About Marisakwik

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KWIATKOWSKI, MARISA is an investigative reporter at The Times of Northwest Indiana, a 90,000-plus circulation newspaper. Her responsibilities include creating investigative and enterprise stories. Kwiatkowski is a Michigan native who graduated with a degree in journalism from Grand Valley State University. Her first full-time newspaper job was in Grand Haven, MI, where she worked as an education reporter for the Grand Haven Tribune. Kwiatkowski then moved to South Carolina to become a convergence reporter for the Florence Morning News and WBTW News13. She moved back to the Midwest in November 2006 to work for The Times. She enjoys exercising, reading, traveling and volunteering for a nonprofit called Girls on the Run. She also is a devoted Detroit Lions fan.

January 2012 Digital Storytelling Workshop Project:

Stories

Digital media stories published elsewhere by Marisakwik:

  • Liquor licenses in northwest Indiana. [edit]
    This interactive map accompanied a story about how the 2010 census count changed the allocation of liquor licenses in region municipalities. To create the map, I requested a database of liquor licenses from the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. I created a new spreadsheet of local liquor licenses in our coverage area, then cleaned the database to ensure names and addresses were accurate. The map was created using a Google Fusion table.

Writing

Content on this site written by Marisakwik (includes contributory writing):

    • Testimonials

    This workshop was incredibly valuable. I can't wait to get back and start working on Google Refine and Google Fusion tables. I enjoyed Geocommons as well. Mostly, I appreciated the way our instructors presented the information -- with an understanding that you choose the digital storytelling components that are feasible to complete. It was that real-world component that really set it apart. I have many concepts I can bring directly back to the newsroom.