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Posts by Alena Rehberger
Is your state keeping up with bridge repairs?
Now updated for 2015, the National Bridge Inventory database can help you assess the soundness of bridges in your area. Journalists can use the data to investigate bridges by identifying those with structural problems, or that haven’t been recently inspected. Other key fields include average daily traffic and overall sufficiency rating. The records represent information from the…
Read MoreHow to turn data into compelling audio and video
By Maggie Angst For journalists working with audio or video, it can sometimes be challenging to find the best way to display data in story. Joe Wertz, an environment and energy reporter for StateImpact Oklahoma, emphasized that although we really want a character to tell a story, sometimes the data can be the character. For…
Read MoreUse housing data to report on the economy, education and more
By Brittany Crocker Big data has changed the way we look at housing. We no longer have to view a house through the lens of a real estate agent. Zillow has a database of 110 million homes that includes data for buyers and sellers, renters, homeowners, real estate agents, property managers, mortgage providers…and reporters. Skylar…
Read MoreJournalists share data projects you can try anywhere
By Jinghong Chen During a session at the 2016 CAR Conference, Kevin Crowe of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Jamie Grey of KOMU-Columbia shared tips and data projects that journalists everywhere can try. 1. Infrastructure Crowe said that people in lots of places, especially aging cities, are worried about potholes, water main breaks and pavement…
Read MoreNICAR 360: A look inside the Denver conference
Student blogger JuHyun Lee carried a RICOH THETA m15 camera around the 2016 CAR Conference to give us a 360-degree look inside the classrooms. Post from RICOH THETA. – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA Post from RICOH THETA. – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
Read MoreI built my first news app, and so can you!
By Daniela Sirtori-Cortina Doubt quickly took over me when the “Build Your First News App” session kicked off Friday morning of the CAR Conference. During the six-hour class — split into two three-hour seminars — Derek Willis from ProPublica and Ben Welsh from the Los Angeles Times guided the group through the process of building…
Read MoreGetting to know Brent Jones of St. Louis Public Radio
Brent Jones | Photo by Phillip Jackson Phillip Jackson, a student Hampton University and a 2016 CAR Conference Knight Scholar, talks with Brent Jones, the data visual specialist for St. Louis Public Radio. Jackson: What do you do at St. Louis Public Radio? Jones: I help reporters use data to tell stories, and that can…
Read MoreWhere to find information on ‘dark money’
By Brittany Crocker There’s a saying in the journalism world: “News is what someone wants suppressed. Everything else is advertising.” Carrie Levine from the Center for Public Integrity said if that’s true, then we should all be writing stories about dark money. Levine, Robert Maguire from the Center for Responsive Politics and Melissa Yeager of…
Read MoreDigital dark arts: How to secure your data and boost your sleuthing skills
By Carlie Procell Mike Tigas, a news applications developer at ProPublica, and Nicole Hensley, a reporter at the New York Daily News, addressed some cybersecurity issues journalists face and offered tips and tricks for working around them. “As journalists we have to communicate with sources,” Tigas said during the “Digital dark arts” panel. “So we’re…
Read MoreHow to foster a culture of lifelong learning in your newsroom
By Jasmine Ye Han For NewsAppers, the struggle is real. As developers, we need to keep up with technology, but the news side of things requires us to deliver content under deadline. How can we keep honing our skills under the pressure of production? How can news application team leaders create a culture of lifelong…
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