers present, enabling
bad actors to manipulate them to promote their agendas.

Data and charts are thus also handy for propaganda purposes. And in the time of post-
truth, politicians and advocacy media outlets have taken advantage of poor data and
visual literacy to promote their agendas.

Cairo says that charts can make us smarter and enable fruitful conversations, but only
if certain conditions are met.

11
Alberto Cairo, “How Charts Lie. Getting Smarter about Visual Information”, (New York: W. W. Norton &
Company, 2019), 50–51.
14
Some are related to the design of those charts; others to how we readers interpret
them. We, as readers, should approach charts as means to enhance conversations.
Most charts aren’t conversation stoppers but conversation enablers. A good chart may
help you answer a question (“Did the number of hate crimes increase or decrease in
Los Angeles after President Trump’s inauguration?”), but charts are better at piquing
our curiosity and prompting us to ask better questions (“But how do these numbers fit
into the figures for other major U.S. cities?”).

Cairo’s following condition for a chart to make us more intelligent is not to interpret
too much. He says we must stick to the principle that a chart only shows what it
shows; therefore, we must strive not to read too much into it.
CHAPTER 3.0 : COMPARING AVAILABLE JOURNALISTIC PRODUCTS
This section will discuss digital journalistic products, either special articles or whole
media sites, that use data visualizations as an integral part of their journalistic
narrative. I call them products because every journalistic article could be considered a
product that needs to be sold to the target audience. I’ve chosen three products that
relate to my thesis project goals of making local news relevant, making news usable,
and making data visualizations engaging and accurate. I will summarize the pros and
cons of these three products and what features could be utilized in my thesis project.

First, I will discuss the New York Times’ coronavirus tracker that uses maps and
charts to display the current and past state of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United
15
States and the world. Second, I’m introducing The Oaklandside, a local nonprofit
newsroom that strives to make local journalism useful to its audience. Third, I touch
on the Los Angeles Times’ Homicide Report, which tracks all the murders and the
people who have died by law enforcement in Los Angeles County.
16
Chapter 3.1 : The New York Times: Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map
and Case Count
12

Figure 3. The New York Times uses well-designed maps and charts to convey information about the
pandemic to its readers.

The New York Times, one of the most prominent media outlets in the world, started
its coronavirus tracking project with a single spreadsheet at the beginning of the
pandemic in January 2020
13
. After 18 months into the pandemic, the Covid-19 section
of the New York Times’ website involved more than 100 journalists and engineers
from across the organization. The Covid-19 pages were the most-viewed collection in
the history of nytimes.com and were a part of the package of Covid reporting that won

12
“Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count”, The New York Times, accessed May 9, 2022,
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
13
Tiff Fehr, Josh Williams, “10 Million Data Requests: How Our Covid Team Tracked the Pandemic,” published
June 24, 2021, accessed May 9, 2022
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/insider/covid-tracking-data.html
17
The Times the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for public service. The New York Times’ Covid-19
tracker uses maps and charts to display daily worldwide data on the coronavirus cases,
deaths, hospitalizations, vaccinations, and tests.

Pros: Clean and well-designed graphs that are quick to read and understand.
Searchable charts enable finding relevant information about certain locations and
areas. Many charts have tab options to show information from the last 90 days or the
pandemic's beginning. Comparing different U.S. states and areas of the world is made
easy. The data is updated daily and makes the product relevant for everyday use: The
Covid-19 pages contain potentially life-saving data in real time.

Cons: The abundant information can be overwhelming when searching for specific
information. It takes time to understand how to navigate among numerous maps,
charts, and tables. The pages are mobile-friendly and accessible even without a
subscription.

Takeaway: Providing constantly updated information about Covid-19 with
thoughtfully designed maps and charts makes the New York Times’ Covid-19 section
an appealing product for a large audience. As a user, I want to visit the site regularly to
stay informed about the pandemic.

18
Chapter 3.2 : The Oaklandside

Figure 4. The Oaklandside focuses on ultra-local news that their audience can use to make decisions in
their daily lives.

The Oaklandside
14
is a local nonprofit newsroom that tries to establish reporting for
communities instead of reporting about communities
15
. That means asking the
question: Who is their journalism for? The Oaklandside strives for smart, savvy, data-
driven, discerning journalism that can help people make choices about different
products or different programs or learn how to navigate complex systems—for
audiences that are not as resourced as the people who advertisers would typically

14
The Oaklandside, accessed May 9, 2022, https://oaklandside.org/
15
Jack Herrera, “‘We Need to Radically Redefine Who We Are Serving’,” Columbia Journalism Review, winter
2020, accessed February 21, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/special_report/we-need-to-radically-redefine-who-we-are-
serving.php
19
target. The Oaklandside’s goal is to make service journalism that helps their local
community to make informed decisions in their daily lives.

Pros: The Oaklandside touches on newsworthy local phenomena from an audience-
driven perspective. Articles provide information about decision-making, housing,
health, schools and road safety that are essentially connected to the daily lives of the
local community.

Cons: The use of charts and maps that boost understanding is limited. Articles that
could use more visual storytelling and interactive features are mostly text-driven,
traditional journalism. It forces the audience/users to spend significant time
understanding the topic at hand.

Takeaways: An audience-driven approach to news makes local news more relevant
and informative. A news product could be more engaging and appealing when using
this approach combined with user-centered visual design and interactivity.
20
Chapter 3.2 : Los Angeles Times: Homicide Report

Figure 5. The Los Angeles Times’ Homicide Report reports stories of every homicide victim in Los Angeles
County.

The Los Angeles Times’ Homicide Report
16
uses numbers, maps, and charts to
illustrate a violent phenomenon that is specific to Los Angeles. The Homicide Report
identifies all murders in the county and tracks the people who have died by law
enforcement. In addition, the Homicide Report tracks how county prosecutors handle
police killings. The Homicide Report is a combination of an interactive map, database,
and a blog that chronicles homicides in Los Angeles County. Coroner's officials
currently are providing a bi-weekly list of homicides to The Times
17
.

16
“Los Angeles Times’ The Homicide Report: A Story for Every Victim,” accessed May 9, 2022,
https://homicide.latimes.com/
17
“What is the Homicide Report?” Los Angeles Times, accessed May 9, 2022,
https://homicide.latimes.com/about/#whatis
21

Pros: Using location information to display killings on a map effectively shows which
Los Angeles areas and neighborhoods are most affected by homicide. The interactive
map provides a lot of depth to study the thousands of victims of violent crime.

Cons: The Homicide Report works intuitively on a desktop computer but falls short on
a mobile screen. The mobile version does not give enough information about the
product on the landing page and is hard to navigate at first.

Takeaway: An interactive map is an effective tool to show spatial information on
homicides. The more dotted an area is, the more affected it is by killings. A similar
visual user interface helps display hate crimes in Los Angeles.

22
CHAPTER 4.0 : DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE PROTOTYPE
Chapter 4.1 : User Research and Interviews
Before brainstorming and designing the prototype, I wanted to learn more about hate
crimes and what kind of thoughts the phenomenon sparked in Angelenos. The get to
know the subject, I interviewed four Los Angeles-based individuals who were more or
less familiar with the issue of hate crimes.

One of the interviewees was Det. Orlando Martinez, the hate crime coordinator of the
Los Angeles Police Department. The second was Ariella Loewenstein, the Deputy
Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Los Angeles. The
remaining two were specialized journalism graduate students, Marlon Dwight and
Juliette Smith.

Everybody was more or less concerned about the surging hate crime in Los Angeles.
Det. Martinez explained that one of the reasons the numbers were on the rise was that
the LAPD had introduced a more detailed classification of hate crimes at the beginning
of 2020. The LAPD now requires officers to mark bias-motivated hate crimes in their
database accurately. Still, these factors did not explain alone the increase in hate
crimes.
18

18
A Zoom video call with Det. Orlando Martinez and Crosstown’s Senior Project Manager Lauren Whaley, October
20, 2021.
23
Ariella Loewenstein disclosed that the fear of being subjected to hate crime had grown
in proportion with the surge of hate crimes in the Los Angeles communities,
especially in the Jewish community. She was familiar with the real-time LAPD hate
crime data and stressed that the Hate Crime Tracker should inform users that the real-
time data is initial data and might be subject to change. After an investigation, every
reported crime may not be confirmed as a criminal offense. Loewenstein wanted to
make sure that Angelenos should not be too unnecessarily intimidated because they
are already scared.
19

Loewenstein and Det. Martinez were interested in comparing the differences among
Los Angeles neighborhoods, for example, the number of hate crimes, the change over
time and the groups targeted.

Juliette Smith and Marlon Dwight were especially interested in how their groups were
subjected to hatred and prejudice. Dwight, who is Black, was concerned about how
disproportionately overrepresented African Americans were as targets of hate crime
in correlation to the demographics of Los Angeles County
20
. Smith, who is Jewish, was
eager to know what kind of hate crimes were committed against the members of the
Jewish community
21
. Both Dwight and Smith were also interested in the differences
between their neighborhoods and other parts of Los Angeles.

19
A Zoom video call with Ariella Loewenstein, November 4, 2021.
20
In-person interview with Marlon Dwight, October 19, 2021.
21
In-person interview with Juliette Smith, October 19, 2021.
24
Chapter 4.2 : A Premise for Design Work: Metabase Data
Crosstown’s Metabase was the starting point for designing the Hate Crime Tracker. The
LAPD data stored in Metabase defined what is possible to present regarding hate
crimes in Los Angeles. The data contains all the reported crimes from Jan. 1, 2010,
when the LAPD made its crime records public. Every reported crime is a data sheet,
including information on the location and date of the reported incident. The data also
contains information on the type of crime. The LAPD defines different crimes by four-
digit modus operandi (MO) codes, and specific MO codes represent types of
motivation for committing the crime on a bias. The list below illustrates the MO codes
representing different sorts of crimes. MO Codes regarding hate crimes and incidents
are highlighted yellow.

0902 Political Activity
0903 Hatred/Prejudice
0904 Strike/Labor Troubles
0905 Terrorist Group
0906 Gangs
0907 Narcotics (Buy-Sell-Rip)
0908 Prostitution
0909 Ritual/Occult
... ...
0921 Hate Incident
0922 ATM Theft with PIN

Figure 6. A part of the LAPD’s Consolidated Crime Analysis Database Manual illustrating modus operandi
(MO codes).

25
The LAPD differentiates hate crimes and incidents into 35 different subsections that
are listed in Figure 5.

1505 Bias: Mental Disability 1523 Bias: Anti-Catholic
1506 Bias: Physical disability 1524 Bias: Anti-Eastern Orthodox
(Russian/Greek/Other)
1507 Bias : Anti-female 1525 Bias: Anti-Hindu
1508 Bias: Anti-male 1526 Bias: Anti-Islamic (Muslim)
1509 Bias: Anti-Gender non-conforming 1527 Bias: Anti-Jehovah's Witness
1510 Bias: Anti-Transgender 1528 Bias: Anti-Jewish
1511 Bias: Anti-American/Alaskan Native 1529 Bias: Anti-Mormon
1512 Bias: Anti-Arab 1530 Bias: Anti-Multiple Religions
Group
1513 Bias: Anti-Asian 1531 Bias: Anti-Other Christian
1514 Bias: Ant-Black or African American 1532 Bias: Anti-Other Religion
1515 Bias: Anti-Citizenship Status 1533 Bias: Anti-Protestant
1516 Bias: Anti-Hispanic or Latino 1534 Bias: Anti-Sikh
1517 Bias: Anti-Multiple Races (Group) 1535 Bias: Anti-Bisexual
1518 Bias: Anti-Native Hawaiian or Other
Pacific Islander
1536 Bias: Anti-Gay (Male)
1519 Bias: Anti-Other
Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry
1537 Bias: Anti-Heterosexual
1520 Bias: Anti-White 1538 Bias: Anti-Lesbian
1521 Bias: Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism 1539 Bias: Anti-
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual or
Transgender (Mixed Group)
1522 Bias: Anti-Buddhist

Figure 7. The list of MO Codes shows motivations related to hate crimes and incidents in the LAPD’s
Consolidated Crime Analysis Database Manual.

26
Every reported crime can contain
several crime codes and MO codes,
which show what the offense is
related to. For example, an assault
with a deadly weapon that is
motivated by anti-gay bias is
recorded into the database
containing the crime code 230
(Assault with Deadly Weapon) and
at least MO codes 0906
(Hatred/prejudice) and 1536 (Bias:
Anti-Gay (Male)).

As I mentioned in chapter 1.3
Project Case: Hate Crimes in Los Angeles, I considered the data's spatial information and
hate crime motivation as crucial components. In journalistic storytelling, these
variables make it possible to reveal how hate crimes affect different parts of Los
Angeles. Which areas are the most affected? Are there neighborhoods with no hate
crimes at all? With the help of the hate crime MO codes, it’s possible to show which
groups are targeted the most by hate crimes.

After learning the essential aspects of LAPD hate crime data, I started designing the
prototype by sketching with a pencil and a notebook. I picked datasets I had explored
Figure 8. The hand-drawn sketches illustrate the initial
features of the prototype.
27
in Crosstown’s Metabase that would illustrate the rising hate crime trend (the
monthly number of hate crimes reported). I also wanted to show which groups of
people are targeted the most by hate crimes using the MO codes representing different
motivations. I purposefully chose chart types, such as the line and bar charts, that are
quick to interpret, clear, and would boost understanding in seconds. I also wanted to
include a choropleth map that would show which Los Angeles neighborhoods are most
and least affected by hate crimes. The initial sketches included a hate crime feed that
showed the most recent reported hate crimes as a list.
Chapter 4.3 : Early-Stage Mockups

Figure 9. The early-stage mockups show three data visualizations from the Metabase’s hate crime data.

I created the first mockups of the Hate Crime Tracker with a digital design tool called
Figma. I also used an online data visualization tool Datawrapper, to quickly generate
28
line and bar charts to illustrate the Metabase hate crime data. The mockup screens
show three different sections:

1. A line chart shows the hate crime trend in the Los Angeles area.
2. A bar chart shows the motivation of the reported hate crimes.
3. A choropleth map shows the differences in the number of hate crimes in Los
Angeles neighborhoods.

I included a possibility for the user to study different periods for each visualization.
The mockup has dropdown menus for selecting the year and the month to show the
desired period. The mockup also had an option to show and hide hate crimes and
incidents. The map section featured an opportunity to see the data on a symbol map or
as a straightforward table.

Before diving too deep into prototyping, I showed these early-stage mockups to Det.
Orlando Martinez, the hate crimes coordinator of the LAPD
22
. Det. Martinez stressed
that the Angelenos ask him what group was targeted by hate crimes (and how many)
and where are the crimes happening. The local communities care about what’s
happening in the neighborhood they’re living in, not the actual details of the crimes,
such as how the crime was committed. According to Det. Martinez, Angelenos rarely
ask about the details.

22
A Zoom video call with Det. Orlando Martinez and Crosstown’s Senior Project Manager Lauren Whaley, October
20, 2021.
29
Det. Martinez also criticized the map for being too ambiguous, which was a fair view.
The choropleth map did not reveal where hate crimes happened, which was a matter
of great importance for the Angelenos who had discussed the issue with Det. Martinez.
Det. Martinez also suggested including a month-to-month and year-to-year
comparison as a table with the actual number of hate crimes and hate incidents. From
that, it would be easy to see the trend.

Det. Martinez’s insights were essential when making the second iteration of the
prototype, which had a more refined set of critical features that stressed the
importance of the neighborhood and a possibility to zoom in on a map to see where
crimes happened.

30
Chapter 4.4 : Key Features
Using Metabase data analysis and local expert insight, I created four key features for
the prototype.

Landing screen and a neighborhood selection menu: A landing screen explaining to
the user the content of the product and a dropdown menu allowing the user to select
the neighborhood of interest.

Figure 10. From left: 1) the landing screen, 2) the neighborhood selection menu closed, 3) the
neighborhood selection menu opened, 4) a view of the selected neighborhood.

The trend over time: Reported hate crimes in a selected Los Angeles neighborhood by
month (a dynamic line graph that allows year-by-year comparison and comparison to
the total amount in the city of Los Angeles).

31

Figure 11. From left: 1) the hate crime trend over time in Downtown Los Angeles from Jan. 2010 to Oct.
2021, 2) the hate crime trend over time in Downtown Los Angeles compared to the whole of Los Angeles
from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021.

Who is targeted: Hate crime motivation recorded by the LAPD in a selected Los
Angeles neighborhood (a dynamic bar graph that allows year-by-year comparison
and comparison to the total amount in the city of Los Angeles).

32

Figure 12. From left: 1) the hate crime motivation in percentages in Downtown Los Angeles from Jan.
2010 to Oct. 2021, 2) the hate crime motivation in numbers in Downtown Los Angeles from Jan. 2010 to
Oct. 2021, 3) a comparison of the hate crime motivation in percentages between Downtown Los Angeles
and the whole of Los Angeles from Jan. 2010 to Oct. 2021.

Where crimes happen: The reported hate crime locations in a selected Los Angeles
neighborhood (a dynamic map showing points of interest and critical information on
the reported hate crimes).
33

Figure 13. From left: 1) a map shows specific locations of reported hate crimes, 2) a pop-up shows key
information about the specific crime.

Chapter 4.5 : Visual Design Guidelines

Typography
I picked sans serif fonts to give the product a contemporary look that would be
consistent with the look Crosstown uses on its website. I paired two typefaces from
Google Fonts, Sora and Nunito Sans, with enough weight contrast to work as a
distinguishable headline and body text typefaces. Choosing typefaces from Google
Fonts was also a matter of accessibility. They are easier to implement than unique
fonts from commercial type foundries when the prototype is developed as an actual
product.

34

Figure 14. Typographic guidelines: headline typeface (Sora Bold) and body text typeface (Nunito Sans).

Colors
I decided to use bright red and orange hues as the primary colors of the prototype.
Orange is the brand color of Crosstown and makes Hate Crime Tracker consistent with
Crosstown’s visual identity. In Western cultures, it is considered an alarming color
referring to danger. When displaying information on a violent phenomenon of hate
crimes, it felt natural to use a color connected with danger and worry. I also chose
light blue as a highlight color. The shade of blue brings enough contrast to the
primary colors and is also a calming color. The combination of complementary colors
like orange and blue are also easily distinguishable even for persons with color-vision
deficiency. I know this from my personal experience. I have a red-green color
deficiency.

35

Figure 15. Color palette.

Chapter 4.6 : User Tests & Feedback
I designed and conducted a user test session with seven participants
23
using a Figma
prototype. The test's purpose was to determine how user-friendly the prototype is
and how easily the users understood the content of the data-visualizations. I
organized the user test in person and followed every test session, making notes and
recording the user’s screen on video with my mobile phone. After every test, the
participants completed a Google Forms questionnaire online with questions regarding
their experience using the prototype.

23
User tests and interviews with Summer Dahlquist, Heidi Kalmari, Yixuan Cheni, Yingtao Lu, Randy Vasquez,
Yuan Gao and Isabella Zavarise, Los Angeles, November 22, 2021.

36
I expected the users to accomplish the following goals using the prototype:
● The users can learn and understand how the number of hate crimes is evolving
in Los Angeles and its neighborhoods.
● They can study and compare which groups are targeted the most and the least
by hate crimes in different neighborhoods.
● The users can also find the exact locations where hate crimes occurred.

To find out if my assumptions were correct or not, I created the following two user
task sets for the participants. I used Task set 1 with four participants and Task set 2 with
three participants.

Task set 1
1. Find out has the number of hate crimes increased or decreased in Downtown
during the two past years?
2. Are gay men targeted more by hate crimes Downtown than in the Los Angeles
area?
3. Find out where a hate crime against sexual orientation has happened
Downtown.
Task set 2
1. What is the current hate crime trend in Downtown and the Los Angeles area?
2. How many hate crimes with an anti-Black bias have been reported Downtown?
3. Find out where a hate crime with an anti-Jewish bias has happened.
37

User Test Questionnaire
After completing the tasks with the prototype, the participants answered these
questions using a Google Forms questionnaire.

1. How would you summarize what this product is about?
2. How user-friendly was the product experience? (1–5)
3. How would you describe your overall experience in one sentence?
4. What aspect(s) could we improve to make this product easier to navigate?
5. How easy or difficult were the test assignments? (1–5)
6. Why were the assignments easy or difficult?
7. If you could change one thing in this product, what would it be and why?
8. What do you expect to see in this product in the future?

Results and Findings of User Testing
The test participants gave feedback that the overall experience with the prototype was
mainly positive:
● It was easy to use.
● The topic was interesting, and the visuals were nice and clear. Some problems
in usability, but mostly very good experience.
● It is an interesting website and a really good idea to establish a website like this.
● I think more charts can clearly illustrate the phenomenon.
38
● I thought it was cool. I just wish I could see more cities, which I know are in the
works.
● Pretty easy to use to understand.
● It was interactive and informative.

For the question “How user-friendly was the product experience?” the participants gave
an average of 3.9 on a 1-to-5 scale.

For the question “What aspect(s) could we improve to make this product easier to
navigate?” the participants gave the following answers:

● Making the clickable buttons more obvious and easier to use. Also, improving
the map function so that you can zoom in or go beyond the boundaries of
downtown.
● Clearer instructions.
● Perhaps one chart or kind of information appears one after another could be
clearer to navigate.
● Adding more captions to the chart, maybe some contexts.
● I think the pinch zoom feature would work well, especially on the map.
● Including a zoom-in/out feature.

For the question “If you could change one thing in this product, what would it be and
why?” the participants gave the following answers:
39

● I would make it so that you wouldn't have to scroll all the way down to view
certain things but rather could click on headers to visit certain functions such
as the map or the bar graph.
● The motivation part was a little bit unclear to me.
● I want to show the trend, race, and location one after one because it looks a
little crowded for phone version.
● I think I may add more contexts on charts because the category is mixed with
other elements.
● I wouldn't change anything; I would just make some of the features more
natural. I naturally wanted to pinch to zoom in but I could not.
● Have the zoom-in function of the map.
● Be able to zoom in and out of the map area to see the scope of hate crimes and if
they're concentrated in a certain area.

Two key findings (or problems) came up multiple times in the questionnaire answers
and when I followed the user test sessions:

1. Navigating the map was not intuitive: Users tried instantly to zoom out and
zoom in on the map with pinch gestures, but it didn't work. When users tried to
scroll up and down, the map blocked scrolling. Users had to touch outside the
map to get where they wanted to go. Users also wanted more information on
the map, especially in places close to their homes.
40

Solution suggestion: Add pinch gestures for zooming in and out and add a
possibility to zoom in and out with +/- icons. Create a demo of a map that has
location information of all the reported hate crimes.

2. The subsequent headings and charts seemed crowded to some users: Users
were scrolling the prototype up and down to find information or feature they
needed.

Solution suggestion: Different chart types (the number of reported hate
crimes, the motivations, the map) should be available as tabs below the Choose
neighborhoods function. The user could switch between different tabs and
navigating to another chart would be quicker.

Chapter 4.7 : Revising and Iterating the Prototype
After receiving feedback from the user test participants, I focused on restructuring the
three subsequent sections into a compact tabbed user interface. It would save time
from unnecessary scrolling back and forth and make it more enjoyable for the user to
switch between different chart and map views.
41
Redesigned prototype screens

Figure 16. On the left: the subsequent structure used in user testing. On the right: the redesigned tabbed
structure.
42

Redesigning the Map
The second and more important problem was the clumsy map user interface. It had no
option to zoom in and out and the prototype contained just a few hate crimes on the
map. The prototyping tool Figma was too limited to illustrate the map in the full
functionality I intended it to have. Figma was not the tool to include enough hate
crime data on the map.

As a part of the Advanced Coding for Storytelling class during the spring semester at
Annenberg, I developed a demo of the map feature with HTML, JQuery and actual data
extracted from Metabase. I downloaded a dataset of every reported hate crime from
Jan. 1, 2010, to April 30, 2022. I used Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library, to
place every hate crime recorded by the LAPD on a map.

As a result, I created an interactive map that is a stand-alone demo website. The map
uses the spatial information recorded in the hate crime data. The map also has a pop-
up feature that displays more information on specific hate crimes.

The user can add or remove hate crimes from the map using a year selection menu on
the right side of the map. The map is also zoomable and allows users to navigate the
map freely.
43

Figure 18. The Hate Crime Tracker map demo website. The overall view shows every reported
hate crime recorded by the LAPD from Jan. 1, 2010, to April 30, 2022.
Figure 17. A zoomed-in view of the map featuring the dark map style.
44

Figure 19. A pop-up window containing more information about a specific hate crime. MO Codes and
other numeral information should be translated into understandable language.
CHAPTER 5.0 : CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS:
TOWARD AN ACTUAL PRODUCT
In my thesis project, I designed a touchable/clickable prototype of the Hate Crime
Tracker and programmed a demo of the map feature. To make Hate Crime Tracker live,
developer expertise is essential. Usually, a product design process involves developers
at an early stage. Also, in current large newsroom environments worldwide, cross-
disciplinary collaboration among developers, journalists, and designers is a daily
routine.

45
This project did not simulate the reality of a newsroom environment. Still, I’ve created
two critical assets, the interactive prototype and the interactive map demo, which are
a solid start for taking a step toward an actual product.

With Hate Crime Tracker, I’ve demonstrated that it is possible to address a local
societal phenomenon of hate crimes in Los Angeles using Crosstown’s Metabase data.
Hate Crime Tracker uses interactive charts and maps for the target audience, the
various local communities of Los Angeles, to find and explore information that is
relevant to them. Hate Crime Tracker provides a user-friendly and visually engaging
experience for consuming news.

To continue the project as confidently as possible, I’ve listed four vital steps when
continuing the work on Hate Crime Tracker.

1. Testing with live data. The Metabase hate crime data should be put on a test.
This can be done effectively with a data-visualization tool like Datawrapper,
which supports connecting a specific chart to live data. The live data feed must
be available on a server or Datawrapper can host it. Using a lightweight method
to test the data is a practical step toward creating self-designed and self-
developed, customizable charts. With Datawrapper’s built-in charts, it is
possible to study and analyze the hate crime data before putting a lot of effort
and resources into developing the final product.
46
2. Including the developers. Developer expertise must be included to find the best
and most efficient ways to connect the live data to the product. Also, the
prototype I’ve built must be created with coding. The Figma prototype provides
essential information on the functionality and contains the user interface
design deliverables. Using the prototype as a premise is a good start.
3. Iterating the coded prototype. User tests should be continued with the coded
prototype. Using a test-driven development approach, where every
encountered issue in a user test is redesigned or corrected in code and then
retested, is a path.
4. Finding the following dataset to work on. The Hate Crime Tracker is an example
of creating a data-driven journalistic product from a substantial dataset.
Crosstown’s Metabase is full of possibilities when considering a tracker-like
product. Most of, if not all, the Metabase data includes spatial information that
can be presented on a map. And with expertise, data always converts to easily
understandable charts and graphs. Possible topics regarding Los Angeles could
be air quality and housing costs.
5. Helping Angelenos to find the tool. People must be made aware of the Hate
Crime Tracker. Crosstown can use its marketing channels (e.g. social media and
Crosstown’s weekly newsletter) to attract users. Crosstown should also write
and publish stories derived from Hate Crime Tracker’s dynamic infographics.
The Hate Crime Tracker would serve as a continuous story idea generator.

47
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Interviews and personal communication
De Garzia, Jake. Interview by author. Los Angeles, October 26, 2021.

Dwight, Marlon. Interview by author. Los Angeles, October 19, 2021.

Loewenstein, Ariella (ADL). Interview by author. Santa Monica, November 4, 2021.

Det. Martinez, Orlando (LAPD). Interview by author. Santa Monica, October 20, 2021.

Smith, Juliette. Interview by author. Los Angeles, October 19, 2021.

User tests and interviews with Summer Dahlquist, Heidi Kalmari, Yixuan Cheni,
Yingtao Lu, Randy Vasquez, Yuan Gao and Isabella Zavarise. Los Angeles, November
22, 2021.

News or magazine articles
Fehr, Tiff & Williams, Josh. “10 Million Data Requests: How Our Covid Team Tracked
the Pandemic.” The New York Times, June 24, 2021.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/insider/covid-tracking-data.html

Hare, Kristen. “More than 100 local newsrooms closed during the coronavirus
pandemic.” Poynter Institute, December 2, 2021.
https://www.poynter.org/locally/2021/the-coronavirus-has-closed-more-than-
100-local-newsrooms-across-america-and-counting/

Herrera, Jack. “‘We Need to Radically Redefine Who We Are Serving’.” Columbia
Journalism Review, winter 2020. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/we-need-to-
radically-redefine-who-we-are-serving.php

48
Ward, Ethan & Whaley, Lauren. “April hits new record for hate crimes in Los Angeles.”
Crosstown, May 20, 2021. https://xtown.la/2021/05/20/hate-crime-record-los-
angeles/

Whaley, Lauren. “Record-breaking hate crimes in L.A.” Crosstown, February 1, 2022.
https://xtown.la/2022/02/01/hate-crime-record-los-angeles-2021/

Books and videos
Abernathy, Penelope Muse. News Deserts And Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News
Survive? (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2020.)

Cairo, Alberto. How Charts Lie. Getting Smarter about Visual Information. (New York: W.
W. Norton & Company, 2019.)

Website content
Los Angeles Police Department. “What are Hate Crimes?” Accessed March 16, 2022.
https://www.lapdonline.org/what-are-hate-crimes/
The United States Department of Justice. “Learn About Hate Crimes.” Accessed May 7,
2022. https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/learn-about-hate-crimes

Los Angeles Times. “The Homicide Report: A Story for Every Victim.” Accessed May 9,
2022. https://homicide.latimes.com/

Los Angeles Times. “What is the Homicide Report?” Accessed May 9, 2022,
https://homicide.latimes.com/about/#whatis

The New York Times. “Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count.” Accessed
May 9, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html

The Oaklandside. Accessed May 9, 2022. https://oaklandside.org/

49
Journal articles and reports
FBI. “Hate Crime Statistics 2020.” Press release August 30, 2021.
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/press-releases/fbi-releases-2020-hate-
crime-statistics

U.S. News Deserts Database. “The Expanding News Desert in California.”
https://www.usnewsdeserts.com/states/california/

Abstract (if available)

Abstract As my thesis project, I’m designing a prototype of a news product that addresses a local societal phenomenon through data, graphs, and charts. The goal is a mobile-friendly prototype that is scalable for other news phenomena in an easily reproducible way.
Hate crimes, the subject of my news product prototype, have been surging in the United States for the past couple of years. The rise of hate crimes has been widespread in major cities, especially Los Angeles.
I’m calling my news product the Hate Crime Tracker. It is a journalistic tool that would serve the hyperlocal Los Angeles communities that the major media outlets have forgotten. Because of the expanding news deserts, Los Angeles has many underserved communities that don’t have access to reliable local news and information. The Hate Crime Tracker allows the audience to explore hyperlocal hate crime data in a visually engaging way.
I’m taking influence and ideas from similar news products in the market and improving these ideas with user feedback. The project follows a user-centered design approach and iterative product design philosophy.
The thesis outcome is an interactive product prototype and an interactive map demo, which are a solid start for taking the Hate Crime Tracker toward an actual product.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

The next-generation news application: Stories in context

PDF

Mobile applications as a communication space: playdate application case study

PDF

Remember what you truly want to remember: souvenirs, nostalgia and Route 66

PDF

An analysis of business approaches to drive community-specific media coverage in Japan

PDF

My spaces (2020-2021)

PDF

The daily life of nervous boy "Y": information visualization with multi-sensory design

PDF

The community wildfire protection plan repository: using VGI to create a national collection of wildfire management information

PDF

Behind the tea: Chinese history and the culture of tea

PDF

Gamification + HCI + CMC: effects of persuasive video games on consumers’ mental and physical health

PDF

The strain I am under: the human condition and its effects on my design process

PDF

Foodable: a voice to fight food waste with digital design solutions and sustainable minds

PDF

Visualizing the effects of cultural communication on the individual: Confucianism and new family structure

PDF

Game character design and cultural export

PDF

Bento: space design

PDF

From conventional to regenerative: how soybean farmers transitioned to organic in the U.S. and Argentina

PDF

A sense of joy

PDF

Dark cloud cleaner: virtual reality interactive film production

PDF

Creation and influence of visual verbal communication: antecedents and consequences of photo-text similarity in consumer-generated communication

PDF

Envisioning seismic Los Angeles: data visualization techniques for an interactive seismicity and building response map application

PDF

Accept yourself, respect yourself, love yourself: a film letter to myself

Asset Metadata

Creator Kivimäki, Hannu (author)

Core Title Hate crime tracker: how to make local news relevant and visually engaging

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Degree Conferral Date 2022-08

Publication Date 07/26/2022

Defense Date 07/25/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag charts,data journalism,data visualization,database,graphs,hate crime tracker,Hate crimes,hate incidents,infographics,interactive product prototype,journalism,journalistic tool,local journalism,local news,Los Angeles,map demo,Maps,Metabase,mobile-friendly,news app,news design,news product,OAI-PMH Harvest,product design,prototype,tracker,ui design,user experience,user interface,user research,user testing,user-centered,ux design,visual design,visual journalism

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Kahn, Gabriel (committee chair), Aguilar, Amara (committee member), Whaley, Lauren (committee member)

Creator Email hannu.kivimaki@gmail.com,kivimaki@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111375354

Unique identifier UC111375354

Legacy Identifier etd-KivimkiHan-10990

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Kivimäki, Hannu

Type texts

Source 20220728-usctheses-batch-962 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu