CAR Conference Blog
2014 CAR Conference audio available online
Couldn’t make it to all of the sessions on your NICAR Conference wish list? We’ve got audio from nearly every panel and session. Full-length recordings are only available to IRE members. Some short audio clips will be made available to the public using Soundcloud. To access conference audio, log in to IRE website and go…
Read MoreHow to use inspection data to drive your stories
By Brittany Collins Michael Pell, a reporter on the Reuters data team in New York, and Joce Sterman, an investigative reporter for WMAR-Baltimore, showed journalists at the 2014 CAR Conference how to mine inspection reports for data. Several departments hold inspection documents, Sterman said. Local health departments keep inspection files on restaurants, schools, airport facilities,…
Read MoreTips for investigating racial inequality
By Mariya Moseley Nikole Hannah-Jones, ProPublica; Lawrence Lanahan, an independent journalist working in Baltimore; and Steve Doig, Arizona State University, shared tips and resources for investigating racial inequality during a session at the 2014 CAR Conference in Baltimore. Lanahan, who launched a year-long multimedia examination of regional inequality, offered three steps for beginning the investigation process: Get…
Read MoreFERPA Frustrations: How to outmaneuver university officials to get the info you need
By Donovan Harrell Three journalists offered advice to students struggling with public records requests during a brown bag session at the 2014 CAR Conference. Student attendees talked about attempts to outmaneuver their respective universities, which had been denying public records requests using laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the…
Read MoreData Deep Dives: What we can learn from ‘Deadly Delays’ and other powerful projects
By Ariana Giorgi One of the best ways to start your own data story is to learn what worked – or didn’t work – for other journalists. Three pros took NICAR attendees behind their data-driven projects as part of “Data Deep Dives.” Speeding Cops | John Maines, Sun Sentinel John Maines presented his story…
Read More#NICAR14 in sketches
If you’re following Emily DeMarco (@eademarco), of PublicSource, on Twitter, you know she sketched her way through the 2014 CAR Conference. We turned her visual depiction of #NICAR14 into a Storify. Here are a few of our favorite cartoons: Thanks to all the @IRE_NICAR organizers, speakers (and Nicarians for retweeting my #comics!) #nicar14 pic.twitter.com/cKsFyKnsO4 —…
Read MoreA quick trip through data in the sciences
By Anna Boiko-Weyrauch Policy fellows from the American Association for the Advancement of Science took the audience on a tour of techniques they use in their work and presented some tips on how to interact better with experts in various scientific fields during the Saturday session, “A quick trip through data in the sciences.” Carolyn Lauzon presented a…
Read MoreClean that dirty data with OpenRefine
By Tim Sandoval Reporters who’ve used Microsoft Excel for a story know that analysis doesn’t begin until the data has been cleaned. Spreadsheets provided by governments or other entities are often not formatted the way reporters would like. Some agencies format the data in confusing ways, or do problematic things like spell words incorrectly in…
Read MoreVIDEO: Census tips for every beat
By Irina Ivanova Census tips for every beat from IRE/NICAR on Vimeo. We all know the census contains data, but getting just the data you want out of it can be tricky. Paul Overberg and Ronald Campbell know this. Campbell used to call American Fact Finder “the tool of the devil” (though today only about…
Read MoreThe art and craft of finding people
By Karim Lahlou Journalists Julie Tate, The Washington Post, Rick Yarborough, NBC Washington, shared tips on how to locate sources using a combination of online and offline resources. Whether you’re looking for a source’s location, criminal history, or election contributions, the following list they’ve compiled is more than enough to get started. Get the link…
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