Digital First Media staff at NICAR14

Dispatches from Digital First Media staff in attendance at this year's NICAR14 conference.

3rd & 7 37yd

What worked about @homicidewatch was it promised to cover every homicide and made it public, @LauraNorton says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:20:05 PM
Homicide Watch's @LauraNorton says she's working on new platform to track education reform. #NICAR14

by Jason Hoppin via twitter 2/27/2014 7:22:23 PM
Homicide Watch model applies to education reform/etc beats, @LauraNorton says. Look at what info you have: who funds reform, where #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:22:30 PM
DFM's @L_M_Anderson is tweeting from the #NICAR14 session on crime data. Follow along here: bit.ly/MuAUpW

by Chris March via twitter retweeted by edmahonreporter 2/27/2014 7:24:08 PM
Robert Gebeloff of @nytimes giving some examples now. #NICAR14 . Talking about barbers born in Italy.

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:26:45 PM
.@homicidewatch model: Start with mission, identify components in notebook, structure info & make it public so they can fill holes #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:27:03 PM
We'll be doing some live queries, he said. #holdontoyourhats #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:27:35 PM
Including detectives' phone numbers on homicide victims profiles has led to tips called in to police, @LauraNorton says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:32:09 PM
He usually works with this data in Firefox. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:32:15 PM
The court calendar is my favorite part of @homicidewatch . It makes it easy for everyone to keep tabs on any and every case #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:33:12 PM
After World War II, barbering was a skill they could pick up quickly and justify their immigration status, he said. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:34:13 PM
You can’t convey a false sense of precision, he said. #NICAR14 Your own street reporting matters too, he said.

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:36:05 PM
Each story on @homicidewatch isn't long, but as a series, they tell the full story, @LauraNorton says. #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:36:36 PM
Now talking about the health care law and people without insurance not covered by Medicaid. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:37:31 PM
On data estimates: It's OK to make assumptions when you're doing this type of work, as long as you tell people what you did. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:42:54 PM
He also had to calculate/estimate immigration status for people in the data. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:43:35 PM
Redact phone numbers, etc. from charging documents and others before posting them online, @LauraNorton says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:46:21 PM
Sitting around at the courthouse waiting for a case is a good time to talk with detectives working on it, @LauraNorton says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:47:57 PM
He said conception to publication took about two or three weeks. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:48:23 PM
Calling all speakers at #NICAR14 - send us your tipsheets and presentations! tipsheets@ire .org

by IRE_NICAR via twitter retweeted by edmahonreporter 2/27/2014 7:48:33 PM
I try to avoid stories where you’re making a big deal out of small differences, he said. #NICAR14

by Ed Mahon via twitter 2/27/2014 7:49:38 PM
"Comment of the day" posts on @homicidewatch model good comments and lead to better ones, @LauraNorton says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 7:51:27 PM
A lesson I keep relearning: The data you need is probably somewhere, just need to find it, make sense of it. Like Census Microdata. #NICAR14

by Chris Amico via twitter retweeted by vsundqvist 2/27/2014 7:51:27 PM
I hear Swedish and Norwegian spoken all around me, but I have yet to run into anyone I know from DFM #NICAR14

by Viktoria Sundqvist via twitter 2/27/2014 7:57:51 PM
Awesome session on DIY data just ended. Now on to cracking PDFs. My personal downfall. #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 8:58:50 PM
ProPbulica has video to look for attachments in PDF/reports? Has anyone used it? #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:07:06 PM
If there's no other choice, scrape data from PDFs, Merrill says. Some have embedded texts (yay!) others don't (boo). #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:09:18 PM
Document Cloud can help with cracking PDFs and turning to text. But always do manual checking, Merrill says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:10:45 PM
There are different tools for each different need in extracting PDF. Talk to friends & colleagues about their faves, Merrill says #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:12:19 PM
. @haddadme says you have to find out what motivates people to participate when doing crowdsourcing project. #NICAR14 @stevebuttry

by Viktoria Sundqvist via twitter 2/27/2014 9:12:48 PM
You also need to be very specific in what you ask for in order for crowdsourcing to be successful, @haddadme says #NICAR14 @stevebuttry

by Viktoria Sundqvist via twitter 2/27/2014 9:13:59 PM
Tabula, developed by journos for journos, and CometDocs are other tools to extract PDFs, Merrill says. #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:14:07 PM
.@jeremybmerrill : Scraping PDF should be last resort. Beg sources for excel file instead of trying to extract data yourself. #NICAR14

by Emily Babay via twitter retweeted by vsundqvist 2/27/2014 9:15:50 PM
PDF extraction: First see if you can get data in another format, then see if it's scanned or embedded text, then test tools #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:16:06 PM
For image-based PDFs, DocHive can be an option. Web version coming soon #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:21:47 PM
MT @momiperalta : Partner with people who can reach the audience in the Ground says @haddadme #NICAR14 http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhgrLNuIYAIvQz6.jpg

by Viktoria Sundqvist via twitter 2/27/2014 9:23:33 PM
Don't use sensitive data and documents on Web-based servers to protect it and you, @markhorvit #NICAR14

by Lindsey Anderson via twitter 2/27/2014 9:25:08 PM
Couldn't agree more: "Crowdsourced data points should be a starting point for storytelling, not the final destination" - @haddadme #NICAR14

by Mandy Jenkins via twitter 2/27/2014 9:27:47 PM
Takeaway from #NICAR14 PDF session: @TabulaPDF for tables, DocumentCloud/zamzar/pdftotxt for text, dochive for OCR. Handwriting: You're sunk

by andrewmcgill via twitter retweeted by L_M_Anderson 2/27/2014 9:32:51 PM
My brain is now full of Python thanks to @ultracasual , @hbillings , @esagara #NICAR14

by MaryJo Webster via twitter 2/27/2014 9:47:52 PM
What a great idea for a public service project: NPR's community-edited database of accessible playgrounds: n.pr/OHvFFi #NICAR14

by Mandy Jenkins via twitter 2/27/2014 9:54:08 PM
Slowly but surely, scientists are closing in on print-names-on-both-sides-of-a-conference-nametag technology. #NICAR14

by Noah Veltman via twitter retweeted by vsundqvist 2/28/2014 12:23:55 AM
Now I've found the #NICAR14 stream I need to favourite *every* tweet in it. Thanks (I think) @MacDiva ;)

by alisongow via twitter retweeted by ultracasual 2/28/2014 11:38:40 AM
Drink lots of water, #NICAR14 , I'll see you bright and early.

by joewertz via twitter retweeted by ultracasual 2/28/2014 11:43:17 AM
Only at an IRE would people line up for this MT @ReporterTopher : Line to get into session on pivot tables. #NICAR14 http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhkqAghIQAASHW3.jpg

by JamesVGrimaldi via twitter retweeted by edmahonreporter 2/28/2014 6:27:10 PM