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Data-driven enterprise off your beat Jill Riepenhoff | @jriep | jriepenhoff@dispatch.com

Getting started in data journalism

1 – Convince a buddy to teach you Excel. It’s a powerful tool that is easily mastered.

2 – Start small. A guaranteed success will impress your editors and readers/viewers and convince yourself that this is doable.

3 – Master one tool at a time. Don’t think you need to learn everything at once. Some data journalists use only Excel, period.

4 – Use Excel often. To keep fresh, track FOIAs, your Rolodex, passwords, recipes. It isn’t a bicycle – you will lose it if you don’t use it.

5 – Join Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). As a member ($70 annually/$25 for students), you have access to thousands of how-to tip sheets, practice datasets, training opportunities, clean datasets and listservs. http://ire.org/membership/

Why you need data

1 – In this new media climate, you have to be able to do more than interview and write a story. Data journalism is another area that sets you apart from the pack.

2 – Find trends no one else can spot.

3 – Spot anomalies.

4 – Data is defensible. Numbers typically don’t lie and help hold the powerful accountable.

5 – It adds depth and texture in a way that an anecdote never could. It also makes you sometimes smarter than the government agency collecting the data because agency officials never analyze it.

How to find it

1 – Get record-retention schedules from the agencies you cover.

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2 – Read what other journalists have written on the topic – especially look for the how-to geek boxes.

3 – Ask the agency. How do you track ______?

4 – See below.

Data galore by beat

Slam-dunk data on any beat

Inspection reports: nursing homes, taxi cabs, amusement-park rides, stadium food

Licensing: nurses, massage therapists, mortgage brokers, food trucks

Disciplinary actions: teachers, doctors, lawyers, coaches

Complaints

Property records: slumlords, foreclosures

Sports

Minor league baseball: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/

College athletic department salaries. See USA Today for top coaches’ salaries in football: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/ and basketball: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/ncaab/coach/

Team rosters: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/osu-m-footbl-mtt.html

Major NCAA infractions: https://web1.ncaa.org/LSDBi/exec/miSearch

Academic progress rates for college athletes (Click cancel if it asks for a password): http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/newmedia/public/rates/index5.html

High school participation rates: http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/ParticipationStatics.aspx/

Health

Vaccinations

Ohio nurses’ licensure: http://bit.ly/1rnHY9i

Nursing Home Compare: http://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Ohio Department of Health data center: http://www.odh.ohio.gov/healthstats/dataandstats.aspx

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Business

Consumer complaints filed with the Attorney General’s office: http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Individuals-and-Families/Consumers/Search-Consumer-Complaints

Sheriff’s sales

Wildlife bird strikes: http://wildlife.faa.gov/

Data breaches: http://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach

Local government

Housing-code violations

Parking tickets

Time sheets

Education

Ohio historical-enrollment data to see how the size of districts has changed over time: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently-Requested-Data/Enrollment-Data

Ohio Department of Education frequently requested data: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently-Requested-Data/Requesting-Student-Level-data

Campus crime 2001-2012: http://www.ope.ed.gov/security/, or you can buy clean data from IRE for $25

Environment

Tracking algae blooms in Ohio: http://epa.ohio.gov/habalgae.aspx Downloadable spreadsheet on the page about algal-toxin results at Lake Erie, Ohio state park beaches and public water supplies.

Ohio EPA enforcement actions: http://www.epa.state.oh.us/enforcement.aspx

Cops and courts

Jail-booking data: Stories – domestic violence, immigration, drunk drivers

Sex offenders

Supreme Court’s Ohio Courts Statistical Summary tracks in aggregate form the types of cases heard in Common Pleas Court – probate, juvenile, civil and criminal: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/default.asp

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The arts

Ohio Arts Council: http://www.oac.state.oh.us/search/default.asp

Guidestar for nonprofits’ IRS Form 990 or tax return (NTEE codes – A60 performing arts): http://www.guidestar.org/

Nonprofits

Youth sports, booster clubs: http://www.guidestar.org/

Bingo profits: http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Business/Bingo-Operator/Bingo-Financials

Features

Dog licenses: popular breeds/names, location of pitbulls

Punxsutawney Phil vs. Buckeye Chuck

License plates: variations of Go Bucks, banned phrases

U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features.html

U.S. Department of Labor violations for clothing manufacturers, retailers and fashion-media companies: http://ogesdw.dol.gov/homePage.php

Need more ideas?

Here are 60 from data journalists Mary Jo Webster and Jodi Upton. They put together this presentation for the NICAR/IRE conferences this year. It’s rich with ideas: http://goo.gl/9EKDfz

Questions?

Jill Riepenhoff

Projects Reporter, The Columbus Dispatch

(614) 461-5292 – w; (614) 638-6883 – c

jriepenhoff@dispatch.com | @JRiep