Data and design that makes a difference
We work with newsrooms, non-profits and businesses to help them find and tell stories with data. With a team of data journalists, designers, developers and trainers we can help with data analysis, visualisation, training and consulting.
How can we help you?
Learn With Us
Learn to collect, manage, analyse and visualise data. We offer short in-person workshops as well as longer courses, both in-person and online. We teach journalists and anyone else who needs to communicate with data.
Chart Design
We offer free and premium data and chart services to newsrooms, NGOs and businesses. Use our free charts in your work, order your own charts or speak to us about custom data analysis and visualisation.
Stretch Your Mind
Subscribe to The Outlier, our flagship newsletter, to read our data-driven stories and to Data Bites, for our take on media & tech. Play our unique daily cryptic crossword clue game Cluedle and our weekly news quiz.
Our brands
- Custom analysis and visualisation
- Publisher of The Outlier and Treevolution
- SA's first data-driven publication
- Outlier Learning
- Outlier Insights
- Climate & environment news
- Renewable and recycling resources
Our work
Women First
70%
of the team are women
Award-Winning
10+
national and international data awards
Skills Development
100+
data journalists trained
What others say
The data visualisation training with Laura and Alastair was the best four hours I spent last year. It gave me great insight into how to make our stories more accessible, and easier to understand. I also started following them on social media, which has given me some fabulous ideas on how to translate complex and important data into something very accessible. So glad I did this course – hope there are more to come!
Kim Jurgensen
University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa
South Africa
The course taught me that it’s not just about the data or the nice visualisation you create from it, but it’s more about finding the story. And that’s where the impact is.
Tholoana Phoshodi
University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa
South Africa
I thoroughly enjoyed the How to Tell Stories with Data course – it was insightful and informative, making it easy to grasp the art of storytelling through data. I had a great time and acquired valuable skills that have proven beneficial.
Manelisi Bozo
Cummins
South Africa
South Africa
The course helped me to turn what seemed like 'boring stats' my client had into useful and easy-to-understand graphics. This made it significantly easier for them to communicate intricate technology trends in a non-threatening way to their (mostly) non-technical audiences.
Ansie Vincente
SJ Perry PR
South Africa
South Africa
The How to Tell Stories with Data course was very eye-opening for me, equipping me with invaluable tools to convert data sets into compelling narratives using the online tool Flourish. A must for any data professional seeking to tell a story in more imaginative ways than the traditional pie chart or Excel chart.
Sherry Neville
Pan Macmillan
South Africa
South Africa
What I learnt is the importance of visualisations in both capturing and keeping the audience's attention in an ever-evolving media landscape that is characterised by decreasing reader timeframes. I also learnt the importance of having a strong angle to effectively tell the story that you want to tell – too broad a brushstroke makes it difficult to visualize.
Seth Thorne
Broad Media
South Africa
South Africa
I found the course insightful and very practical about how to visualise data. The reality is that one is developing three skills while doing this 1) identifying a story to tell, 2) arranging the data in a sensible way that tells the story and 3) designing a medium to communicate the story to the outside world. None of the three are natural, so the course is good in that it develops those three skills.
Craig Murrell
Agri Enterprises
South Africa
South Africa
Media Hack Collective was the platform that started me out on the data journalism journey for which I’m ever grateful. At first, I was clueless but with time and practise I had to start trying my hands on it and now I’m getting better. I hope to continue using data in my storytelling.
Vivian Chime
TheCable
Nigeria
Nigeria
@mediahackza appreciation tweet 🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿.Seven months after MHC Data Masterclass, a gradual transition into becoming a Data Journalist is in process.
Shehu Bello Olayinka
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting
Nigeria
Nigeria
What advice would I give to journalists starting out with data-driven journalism? I would say, listen to the people at Media Hack.
Ethan Van Diemen
Daily Maverick'
South Africa
South Africa
I will forever be grateful to the guys at @mediahackza for teaching me how to clean up the numbers and finding a story in them. Thank you so much for all the lessons. It is paying off now. #DataJournalism
Ezekiel Kekana
EW Blog
South Africa
South Africa
Despite my lack of prior experience in data visualization, I found the course incredibly engaging and enlightening. The instructors did an excellent job of breaking down complex concepts into easily digestible chunks, making them accessible to everyone in the class.
One of the highlights of the course was the personalized attention we received from the coordinators. This approach helped me gain confidence in my abilities and equipped me with valuable skills that I can apply in my professional endeavors.
Naledi Ngwenya
GCRO
South Africa
South Africa
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