data-driven enterprise on any beat - jill riepenhoff - columbus, ohio, newstrain - sept. 20, 2014
DESCRIPTION
NewsTrain instructor Jill Riepenhoff offers up a plethora of public databases that beat reporters can mine for enterprise stories, whether they cover sports, business, health, education, government or cops and courts. She also offers four ways to find additional databases. Riepenhoff, projects reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, gave this presentation called Data-Driven Enterprise off Your Beat as part of the NewsTrain workshop in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 20, 2014. Please see associated handouts: Data-Driven Enterprise off Your Beat and More Help with Obtaining Public Records+Learn More about Data Journalism. For more information about NewsTrain, a traveling workshop for journalists sponsored by Associated Press Media Editors, please visit http://www.apme.com/?AboutNewsTrain.TRANSCRIPT
Data-driven enterprise on any beat
Jill Riepenhoff Columbus NewsTrain
Sept. 20, 2014
Why data?
To appease this guy And this guy
From meeting minutes to Excel
Type to type From Div To Div New School StudentYR Sex Sport Action Parents Atty
pub to pub 2 3 bigger 10 f approved Carl/Nichole Myers Frank Bartell
pub to pvt 2 1 bigger 12 f approved Charles/Melody Corns Richard Cline
pub to pub 2 1 bigger 12 f approved Bob/Jill Purk
pub to pub 2 2 same 11 f approved Michele Cantril Brian Garvine
pub to pub 1 1 same 12 f approved Brian/Darla Mocilnikar Sarah Gordon
pub to pub 1 1 same 10 f approved Richard/Lisa Walden Stephanie Wykes
pub to pub 1 1 same 12 f approved Craig Moore/Melissa Haswell
pub to pub 3 2 smaller 10 f approved Karrie Coit
pub to pub 3 2 smaller 11 f approved David/Kimberly Orr David Poston
pub to pub 3 2 smaller 11 f approved David/Kimberly Orr David Poston
pub to pub 3 1 smaller 11 f approved Eric/Dana Hill
pub to pvt 3 1 smaller 10 f approved Jesse/Kimberly Parkinson
non to pvt 2 unknown 12 f approved Melvin Evans
pvt to pvt 1 3 bigger 12 f denied Juanita P. LeFlora-Bogard
pvt to pub 1 3 bigger 11 f denied Mike/Liz Concheck
pub to pub 1 3 bigger 11 f denied Desmond Redding/Natalie Fields
pub to pub 2 3 bigger 11 f denied Jennifer Willis
pub to pvt 2 3 bigger 10 f denied Adele Iwanusa
pub to pub 2 3 bigger 10 f denied Mary/Scott West
What stories have you done with data?
By
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Become an expert
Know what’s out there. Hoard retention schedules. Become best buds with the data
guy/gal. Spend a week sleuthing.
In our data library now: Income-tax
aggregate data for Ohio
Watercraft-accident data
Aircraft-registry and -accident data
Be a data collector
Pipeline accidents Real estate
licenses
State crime database
Sex-offender set Juvenile-crime data Day-care licenses Birth, death records Inmate data School-directory
info
Be a data collector
Be a data troll during down time
Be a data troll during down time
Got data? Great.
• Find trends.
• Spot anomalies.
• Add context.
• Be the expert.
Where we’re going today
• Trolling for data: sports, health, business, local government, cops and courts, fun!
• Four great places
to find data
Photo by Flickr user CaptPiper
Trolling sports
Minor league baseball
Athletic department salaries
Team rosters
Major NCAA infractions
Academic progress rates
High school participation rates: http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/ParticipationStatics.aspx/
Some kids say football not worth the effort
Trolling health sources
Vaccinations
Nursing licensure
Nursing Home Compare: http://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Ohio Department of Health data center
Kids with no vaccines clustered in some schools
Story by Misti Crane and Jennifer Smith Richards In some schools, as many as 1 in 3 incoming kindergartners and newly enrolled older students have parents who oppose vaccines, according to a Dispatch analysis of schools' immunization counts.
Trolling for business sources
Attorney General consumer complaints
Sheriff’s sales
Wildlife-bird strikes
Data breaches http://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach
Breaches of personal data a daily occurrence
Trolling local government
Housing-code violations
Parking tickets
Time sheets
Key-card access
Taxi/livery licenses
Take-home cars
Story by Lucas Sullivan
Franklin County deputy sheriffs use hundreds of hours of compensatory time and take home thousands of dollars in overtime pay, inflating base annual pay that is already $20,000 higher than their counterparts' in the state's other large counties. The extra pay is costing taxpayers millions.
Over-the-top overtime
Story by Laura Arenschield and Jennifer Smith Richards
From ODNR inspection/violation data:
Inspectors cited nearly 3,800 wells -- 6 percent of the total in Ohio -- for violating state law.
Many of the wells where inspectors found issues are allowed to remain active without ever showing that their violations were resolved.
Violations often don’t shut wells
Trolling cops and courts
Jail-booking data. Stories – domestic violence, immigration, drunk drivers
Sex offenders
Supreme Court http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/default.asp
Stories by Dispatch interns Justin Conley and Rebecca McKinsey
Have some fun #PartyLikeAJournalist
Phil vs. Chuck
Great place to find data Part I NICAR Data Library
Small-business loans
Boat accidents
Consumer Product Safety data
Truck accidents
FDA Adverse Reporting System
National Bridge Inventory
Great places to find data Part II
Advanced Google search
Search for Excel spreadsheets:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Search:
filetype:xls site:______.gov
Great places to find data Part III
Make your own
Great places to find data Part IV
Ready for action
Jill Riepenhoff
614-461-5292
@JRiep
Comments, questions, complaints