BUILDING YOUR DIGITAL TOOLBOXPrepared for “Digging Deep: Training for Reporters and Editors”

March 26, 2011

THE INTERNET IS TWO THINGS…

Indispensable Challenging

AND… it shouldn’t take the place of the kind of reporting that takes you away from your computer

New York Times Newsroom Navigator http://

topics.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/cybertimesnavigator/index.html

Created by the NY Times research staff IRE’s Beat Source Guide

http://www.ire.org/resourcecenter/initial-search-beat.html

Investigative Reporters and Editors’ website in general is very useful (www.ire.org)

Sree’s tips (Columbia Prof. Sree Sreenivasan) http://www.sreetips.com/

FINDING SOURCES

ExpertClick http://www.expertclick.com

ProfNet http://www.profnet.com

LOOK FOR WAYS TO MAKE COMPARISONS

Databases U.S. Census web site

Compare local demographic and business trends to national trends

Bureau of Labor Statistics:  www.bls.gov Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance:

  http://www.cfda.gov/ National Center for Health Statistics: 

www.cdc.gov/nchs National Association of Health Data

Organizations:  www.nahdo.org

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation:  http://www.fdic.gov/index.html

ASK YOURSELF:  “WHO WOULD HAVE REASON TO COLLECT THE TYPE OF INFORMATION I AM SEEKING?” 

Then seek out web sites that cater to those audiences

For instance: “Head hunters” – people who do executive

recruiting – and the corporate offices that find candidates for executive positions also have Web sites they use, and you may learn something from these sites.

TELLING A “GREAT STORY” WITH INFOGRAPHICS

A growing trend: the “Data Visualization” Should be used to tell a great story. What are they?

Visual representations of information “served up with a healthy dose of innovation and creativity” (Anthony Calabrese, MediaShift)

Becoming a “best practice” for online journalists (and others) as they consider how to tell the best interactive story for their reader

It can be a motion chart, a short video clip or an interactive

http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/twitter-users-profile1.jpg

OR THEY CAN BE FANCY:

The Trendalyzer Advanced motion chart that makes stats come to

life

Hans Rosling

You can make your own motion chart at http://www.Gapminder.org

Journalism in the Age of Data http://datajournalism.stanford.edu/ Hour-long video, with many examples (and links

to places you can go to get usable data visualizations)

THE GEOGRAPHY OF A RECESSION

Created as part of a graduate project by a student at American University

Featured on several major news networks for its quick and clear impact of unemployment spreading like a stain across the U.S.

LaToya Egwuekwe’s illustration

FINALLY, THE BEST WAY TO USE THE INTERNET:

Share your ideas, share your best sources Don’t isolate yourself