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Computer Assisted Research |
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ASSOCIATION OF UNITED KINGDOM MEDIA LIBRARIANS Link to Semonche's 1996 NewsLibraryNews article about AUKML Link to UK Media Web Web Site (1997)
Presenter:
Speech Title: Computer Assisted Research in Media Libraries: Thank you for your kind introduction and warm welcome. There are few things I enjoy more than talking about research in news organizations. This is a marvelous opportunity to do so. I am especially pleased to be here. Kevin Connolly must have been an extraordinary friend to this Association. I regret never having met him. So, Mr. Connolly, this one is for you! Judith Dunn, Peter Chapman (with whom I discovered I had a valuable correspondence some years earlier), and Annabel Colley have been most supportive in getting me here and preparing me for this visit. Particularly helpful were previous AUKML conference proceedings Ms. Dunn sent me. They demonstrated clearly the high quality and professionalism of your Association leaders and members. Just as important was the evidence of a sense of humor. The 1996 AUKML Conference was launched brilliantly by your keynote speaker, Allan Posser. As your last conference speaker, I assume that I may properly be referred to as your "footnoter." This is not my first visit to media libraries in the UK. I trust that it will not be my last. It has been over a decade since my tour and conversations with Christine Cole, chief librarian (at that time) with the Chronicle & Echo in Northampton, and Joyce Meachem, former head librarian with the Daily Telegraph in London. I have some announcements and introductions before I begin. First I'd like to present my husband, UNC-CH Professor of American History and Constitutional Law, John Semonche, who is accompanying me AND his IBM Think Pad lap top computer I'm using this morning. Next, is the announcement of a one million dollar gift to the UNC-CH Journalism and Mass Communication library where I'm employed as Director. The gift will enable our library to equip a state-of-the art computer-assisted research lab. Further, our JoMC program has entered into a cooperative program with the UNC-CH School of Information and Library Science and we expect to launch in Fall of 1996 a "media research" major at the graduate level. And I couldn't begin without recognizing the fine article by my friend, former Newsday library directory Andy Ippolito, published in your Association's newsletter, DEADLINE this Spring. Andy has done a superlative job publishing the latest edition (the fifth) of The International Directory of News Libraries. I brought my copy with me in case the conference delegates might want to examine it. Finally, I'd like to engage in a bit of role playing. Justin Arundale will play a reporter, John, while I will portray a neophyte news librarian, Leslie, in a scene from Michael Frayn's early 1980s play, "Alphabetical Order." Justin, are you ready? [John enters. He is about thirty, a rumpled, mannered man with the accent and style of New College and All Souls. His connections with the world and people around him seems intermittent and haphazard.] JOHN: (the reporter, draping himself on a cabinet): "Someone, some spokesman on education, I assume in the Labour Party, only I somehow have a hunch that it wasn't someone in the Labour Party, that it was someone more surprising than that, or possibly not, possibly it was someone quite obvious, said, or perhaps wrote, but I think said, about two years ago, but it could have been three or four, or further back still, since I suffer from what amounts to almost total temporal blindness, if there is such a condition, and if there isn't I am announcing its discovery, though not its cure, said something to the effect that corporal punishment was better than selection, because selection something like made as it were brothers and sisters, or some such categories of blood relationship, into as it were enemies, or something equally undesirable." LESLIE: (the librarian looks uncertainly around the room.) "Yes. Well. I'm afraid I've only just arrived." JOHN: (moving to the table) "It was reported somewhere, in something, about half-way down a right-hand page." LESLIE: "I don't really know how the Library works." JOHN: "I just want to know who said it. Also, when he said it, where he said it, what it was he said, and whether he said it all or whether I've merely imagined it. I'm writing a leader on, obviously enough, education, if it helps to know that, which I should think it almost certainly doesn't." [End of excerpt from Act 1 of "Alphabetical Order" by Michael Frayn.] My remarks this morning will be accompanied by a computer-assisted presentation program called Astound. In it are captured screens from my library's web site. [TURN ON COMPUTER] [Show Astound screen: CAR in Media Libraries: USA Style] I bring you greetings and salutations from my home, North Carolina to our sister city, Durham, England. [Show Astound screen: AUKML WEB SITE] And I also bring cheers and good wishes from the news researchers in the US to the media librarians in the UK. Some of you are acquainted with many of us in the states and in other countries through our international electronic mailing list, NewsLib. For those of you who are not yet subscribed and would like to, I have a handout describing the procedure. [DISTRIBUTE NEWSLIB HANDOUTS] I'd like to continue with a "true story."
A TRUE STORY The room in question was the 'morgue' a word that, in newspapermen's phraseology, stands for that department of the paper wherein are kept the keys to the news that has passed, the 'dead' news, in other words. In 'dead' news, however, rest such vast resuscitative possibilities, such important clues for the future as well as of the past, and such an infallible, indelible record and guide that the statement of the trained editor was well chosen. A newspaper's morgue ... is one of the chief sources of power, a fact that is borne testimony to by the knowledge that the greatest of the New York dailies are those that possess the most exhaustive morgues." [Note: that report was written by George Jean Nathan and published in Bookman in August 1910.] From that you may gather that news libraries were rather highly regarded a reliable sources of reference and research long before the era of computers. Now, let us now fast forward to the latter part of the twentieth century. [Show Astound screen: THE ORIGINS OF CAR] Defining investigative journalism begins with identifying the mission of journalists. The power of the press in the US is strong, vital and well documented. This mission is not, of course, unchallenged. Nevertheless, there are various ways of express it. Wilbur F. Storey, in an 1861 statement of the aims of the Chicago Times, used these words: "It is a newspaper's duty to print the news, and raise hell." Some have described the journalist's duty as comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Others refer to it as the exposer of the past, analyst of the present, avenger of the wronged and illuminator of the corrupt. In the twentieth century, the investigative mission of the press has generally been described in terms of the press as watchdog and as an agenda setter. Investigative reporting differs from routine or beat reporting mainly in the degree of thoroughness. While all reporting utilizes the same basic tools (research and interviews), investigative reporting wields these tools more skillfully, with more weight and usually at greater length. It is more than the occasional expose. It applies to those stories that 1. deal with a serious, newsworthy subject of concern to newspapers readers; 2. involve obstacles that make gathering information on the subject dificult, even hazardous; 3. fully explain or explore the significance of the subject. Often journalists must make ethical decisions as to whether to proceed at every stage of the investigation. Here is an example of one of the earliest computer-assisted reporting efforts. [FROM COURT ROOMS TO HOG PENS] In 1972 Philadelphia Inquirer reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele demonstrated effectively the shift toward modern-day investigative reporting methods and writing styles. Two Pulitzer Prizes are testimony to their talent. This is a brief description of their now-legendary court study. Barlett and Steele spent weeks sifting through thousands of court documents. They examined records of complaints to police, warrants, arrest sheets, bail applications, indictments, court hearings, psychiatric evaluations and probation reports. From that investigation, they culled the completed cases of 1,034 criminal defendants charged with murder, rape, robbery or aggravated assault. Then they methodically recorded 42 pieces of information about each case, including such factors as race, criminal record and length of sentence. Barlett and Steele learned to create their own database by developing a code for selected information and then entering the coded information onto IBM cards. The cards were run through a mainframe computer. From the resulting 4,000 pages of printouts, plus their courtroom visits and interviews with crime victims, prosecutors, defendants, defense lawyers and judges, Barlett and Steele then undertook the challenge of interpreting this data and writing the story detailing the criminal courts in Philadelphia that routinely dispensed unequal justice. Word of the 1972 series and the computer's role in it spread through investigative reporting ranks. Barlett and Steele had been introduced to the use of the computer by Philip Meyer, a Knight Newspapers correspondent who had gained his knowledge as a Neiman fellow. Shortly after the Philadelphia Inquirer series on the courts, Meyer showcased it in his 1973 book, Precision Journalism: A Reporter's Introduction to Social Science Methods. Meyer revived and expanded the work under the title The New Precision Journalism in 1991. Meyer defined "precision journalism" as journalism in the scientific tradition, adopting the scientific method, scientific objectivity and scientific ideals to the process of reporting. Over a decade later, another, more sophisticated use of computer-assisted reporting was launched. Elliot Jaspin entered the field with a much publicized study in 1985 investigating the records of school bus drivers in Providence, Rhode Island. Journal reporter Maria Miro Johnson shared the byline on this story with Jaspin. Three school children in 1985 were run over by school bus drivers. There was a public outcry and debate about what could be done to assure the safety of schoolchildren riding buses. While the Providence Journal covered this story, there was a recognition that more in-depth research was needed. Jaspin, teaming with Susan Fedorzyn Edgar, a newspaper librarian who subsequently became a systems programmer, acquired a computerized list of everyone registered to drive school buses. They then matched that list against all traffic tickets given out in the state over a three-year period. Out tumbled school bus drivers who had amassed 10 to 20 traffic violations. Next, the list of drivers was matched with criminal court records. From that search came a list of bus drivers who had been convicted of drug dealing. At that point in the story, Jaspin and Edgar had matched more than a million records to find school bus drivers with questionable backgrounds. Obviously that type of search, sort and retrieval could not have been done without a computer. But, as Jaspin wrote, "the computer was more than just a quick way to find information. It made our story definitive. If, using traditional reporting techniques, we had found one or two bad drivers, the government could have shrugged off as one or two people who slipped through the cracks. Using the computer we were able to look at all the drivers, all the court records and all the traffic violations. Given that kind of thoroughness, there was no way to refute the story." [TRUE STORY #2: BOSS HOG] Now, let's leap to 1996 and discover what news librarians have been contributing to computer assisted research. Consider this as an "Anatomy of CAR Research." By Brooke Cain, researcher with The N&O Research Department [Editor's note: This series earned The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina the 1996 Pulitizer Prize for Meritorious Public Service. Investigative reporters Pat Stith and Joby Warrick with special projects editor Melanie Sill lead the effort. The paper's news research department headed by Teresa Leonard played a significant role. Here is the story written by one of the key news researchers for the series, Brooke Cain.] Research at The News & Observer is a collaborative effort between researchers, reporters and editors. Information is shared and ideas and leads spring from conversations and compared notes. The series incorporated this philosophy of teamwork unline any story we'd worked on in the past. The story itself began as check of phone records of a state official who was suspected of accompanying major players in the hog industry on hunting trips, and evolved into an examination of the hog industry and how it operates in North Carolina. Here are some of the tools we used in gathering our 16-foot stack of documents on the hog industry. CROSS-COUNTRY TRACKING We acquired a database listing phone numbers made by state employees on their long-distance calling cards and the number of the phone from which the call was made. Records of the official in question were culled out and we began the task of identifying hundreds of numbers on dozens of pages of calls. This enabled us to track our man and his travels across the country and know exactly where he was on almost any given date. Phone records were obtained through North Carolina General Statute 132, which declares all state records "public records." Some of the phone numbers were found on a CD-ROM product called Phonedisc, but most of the numbers where tracked "the old fashioned way" -- we spent hours and hours calling numbers, listening for names of hotels or businesses. The residential numbers were hardest to identify, but we could always at least find the city or town from which the call originated. GENERAL BACKGROUND Once the story and series began taking shape, the research became a little more predictable. The reporters asked for stories on the hog industry in other states, stories on some of the major players in the industry, and information on laws pertaining to the hog industry and related environmental concerns. For these searches we mostly used Lexis/Nexis, but occasionally Dow Jones and Dialog. We also used our own in-house archive extensively. STATISTICAL BREAKDOWNS Another valuable resource was LINC, an information service that provides numbers and statistics on a large variety of topics pertaining to North Carolina. With LINC we were able to find: the number of hog farms in North Carolina, the number of hogs or pigs on these farms, current hog sales, property values, farm values, farm earnings, value of machines on farms, employment information, and populations and income levels of areas in North Carolina directly affected by the hog industry. Much of this information was available in a "county profile" that LINC offers, but some was gathered using separate variables. We used some of this information from LINC to compute the percent increases in pig and people populations in North Carolina through the years. (Note: Most states offer a service similar to LINC.) FOLLOWING THE MONEY TRAIL A major aspect of the story involved tracking campaign contributions of individuals in the hog industry, as well as their family members and colleagues. Most of efforts centered on pig powerhouse Wendell Murphy of Murphy Family Farms in Rose Hill, N.C. As the story points out, campaign finance reports showed that Murphy, members of his family, and his executives have contributed almost $155,000 to a variety of candidates since 1990. For example, to Governor Jim Hunt alone, the Murphy family contributed $16,000 in December 1991 $4,000 each from Murphy's mother, son, sister-in-law, and daughter. And in 1992, the Murphy's sent Hunt another $20,000 -- $2,000 each from Murphy, his mother, wife, brother, sister-in-law, sister, daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and stepson. Most of the campaign finance research was done on our in-house "Money Machine," a Foxpro database that lists over 250,000 campaign contributions of individuals to candidates in North Carolina. Through the FEC, we obtained some additional information on contributions made to candidates in and out of North Carolina. Back to the phones... More phone records also showed that during a two-year period Murphy's company and his family members received an average of 50 calls a week from state government offices. Along with the campaign finance records, this research helped to reveal the hog industry in North Carolina as being so influential that it served as a "satellite" of the state government. EXACTLY WHO OWNS WHAT? Go Online . . . When the major players became apparent, we did financial tracking on companies and individuals. I used D&B databases on Dialog to get financial reports and historical information (file 519) on Murphy Family Farms, Carroll Farms, Prestage Farms, Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, Lundy Packing Company, and others. I also used D&B's DMI (Dun's Market Identifier) to get short and quick (and cheap) profiles of companies (file 516 on Dialog). A DMI will get you company name, address, phone number, type of company, headquarters, sales, number of employees, officers, and more. I also checked institutional holdings, major stockholders and ownership by insiders through Disclosure/Spectrum Ownership (dialog file 540), and got reports on insiders through Insider Trading Monitor (dialog file 549). The Corporate Affiliations database (dialog 513) gives a list of company executives and sometimes a corporate family hierarchy. The information we obtained through Dialog's Insider Trading Monitor told us that Wendell Murphy was on the board of Smithfield Foods, and that he had "indirect holdings" in the company. We contacted the company that provides information to Insider Trading Monitor, CDA Investnet, and discovered that Murphy's indirect holdings were obtained through the name of his company. These types of checks revealed connections between all of the companies I mentioned earlier -- owners and stockholders of one company were often stockholders or on the boards of the other companies. LOOSE ENDS and FURTHER FOLLOW UP Finally, we used FAA databases to check aircrafts registered to Murphy and Prestage, as well as making public records requests to get similar information on boats. Public records requests were also made to obtain flight plans for Murphy's plane, and state and federal telephone records. We contacted the Livestock Conservation Institution to get information on a swine disease called "pseudorabies." We used the NC Secretary of State database to get information on NC companies -- registered agents and company location and type -- and incorporation papers. We obtained information on pork, chicken, and beef consumption from the USDepartment of Agriculture. [Show Astound screen: THE CONCEPT OF CAR] [THE FOUNDATION] From what we've heard so far, we can begin to gather that the concept of computer-assisted reporting has its foundation in investigative reporting with its attendant journalist mission. We can also begin to understand the policies of reporting ethically, fairly, honestly and comprehensively. The mechanics of CAR with its hardware, software, and digital sophisticates merely offer different techniques. The fundamentals of research and reporting are the same [FIRST AMENDMENT and the FREEDOM OF THE PRESS] Exerpted from the US Constitution. The Bill of Rights. Amendment 1: Freedom of religion, speech, and the press; rights of assembly and petition. "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or of abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacably to assembly, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." [OPEN MEETINGS] The press is entitled to attend government meetings excepting those involving personnel decisions. [Show Astound Screen: PUBLIC RECORDS] Slide of the state of North Carolina's 1996 Public Records law. [Show Astound screen: THE DEFINITION OF CAR] Computer-assisted journalism encompasses three major areas: online database research, the acquisition and analysis of government databases, and the creation and use of staff-developed databases. It is properly viewed as an extension of investigative journalism. An important element in CAJ is that its analytical thoroughness can make stories definitive. Nora Paul has come up with a description of CAR which seems to fit and give a perspective on where news librarians fit into the digital landscape. She sees computer-assisted journalism as the broad, all encompassing term with several components. [COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING] Computers can help reporters conduct their searches, examinations, and investigations through the use of spreadsheet programs for complex calculations, statistical programs for the analysis of large datasets, and database software to build original collections of information. The data that result from using these computer applications informs the reporting, spots trends, and provides independent verification of information. [COMPUTER-ASSISTED RESEARCH] Research, like reporting, requires a special search or investigation. The distinction comes from the sources used by each. Generally reporting relies on primary sources (firsthand, independent, original), such as interviews, observation, or self-conducted computer analyses. Research uses secondary sources, such as databases, as the material being investigated. Together, reporting and research help form a complete news report. [COMPUTER-ASSISTED REFERENCE] Reference works, such as dictionaries, encyclopedia, gazetteers, almanace, and glossaries, are available for use on the Internet, the WWW and on CE-ROMs. These virtual reference shelves provide quick and handy access for fact-checking, spellings, and definitions. [Editor's note: double check, even triangulate all these sources; any reference work can be out-of-date, incomplete, or incorrect.] [COMPUTER-ASSISTED RENDEZVOUS] A "rendezvous" is a place to which people customarily come in numbers. The "virtual communities" of the wired world are electronic rendezvous spots for journalists [and librarians]. The ability to hang out, listen in, seek advice, and tap into other people's networks of sources is the newest and, perhaps, most exciting aspect of computer-assisted journalism. These areas include listservs and newsgroups. [Show Astound screen: CARINTRO.BMP] [Show Astound Screen: INVESREF.BMP] [Show Astound Screen: FACTFILE.BMP] [Show Astound Screen: INVESTDB.BMP] [Show Astound Screen: CAR: THE METHODOLOGY] A methodology for computer-assisted investigative reporting (CAIR) has been described by Margaret DeFleur. She identified the preliminary steps of data examination and transformation plus ten strategies for CAIR research. CAIR analysis incorporates some of the techniques of social science research and some aspects of precision journalism. Skilled, research-oriented news library managers can play a significant role at this level if they are perceived as part of the investigative reporting team. DeFleur's CAIR methodology consists of a series of steps, strategies and responsibilities central to analyzing public-records databases within a news perspective. The initial steps prior to analysis include the following: 1. Deciding on goals: After a government agency's records have been selected, the type of records must be identified and the overall purpose of the investigation clarified. 2. Initial review of records: This step begins with a specific request for government computerized records with accompanying documentation (codebooks). Charting the tape's territory and assessing overall record quality are essential. This means that the analyst must discover what variables the records contain and their precise location on the tapes, all of which must be consistent with what is described in the codebooks. Finally, the analyst must assess the consistency and completeness of the information on the tapes for all variables and all years for which the information is recorded. 3. Transferring to statistical software: For records based on limited size, desktop computers with spreadsheets can be used. With massive databases, such as those involving millions of records, more storage space (such as that on a mainframe computer) and more sophisticated statistical software are required. This step involves the conversion, usually by means of computer programming, of the raw numbers on tape to new files in a software format for statistical analysis. 4. Internal checking of codes and frequencies within each variable: After the raw data have been transferred to software, an even more detailed check on the nature and quality of the entries for each and every variable (for example, simple frequencies) in the set of records can be conducted. Knowing what entries have high and low frequencies leads to the question of why. This can be the starting place for the design of a specific analysis that will yield newsworthy information. DeFleur continues with an outline of some logical strategies for CAIR analysis. These strategies include the following: 1. Examination of trends over time 2. Comparison of parts with the whole 3. Comparison of similar or matched parts 4. Completion of a detailed analysis of one unit or area 5. Analysis of a particular category or phenomenon 6. Identification and analysis of deviant cases 7. Examination of dramatic phenomena 8. Exploration of background for news events 9. Controverting claims made by an agency 10. Discovery of serendipitous new avenues for analysis. [Show Astound screen: CAR: THE PLAYERS] Reporters and Editors Analysts and Programmers Researchers and Librarians [Show Astound screen: CAR: THE TOOLS (BASIC)] Powerful computers with Modems High Capacity File Servers Spreadsheets (Excel, Quattro Pro) Database Managers (Fox Pro, etc.) Word Processing (Microsoft Word, Windows 95) [Show Astound screen: CAR: THE TOOLS: (ADVANCED) Statistical Packages (SPSS, SAS) Computer software packages for database management (Paradox, XDB and FoxPro, among others) and statistical analysis (SPSS and SAS) are central to this type of investigative reporting. Generally speaking, a database-management program allows users to examine selectively the information that meets a specified criterion. Statistics are the way summary statements are made about the content of a database. Unfortunately, most database programs have minimal, if any, statistical-reporting capabilities. A statistical analysis program is necessary for a detailed and valid investigation of a database. On the other hand, some statistical analysis packages have some database-management capabilities. At a minimum, statistical analysis packages should perform frequencies, crosstabs, averages, t-tests, correlations and regressions (including significance and probability), depending on the size of the data, the type of software and the complexity of the analysis. The added capability of generating charts and graphs from statistical analysis is vital. Mapping Programs (GIS, ArcView) Just making its debut in newspapers is "digitized mapping," a system for portraying statistical information in graphic form. Bill Adair, computer graphics specialist with the St. Petersburg Times, describes his newspaper's experience. Data sets from the U.S. census containing information from Florida counties or census tracts are analyzed in a spreadsheet and then in a database program manager to create rankings and identify potential patterns or trends. The Times uses Quattro Pro and XDB. A statistical software package, SPSS, is used to make the data acceptable for the mapping procedure. Mapping software, Image II, takes the "numbers" and creates a corresponding shade or color. These computer- generated maps have accompanied news stories identifying the lack of racial integration in local neighborhoods and the increasing rate of integration by Hispanics, as well as a special series titled "Crime in Your Backyard." Adair reports that the St. Petersburg Times obtains other state government electronic data sets, including crime data and voting records. Information gleaned from these tapes has also generated news stories. Besides the St. Petersburg Times, other newspapers such as the Miami Herald, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News, to mention just a few, have been actively involved in the application of this new technology. Other types of mapping software packages exist such as ArcView with ArcData from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., in Redlands, California. News librarians may not have a central role in their organizations' digitized mapping programs yet, but they should keep current with the technological advances. They may be in charge of archiving this data someday. Programming Tools for Developing User Interfaces for Reference Databases (Intranets) Data Archiving Hardware and Software It's important that some sort of data inventory be kept that contains what data has been acquired, information on acquisition contacts, instructions on how to load and clean data, and an explanation of the important reports that have been written. It is also helpful to keep a calendar of when important databases should be updated. The more vital the database the more information should be contained in the data inventory. Data archiving hardware might include writable CD-ROMs, or magneto-optical drives. These features will permit users to do more sophisticated analysis of their data, and to make use of databases as a reference tool. Other CAR functions include 9-track tape reading, print document scanning, cartridge tape reading, and networking hardware and software. And always, more powerful computers. [Show Astound screen: CAR: THE SOURCES] Public Records' Datasets Federal, State, City Commercial Databases Internet & WWW (Netscape and other graphical browsers) Polling Data [Show Astound screen: POLLING.BMP] [Show Astound screen: EURPUBOP.BMP] [Show Astound screen: INVESTRP.BMP] [Show Astound screen: INTERNET.BMP] [Show Astound screen: CAR: THE TRAINING Should everyone be trained in CAR? Yes, why not? But perhaps there are some tasks more suited for different members of the investigative team. The challenge is to discover who can (or is willing to learn) what. . . reliably and timely. Where is training Offered? IRE and MICAR Workshops In-House CAR Training Some news organizations are taking seriously the added responsibility of teaching their news staffs the more technical aspects of investigative reporting. Getting news staff and researchers plugged into electronic information sources requires planning and effort. The most daunting obstacles newsrooms face in establishing a computer-assisted reporting program are not created by legal issues, nor financial issues, but rather training ones. How do you take a newsroom full of reporters*many of whom did not bother to fully learn the newspaper's word processing program, and some of whom display outright contempt for new technology and transform them into computer-literate, high-tech muckrakers?" One newspaper reporter, Pat Stith from the Raleigh, North Carolina News & Observer, created an in-house CAJ workshop for news staff interested in learning how to use the CAJ hardware and software. Stith developed an instructional manual (with worksheets) to accompany the daily two-hour sessions offered over a two-week period. Reporters get instruction and practice in using DOS, loading tapes, learning FoxPro and the computer program "tool box" to query tapes and, finally, generating reports using Report Writer. The final exercise involves applying the CAJ skills learned during the workshop. Stith displays samples of over 100 databases, discusses current newsroom projects and encourages the reporters to consider potential applications. After all, says Stith, that's the purpose of all this training. University Courses and Seminars * Semonche and Meyer Syllabi [Show Astound screen: J191db.BMP] [Show Astound screen: POYCARBI.BMP] [Show Astound screen: CAR: ISSUES AND TRENDS] Source Accuracy and Misinformation New Media Anxiety "Team Journalism" A St. Petersburg Times news researcher, Debbie Wolfe, has developed a concept she calls "team journalism." Wolfe concentrates on "equal-partner" relationships between special-project reporters and news researchers. In addition to developing an in-house training program for computer-assisted journalism, Wolfe created job descriptions for the journalism team. Job titles include: investigative reporter/computer-assisted journalism specialist, electronic public records coordinator (primarily administrative) and electronic public records researcher. Copies of these job descriptions and the in-house training outline may be obtained from the St. Petersburg Times library. Hardware Obsolescence and Platform Conflicts Data Analysis Challenges Data Archiving Challenges (Text and Image) Development of "Intranets" (In-house data networks) [Show Astound screen: STATDEMO.BMP] [Show Astound screen: CAR: NEWS LIBRARIANS' ROLES] LIFE AFTER THE DEATH OF THE MORGUE By Nora Paul, The Poynter Institute From the Poynter Report, Winter 1993 In an age when information is at everyone's fingertips and more journalists have access to powerful library tools, what becomes of the librarian? To meet the exciting potential for online research and computer-assisted reporting, I believe librarians must create new roles for themselves in newsrooms in the future. Here are nine suggestions how that might be done. LIBRARIAN AS REPORTER Reporters and librarians are both researchers: they differ in the nature of their sources. Reporters traditionally rely on primary sources: eyewitness accounts, interviews, and analysis of original documents like government records. Librarians specialize in secondary sources: compilations of facts, articles, statistics. Together, primary and secondary sources add up to good research. Today's reporter making the leap from mere observer of events to analyst and interpreter of those events needs access to secondary sources. Here's where the reporter/librarian partnership can work best. ... LIBRARIAN AS TRAINER Librarians are the only professionals who believe it's part of their responsibility to teach everyone their trade secrets. .... librarians feel compelled to show everyone how to do their job. And this can create conflict. Should computer-assisted research be done by a skilled information intermediary or should the "end user" be trained to do the searching? Back when online searching began and all that was available to search were the big information supermarkets like Dialog and Nexis, I felt strongly that the information intermediary approach was the only true course. These database services were complicated to search, the software was not designed for casual or occasional users, there were expensive to search, and generally the budget for searching was in the library's domain. A poorly constructed search could result in missed stories, or assumptions about a database's content content could result in false conclusions. But there are other categories of computer-assisted research in which the librarian's role as trainer is critical. News organizations with in-house databases need an excellent training program. [Editor's note: reporters, editors, librarians and network administrators need this training. The challenge is to decide who will train what for whom.] What's more, there are some commercial databases, particularly public records databases, that can and should be searched by a well-informed end user. A number of public records databases, such as property records, corporate filings, and driver's records, are simple directory searches: put the name or company in the proper slot and it's either there or it isn't (if it is spelled correctly!). Allowing end users to do those kinds of searches frees up the librarian's time to do the more complicated searches. LIBRARIAN AS INFORMATION EDITOR AND COACH Assignment editors and copy editors are critical to the newsroom and the newspaper's effectiveness. In the newsroom of the future, an information editor will also play a critical role. The information editor will consult with reporters as they begin stories, help them focus the story concept, come up with the questions that need answering, and guide them to the sources of information most likely to have the answers, whether it is a database or a more traditional source. The information editor would act as research traffic cop and clearing house. Too many newsrooms are wasting time and money by having one reporter ask a researcher to do a search that another researcher just did for a different reporter. Just as there is a daily story budget, there would be a daily research budget. LIBRARIAN AS REALITY CHECKER A former newsday researcher I know sneers at the term "Information Explosion." She insists on calling it the "Misinformation Explosion." She believes the librarian's most important role is as vigilant reality checker, making sure reporters understand what their searches do and, more important, DO NOT reveal. Reporters often leap to conclusions. ... It is critical to remember that databases are valid only as indications of inclusion, NOT exclusion. LIBRARIAN AS EVALUATOR AND NEGOTIATOR Getting access to database services requires contracts and signing agreements and committing resources. You need someone who can oversee the negotiations with database vendors. This requires an intensive knowledge of three things: * The newsroom's specific information needs. This will help determine which service has the databases your newsroom will use the most. * The types of data available from each service and cross comparisons of databases offered on a number of services. ... * The pricing options from each vendor. ... LIBRARIAN AS DATABASE DEVELOPER There are many databases that would be of tremendous use in a deadline situation, or in daily reporting in a newsroom, but most of them don't exist. That's where the librarian as database developer comes in. Some useful in-house databases include: [Editor's note: Be advised that while it is not difficult to set up these databases, it does require considerable vigilance and talent to keep them properly updated.] * a sources and contacts database * a daily chronology keeping track of significant events during a major news story * custom databases, such as tracking drunk driving arrests [Editor's note: Others might include political campaign contributions, local school SAT scores, property tax rates, crime statistics and more.] But the most useful database of all would be a database of databases, a careful tracking of all the sources of information available to the newsroom. This database would describe the source; where it is found; its contents, range, and comprehensiveness; cautions about its use, and descriptions of its fields. . . . . LIBRARIAN AS SYSTEMS ANALYST AND SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR Databases containing newspaper text have been around for about a decade. Within a few years, databases of graphics, charts, maps and digital photos will be added. The ease of access that databases brought to text will be as helpful in retrieving graphics and photos. But there is a potential for chaos that must be guarded against. Without proper coordination, newsrooms will end up with three parallel systems operating separately. Finding a way to integrate all three components into one searchable package is a challenge which news librarians are uniquely qualified to handle. They have perspective of a user of databases, an intimate knowledge of the news product, and an understanding of the information needs of their newsroom. LIBRARIAN AS LIBRARIAN And lastly, there is the librarian as librarian. There has been a raging battle in the United States among news librarians. Some insist that the only way to get status and credibility in the newsroom is to change the name of the library to Information Center or News Research Center. They believe the term "librarian" is a degrading or, at the very least, inadequate. Others say that they are librarians; they work in a library and that's that. I don't care what we call ourselves, some of the most important responsibilities of the library/news research center will continue to be the traditional roles. A news librarian at the Orange County, Calif., Register summed it up very nicely: "Our responsibilities are to discover, nuture, cultivate information; harvest it, keep it clean, store it, protect it, and share it." That will not change. All the things I've talked about before are merely elaborations of this fundamental responsibility: to care for and about information and to get the right information to the person who needs it. This has been and will continue to be the biggest contribution the news library makes to the newsroom. This concludes my presentation this morning. Since we are running late, we'll go directly to Annabell Colley's presentation. Afterwards, I'll remain for any questions or comments you have about my topic. Thank you agin for permitting me to participate in this, the 1996 AUKML Conference. It has been a marvelous experience! [Following are URL's which might offer further information about computer-assisted research and reporting.] Boss Hog Series in The News & Observer, Awarded the 1996 Pulitizer Prize Boss Hog and the N&O News Researchers
Computer Assisted Reporting: COMPUTER ASSISTED RESEARCH: A guide to tapping online information, 4th Ed. By Nora Paul, 1999 By mid 1996, nearly 700 US newspapers have their own web sites.Steve Outing's Newspapers Online: The Latest Statistics Most offer free access; a few are already charging fees for access to their electronic papers.
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