Ira Chinoy /
COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING PROJECTS ON THE WEB
Collections
of links
Archives of
computer-assisted reporting projects
Ø Investigative Reporters and
Editors list of the recent
CAR projects and archive of earlier
CAR projects
Ø The Scoop’s searchable database of CAR projects
Investigative Reporters and
Editors: other links
Ø IRE guide to the latest investigative work
Ø IRE archive of hot
projects
Ø IRE list of online investigative
projects (need to be IRE member)
Ø IRE contests winners;
print, television, online, radio, magazine, books
Ø Philip Meyer
Journalism Awards - recognizing journalism done using social science
research methods.
Other contests:
Ø Pulitzer Prize winners: Pulitzer archive has
links to online versions of stories from recent years
Ø Philip Meyer Journalism Awards
(administered by NICAR and the Knight Chair in Journalism at
Ø Education Writers Association – Education Reporting
Awards
Specialized sites for
investigative projects:
Ø Center for Public Integrity: Links to the center’s investigative projects
Ø PBS site --
Other useful hubs of
journalism links:
Ø “Internet
Resources / Journalism: Resources from advocacy to media watchdogs,” by Bob
Garber of McKeldin Library, in CR&L News (the Association of College &
Research Libraries), March 2006
Ideas for
visual display of data
Data visualization types:
Ø “Periodic
Table of Data Visualization Methods” from Visual-Literacy.org.
Ø Data
visualization projects from the Human-Computer
Interaction Lab at the
Ø Edward Tufte – guru for the
visual display of data
·
“Intelligent
Designs; When information needs to be communicated, Edward Tufte demands
both truth and beauty,” Stanford Magazine
Ø “Running the Numbers:
An American Self Portrait” – an interesting collection of graphic
illustrations of data.
Ø Death and Taxes: A Visual Guide to Where Your Taxes Go –
Poster from TheBudgetGraph.com
Projects
with examples of the visual display of data
Campaign Finance:
Ø Election
2008: Campaign Finance, The New York
Times
Census:
Ø
Washington Post Census coverage
Ø “Fatal
Flaws,” The
Ø “Deadly Force,” The
o
Opening story with links to the rest:
“D.C.
Police Lead Nation in Shootings”
o
Link to maps:
§
Shootings
by D.C. police, 1994-1998
§
Shootings
at vehicles: clickable map with
details of cases
§
Shootings
of unarmed civilians
§
Accidental
discharges of police firearms
§
Beatings: clickable map with details
o
How the series was done: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/dcpolice/deadlyforce/police1_method.htm
Ø “A
Decade of Deadly Mistakes,” The
o
Links to series
graphics
Lifestyle:
Ø “How
Different Groups Spend Their Day,” The
New York Times, July 31, 2009.
Ø Celebrities
o
“Where
the Stars Are: Paris Hilton” – The
§
Related story: “Did Hilton Get
Special Treatment?” The
§
Story
by Jack Leonard and Doug Smith (needs class login and
password)
o
“Paris Hilton will end up serving more time behind
bars than the vast majority of inmates sent to L.A. County Jail for similar
offenses, according to a Times analysis of jail records.”
§
Graphic
and data analysis by Doug Smith and Sandra Poindexter
Sports:
Ø “Serena
Williams's Professional Career,” The
New York Times, August 19, 2007.
Stories ABOUT
databases, database uses and data-related issues
Dirty data:
Ø “Resurrected,’ but still wallowing
in red tape; Government records incorrectly kill off thousands, and there’s no
easy fix,” MSNBC and NBC News, Feb. 29, 2008
Projects
using computer-assisted reporting and data analysis
See also: http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/STories_for_critiques.htm
Recent CAR projects by JOUR
772 & 472 alums:
Ø
Work by Chris
Landers at the
o
A map of
properties owned by a
o
A regular feature
-- "What's the 311" - extracts interesting material from a database
he keeps updated of calls to the city's complaint line. Here are some of the offerings:
1.
Animal nuisance
calls: http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=16791
2.
Blighted
properties: http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17182
3.
Complaints about city
workers: http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=16869
4.
Parking
complaints: http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=16914
o
A story and map
evaluated a law sought by the Baltimore City Council that would forbid
registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of an accredited school
or full-time daycare center. When Chris mapped the locations of these areas and
the proposed restricted zones around them, the latter turned out to cover most
of the city -- an important fact that had not been part of the discussion about
this proposal. The link is here: http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=17180
o
Chris generated a
map - http://citypaper.com/clubs/beermap/default.asp
- to go with a feature and database generated in a “City Paper I-Team” quest
for the coldest beer in Baltimore, titled “Stay Frosty” – http://citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18088
[of only academic interest here, of
course, for its application of computer-assisted reporting to an unorthodox
subject…]
o
Chris conceived
of and helped create a map of bike routes
in
Ø
“Numbers On
Welfare See Sharp Increase,” Sara Murray, The Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2009.
Ø
"Florida's
welfare rolls just keep growing,” by Steven Overly, St. Petersburg Times, Aug. 1, 2009
Ø
“GM
tax break package is state's biggest since '93,” Steven Overly, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Posted
online July 29, 2008.
Ø
“Sikh
Political Engagement Surges in Presidential Elections,” by Anju Kaur, Sikh
News Network, March 1, 2008.
Ø
“
Ø
Reporting by Rema
Nagarajan, a reporter for The Times
of India and 2005-2006 Humphrey Fellow:
o
“Chennai roads
deadliest in country,” April 21, 2008.
Sidebar: “Chennai’s
Killer Roads”
o
“TN
has most elderly living alone,” April 28, 2008
o
“English
gains as learning medium,” May 19, 2008.
Link
to graphic
o
“Kannadigas
outnumber Malayalis 2:1 in Tamil Nadu,” April 15, 2008
o
“In
Rajasthan, death prefers young girls,” Sept. 10, 2007 – “Nearly half of all
female deaths in rural Rajasthan are of girls below the age of 20.... In short,
a girl born in a Rajasthan village will have to be very lucky to grow up,
marry, bear children — things that are taken fairly for granted in the modern world.”
o
“Not Bihar,
it's UP all the way in civil services,” June 4, 2007 – “Popular perception
is that Biharis dominate the civil services. However, it is
Ø
Story about data
analysis by CAR class alum: “Google
Unveils New Tool To Dig for Public Data,” Kim Hart, The Washington Post,
April 29, 2009.
Capital News Service: Check the page of links – http://jclass.umd.edu/cars/772/StoriesOnTheWeb-CNSprojects.htm
– to dozens of computer-assisted reporting and data-analysis projects projects
by
Ø Boating:
o
“Deep
Creek Lake Rivals Ocean City for Most Recreational Boating Accidents” (2007)
o “Boating
Police Continue O.C. Crackdown” (2007)
o Boating safety enforcement (2002)
o Boating safety enforcement (2008)
Ø Bridges: 1995
CNS bridge project and 2003
report
Ø Business: Large-scale
layoffs by Maryland businesses
Ø Charities: Charities’
fundraising
Ø Consumer affairs: Complaints
focus on cell phone companies (2005)
Ø Crime: Carjackings
(2004 story) and 2005
Ø Education: Schools
and race
Ø Elevators: Elevator
inspections and chart
Ø Employment: Unpaid
wages
Ø Environment: Leaking
underground oil storage tanks (2005)
Ø Environment: Large
increase in sewage overflows in Maryland
(by Dan Wilcock – finalist for 2003 IRE award)
Ø Food inspections: Egg
inspections and inspectors
Ø Foster care: Children
returned to abusive homes
Ø Lawyers: Lawyer
discipline (by Anju Kaur – finalist for 2007 IRE award)
Ø Liquor sales: Liquor
stores in low-income neighborhoods
Ø Lobbyists: Disclosure
enforcement
Ø
Ø Nursing homes: State
slow to correct most severe problems
Ø Politics:
o
Dubious
“maverick” and “bipartisan” labels in state race (2008)
o
Politician
sticks to maverick record (2008)
Ø Prisons:
o
Violence
behind bars (2007)
o
Prisons
and race (2008)
Ø Railroads: Train
accidents in Maryland (2005)
Ø Patents: Trends
in patents awarded to Maryland inventors
Ø Vehicle emissions: Cars
most prone to fail emissions tests
Demographics:
Putting a human face on demographics: Children in poverty
Ø
“The
Black Belt: Alabama’s Third World,” The Birmingham News, 2002-2003 (various
dates): A year-long series on the
problems of Alabama's Black Belt; “Nowhere in Alabama do children and families
face more hardship than in the 12 counties that make up Alabama's Black Belt. Children
in towns such as Orrville in
Ø
“From
Birth, hardships begin assault,”
Ø
“Life
is short, prosperity is long gone,” May 12, 2002: “The state's Black Belt, sweeping across south-central
Alabama with a history as rich and dark as the soil it is named for, is so
stark a contrast to
Ø
“The Castaway Children: The Hidden Faces of Poverty,” Barbara
Walsh, The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Dec.14-18,
2003: A “five-part series that continues
a three-year examination … of the challenges and issues children and teens face
in Maine…. The lives of impoverished
children in
Education:
Ø The Education Writers Association site has links to
recent reporting projects.
Ø “Poor
schools' TAKS surges raise cheating questions,” Benton and Holly Hacker, Dallas Morning News, [registration
required]
Ø An analysis of school
performance tests uncovers evidence of cheating orchestrated by educators.
Ø Teachers
who fail, Teachers who fail; A survey of certification-test scores yields
alarming results, Chris Davis and Matthew Doig, Sarasota
Herald-Tribune, Dec. 12, 2004.
Ø
“In
college, first year is by far the riskiest,” Robert Davis and Anthony DeBarros,
Ø
Discrepancies
in school crime reports: The Charlotte Observer, June 5, 2005
Ø Underreporting
school discipline, The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution,
Ø “Gwinnett
schools overstated safety; Misconduct underreported: Officials admit giving
inaccurate data but deny any deception,”
Ø “A
disciplinary problem with numbers:
School district underreported serious incidents by 85 percent, data
show,”
Ø “Closing Costs,”
The Charleston Gazette,
Ø “School
closings, lax oversight lead to record long bus rides,” Aug. 25, 2002:
“School administrators across West Virginia have repeatedly ignored
transportation laws and guidelines, forcing thousands of children to spend two
hours or more on school buses each day and leaving them more likely to get
sick, less likely to learn, a Gazette-Mail investigation has found.”
Ø “How we
did it,” Aug. 25, 2001: “…Through
the Freedom of Information Act, the Gazette-Mail obtained records for 1,569 bus
runs for the state’s 35 most rural counties…. Over the course of nine months,
the newspaper constructed a database including when each run started, when it
stopped, and how much time children rode in-between.”
Environment:
Ø “Fewer Polluters Punished Under Bush
Administration, Records Show,” Knight Ridder
Newspapers, Dec. 8, 2003
Ø “Vanishing Wetlands,”
“They
won’t say no,” May 22, 2005.
“Satellite
photographs show losses,” May 22, 2005
Ø “Too
Young to Die,” Erin McCormick and Reynolds Holding, San Francisco Chronicle, October, 2004
Ø “Clean wells left to
chance; the state has more than 25,000 contaminated sites but no law to
ensure wells are safe,” part of the series, “N.C. Water: Safe to Drink?” by Pat
Stith, Raleigh News & Observer,
March 26, 2006.
Financial institutions, real
estate and insurance:
Ø The Baltimore Sun series
on ground rents, by Fred Schulte and June Arney [with links to stories,
video, graphics, audio, maps, documents).
o
Part 1: “On
shaky ground: An archaic law is
being used to turn Baltimoreans out of their homes,” Dec. 10, 2006.
o
Part 2: “The
new lords of the land: A small
number of investors who own many Baltimore ground rents often sue delinquent
payers, obtaining their houses or substantial fees.” Dec. 11, 2006.
o
Part 3: “Demands
for reform: Even as critics call for
loosening ground rent's grip on Baltimore, new ones are being created,” Dec.
12, 2006.
Ø “Foreclosing
on the American Dream,” The Charlotte
Observer, January 2006.
Ø "The Paper Chase," Dateline NBC
Ø “The New
Redlining,”
Ø “Locked
Out of the American Dream,” The
Tennessean,
Ø
“Swimming With Sharks:
Subprime lenders put the bite on Baltimore's Poorest Homeowners,” City
Paper,
Government benefits:
Ø “Tax breaks
plentiful; results vary – Indianapolis has given out millions in abatements to
companies, but not all have created the promised jobs,” Indianapolis
Star,
Health:
Ø “Dangerous
Care: Nurses' Hidden Role in Medical Error,” Michael J. Berens, Chicago Tribune,
Ø “Lives at risk: An emergency room
investigation -Year two,” WFAA-TV (
Ø “A
Dangerous Place: Assisted Living in Virginia,” David Fallis, The
Ø “Special
report: State board doing little to stop reckless doctors,” Reno Gazette-Journal,
Ø “Special
Investigation: Toxic Treats,” Orange
·
“Introduction: Food Safety Lags Boom in Imports”
·
Part I: “HIDDEN
THREAT: Mexican candy - a seemingly harmless
indulgence can contain a poison that is especially dangerous to children.”
Infrastructure - Bridges
Ø
From the IRE Web site:
“Following the collapse of an I-35
bridge spanning the Mississippi River in
Ø
Other bridge safety stories in the wake of the I-35 bridge collapse:
o
“Will
o
Broadcast
video on bridges in Baltimore area:
§
“Tisha Thompson
Goes
§
“Tisha Thompson
With Update on Local Bridges”
o
Story: “Will
Maryland's Bridges Be Next?”
“Inspection records show the bridge in
“Thousands of cars fly over – and under
– this bridge at the intersection of I-95 and Rte 43 in White Marsh without
ever getting a chance to really see what’s hidden underneath.
“If you look closely, you will see 2x4s
holding up a section of this major bridge. With cracking pillars and holes in
the bridge’s deck, the
o
“Troubled
Bridges - How safe are Arizona's bridges?” Lisa Fletcher, KNXV-TV,
“Here in
Infrastructure - Dams
Ø “Falling behind;
State-regulated dams often miss required 10-year inspections,” Ben Poston
and Patrick Marley, Journal Sentinel,
“Wisconsin
officials have fallen behind in their oversight of the state's dams, failing
over the past decade to inspect dozens that would pose the greatest risk to
life and property in the event of a dam break.”
Ø
Report on dam
safety in the DC metro area by Tisha Thompson, Fox5 News: Part
1, Part
2, and interactive
map
Ø
Related
issue: Restrictions on releases of
database of dams since 9/11:
o
Investigative
Reporters and Editors: http://www.ire.org/irenews/the-dam-data/
o
Reporters Committee
for Freedom of the Press: http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=6829
Police and courts:
Ø “Dispatch
agencies analysis: West Valley police slowest to respond; Priority calls in
Ø “Undue
Influence,” Eric Nalder and Lewis Kamb, Post-Intelligencer,
“Police officers arrested for drunken
driving fare better than the average citizen, according to an investigation of seven
years worth of internal discipline records, arrest reports, accident reports,
license-suspension files and court documents.”
o
How
the story was done: “The story
behind the story”
Ø “Liveliest
D.C. Neighborhoods Also Jumping With Robberies,” By Allison Klein and Dan
Keating, The
o
Map
Ø “Justice
Delayed, Justice Denied,” The Courier-Journal,
The Courier-Journal examined criminal court
files dating to 1983 and found that human error, antiquated record keeping and
scheduling lapses allowed at least 200 people charged with felonies to escape
prosecution.
Ø “Papershield: The Battered State of PFA’s,” York Daily Record,
A look at what happened when hundreds of
Ø “Speed
Trap: Who gets a ticket, who gets a break,” Boston Globe,
“A Boston
Globe analysis of traffic tickets and warnings, from every police
department in the state, shows differences in race, sex and age in who gets a
fine, and who gets a break, for the same offenses.”
Ø
“Cases
crumble, killers go free,” Jim Haner, Kimberly A.C. Wilson and John B.
O'Donnell, The Baltimore Sun, Sept. 29, 2002
Ø
"Cops who
abuse their wives rarely pay the price," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Ruth Teichroeb and Julie Davidow, July
23, 2003
Ø
“Judges
Under the Influence?” Charlotte
Observer, May 15, 2005
Ø
"Badge
of Immunity," Michael J. Berens, The
Ø
“DUI: A Failure to
Convict,” Brad Branan, The Tucson
Citizen, August 17-19, 2005
Social services:
Ø
“Invisible Lives and Deaths: The Fatal
Neglect of D.C.'s Retarded,” Kate Boo, The
Ø
“Children First;
Murder by Neglect,” Detroit Free Press,
Ø
”Ariana's Story: A
2-year old girl dies at her parents' hands
after the system meant to protect her fails,”
Ø
“The Truth Dies
with Them,” Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 31 –
Sports:
Ø
"Racehorses
risk fatal finish in a life-and-death gamble,", San Antonio
Express-News May 30, 2006
Transportation
Ø “Deadly
teen auto crashes show a pattern,” Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today,
Ø “Injuries,
Deaths by Train Up in State,” Sharon Bernstein, The
Ø USA Today aviation report:
Ø “Special
report: Experts call for modernized maintenance,” USA
Today,
Ø “Fewer
crashes caused by pilots,” USA Today,
March 2, 2003
Weather
Ø
“Cause for Alarm” –
Series by WTHR-TV in