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Q1: What do I have to do to launch CAR?
A1: You have to WANT to do it. You also have to learn how to do it. It is
more than just online database searching familiar to most news
librarians.
Q2: Well, where do I start learning about CAR?
A2: Read about it in trade journals. Subscribe to IRE Journal and MICAR's
UPLINK newsletter. That way you'll discover the players, the projects and
the pitfalls. Subscribe to some of the better electronic mailing lists
such as CARR-L, NewsLib, ONLINE-NEWS to mention a few.
Q3: OK, what next?
A3: Discover who is doing investigative reporting, special projects in
your organization. Read what they've produced. Track where they did their
research. Was your library involved? If not, why not?
Q4. What are the most necessary parts of a CAR program?
A4: Besides well trained investigative journalists and skilled news
researchers? Well, some people have identified six software features as
necessary for a bare-bones CAR program. They are (a) spreadsheet, (b)
database manager program, (c) Internet access, and (d) word processing
(text management). These features are necessary for even the most basic
CAR program and cannot be easily obtained from outside vendors (as, for
example, 9-track tape conversion can be).
Q5: Which additional features should be added after the initial phase?
A5: A statistics package for starters. 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.
Other useful software and hardware packages include a mapping program, a
programming tool for developing user interfaces for reference databases,
and data archiving hardware (such as 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
functions will continue to be farmed out except in advanced CAR programs.
These include: 9-track tape reading, print document scanning, cartridge
tape reading, and networking hardware and software. Additional computers
should also be added at this stage.
Q6: I don't know how to use all that stuff? And I don't know who does.
Where can I learn? And do I really have to?
A6: That is where the concept of "team journalism" comes into the
picture. There has to be some delineation of duties. You'll need people
with expertise in programming, spreadsheets and statistical analysis.
We're talking about training here. You can get some of that in academic
courses, in-house workshops, and CAR seminars sponsored by IRE and MICAR.
It will take time and effort and money and management support.
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?"42
In-House Training Programs
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.
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.
Q7: Is there some kind of CAR methodology?
A7: Here is a useful one.
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.
Q7: What kind of skills doe news librarians need to do this kind of
research?
A7: Here is a kind of skills inventory test for you.
Do you have knowledge of UNIX, WAIS, web authoring tools such as perl, QPS,
SQL, and web search engines?
Have you ever built or cooperated in building an internal database,
relational, preferably such as Access or Paradox?
Are you skilled in creating accurate, valid digests/abstracts from report
texts?
Have you collected, catalog, indexed, parsed, queried electronic
government data sources?
Can you navigate government electronic data? Bulletin boards, CD-ROMs,
web sites?
Are you knowledgeable about other in-house databases such as those in
your circulation, advertising, photo departments?
Would you be able to cooperate in the development and maintenance of an
in-house "database of databases? Plus be able to create useful interfaces
for a variety of different users? This is the beginning of the "intranet"
concept.
Are you prepared to archive and update large and varied types of digital
material collected for many sources?
Are you skilled in training news staff as well as library/research staff
in the use of different digital sources?
Have you developed policies and procedures for tracking corrections in
your electronic publications?
What is your experience and skills in marketing new media products from
library research?
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