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Hello world - my new place on the web

A data journalist creates a new blog to share technical tutorials, R/Svelte experiments, and project methodologies without editorial constraints. No metrics, just craft.

Hello world - my new place on the web
Photo by Alan W on Unsplash

24th of May 2025. In an act of rebellion, a data journalist makes a commit and pushes the big button saying “deploy”. A blog is born.

I’m sure this is not how history will be written about this corner of the web. To be honest, it doesn’t aspire to be that.

I needed a new portfolio. The old one was outdated and I wanted a side project that was not constrained by a deadline. Honestly, I’ve spent years learning from data journalists’ blogs — their tutorials, methodologies, and project write-ups saved me hours. Maybe it’s time I contribute something back.

So what can you expect from this little corner of the internet?

A mix of things, probably. Tutorials when I figure out something useful. Project write-ups that include all the failed attempts (because those matter too). Deep dives into R packages, Svelte experiments, web scraping adventures. The technical details I usually have to cut from published pieces.

I’ll be writing in English — pardon any grammatical errors, it’s my second language — because the data journalism community is not limited by borders.

Part of this is selfish: I want a space to write without simplifying the technical parts. I want a space where a 5,000-word exploration of geocoding methods is perfectly fine. No metrics to chase, no editorial guidelines, just the freedom to document the work as it happens—messy parts and all.

A place that feels like home to me. Yeah. That’s the best description of this place.

So should you go and immediately subscribe to the RSS feed of this place? Well, I can’t say. I’ll write when I have something worth sharing. No promises on frequency.

Is having a blog an act of rebellion in 2025? Not really. But in a world of platforms, there’s something quietly radical about just… writing. And sharing. Like we used to.

Rui Barros

About Rui Barros

Data journalist at PÚBLICO working with APIs, machine learning, and data analysis. I write about computational journalism techniques and tools.