About Me
Hey, I'm Wesley Ratko. I started my career in Montgomery County, PA as an urban planner for the county planning commission. My work there involved a lot of data and maps and I got very comfortable using spreadsheets and GIS to tell the stories of places looking to plan for their future growth.
Just after I got married, my wife took a job as a professor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, a move that led me back to school for a master's in information graphics and interactive design. My career as a newsroom developer and data journalist blends my planning background with journalism, using data, graphics, code, and mapping to tell compelling stories. I visualize and process data describing both the natural and built environment and its impact on the people living in San Antonio, always striving to make complex topics clear and engaging for my readers in ways that inform and inspire. When I'm not crafting visuals or diving into datasets, I'm busy being a dad to my two daughters and caring for an old house in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
Skills
- Data Analysis and Visualization
- Investigative Reporting
- Interactive Storytelling
- Statistical Analysis
- Programming (Python, JavaScript)
- GIS and Cartography
Experience
Currently, I work as a data journalist for the San Antonio Express-News, where I collaborate with reporters and editors to produce data-driven stories on various topics affecting that community.
Education
I hold master's degrees in Community and Regional Planning from Temple University and Information Graphics and Interactive Design from Ohio University, and a Bachelor's in Communications Media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
