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Integrity checks and simple data cleaning – the art of doubt

There is a saying about software engineering that could easily be applied to formatting data. The truism goes something like, “it’s like looking for black cats in a dark room that has no cats in it.” And then, someone yells, ‘I got one!’” Well, Joe Kokenge of ProPublica is practicing animal control. His presentation on…

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Quick tips on presenting data-driven stories

Cheryl Phillips of The Seattle Times and Anthony DeBarros of Gannett Digital presented on how to fit your data to the appropriate presentation style. Just like when you’re shopping for clothes, you should ask a lot of questions before you buy (or in this case, before you spend resources designing anything). What is the story…

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Get acquainted with the new look of Fusion Tables

Google Fusion tables has a new look.You can learn how to use it with Google Fusion Tables tutorials, and get a grip on how to import map data, and style, filter and share your creation with the world. Learn step-by-step how to formulate “lots of points” maps, heat maps and intensity maps. Some other cool…

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The data-driven story from launch to presentation

This three-part series  moderated by Brant Houston of the University of Illinois walks through a data-driven story, from interviewing the data to proving the story to your editor to telling it to your audience. Using a database (available from the NICAR data library) of government-backed loans from the Small Business Administration, a group of reporters…

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Getting started with Tableau Public

Photos by Travis Hartman I walked into the Tableau Public session with absolutely no experience — and within about 10 minutes the instructor had us open up some data, sort through a few of the elements, and create a visualization.  Its immediate ease of use is clear. To produce quick, coherent interactive charts seemed pretty…

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Advanced social media sleuthing

Geolocation tools help you search for social media activity buzzing in your beat, on your block and even in your building. The following tools help you search by geolocation information embedded in tweets, Facebook updates, youtube videos and more. “Geolocation is one of the most exciting things for journalists out in the field,” presenter Doug…

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Making the best use of the conference

IRE executive director Mark Horvit and training directors Jaimi Dowdell and Megan Luther offered advice this morning for how to make the best use of the conference. For first-time attendees, here are a few basic things to keep in mind: There are three types of sessions: panels, demos and hands-on rooms. Panels follow a fairly…

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Behind the Story: Questionable border patrol shootings

In December, Tim Steller, a reporter and now columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, reported on the increasing number of shootings occurring between Border Patrol and illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.  The victims in some cases appear to have been unarmed.  This fact and the lack of transparency in the investigations has cast doubt…

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IRE & NICAR Office Holiday Schedule

Most of our staff will be in and out of the office during the holidays from Thursday 12/20 through Wednesday 1/2. If you need assistance, please e-mail or leave a voice mail and your call will be answered as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience during this time.

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IRE part of new Google Journalism Fellowship

Investigative Reporters and Editors is pleased to be part of a new opportunity Google is launching for college journalism students.  It’s an exciting program, and here at IRE, the selected student will have the opportunity to do meaningful work with data, gain a deeper understanding of investigative reporting, be part of the annual IRE Conference…

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