Hypermedia and data visualization projects by Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson
Phone (434) 242-9728 | E-mail christopher.e.wilson@gmail.com
1375 Fairmont St. NW #309 | Washington, DC 20009
Overview
I'm a hybrid reporter-programmer with six years in professional journalism and four years in online development. My specialty is coding editorial multimedia projects and gathering large datasets. I can complete every stage of a project, from collecting and storing data, writing the code to analyze it, and developing a user-friendly, interactive visualization.
Work Experience
Slate Magazine
Senior Editor, April 2011-Nov. 11   |   Editor of Slate Labs, Aug. 2010-Nov. 11   |   Associate Editor, March 2009-Aug. 2010   |   Assistant Editor, Dec. 2007-March 2009
  • Developed several dozen multimedia features, such as maps, reader contests, and data visualizations.
  • Founded Slate Labs, a sister site for experimental web projects.
  • Wrote over 100 articles on technology, politics, culture, music, etc.
  • Wrote two investigative series, including an expose on how Saddam Hussein was captured using social network theory.
  • Winner of the 2010 Media Vanguard Award for Best New Web-Publishing Idea Factory
U.S. News & World Report
Staff Writer, May 2007-Dec 2007   |   News blogger, Jan. 2007-May 2007
  • Wrote several dozen articles as a reporter on the National Desk.
  • Founded the News Desk blog, writing 6-8 posts a day.
Congressional Quarterly
Graphics Reporter, Jan. 2006-Dec. 2006
  • Developed visualizations of Congressional and industry data.
Washingtonian Magazine
Contributor, Sept. 2005-July 2007
  • Wrote longform science-related features for the magazine.
Technical Skills
Languages:Javascript, Python, PHP, Actionscript, Flash, and Flex.
Data visualization:Raphael, Flare, Processing, and Protoviz.
Databases:MySQL, SQLite, RDF-based (such as DBPedia)
Markups/data formats:HTML/HTML5, XML, JSON, RDF
Platforms:Django (on which I run Slate Labs)
Operating systems:Linux, OSX (with Darwin), Windows
Education
University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Va.) 2001-2005
B.A., English; Concentration in physics; GPA: 3.59 (total), 3.80 (major)
Echols Scholar (Honors program for top 8.5% of Arts & Sciences students)
Standford Machine Learning Class, (online, just began)
Miscellaneous
Cofounder of AnalyzeWords.com, a site that uses natural language processing to determine your personality on Twitter.
Short story "The Dry Season"nominated for the Pushcart Prize.