Google Refine: A tool for journalists looking for great stories in data
Hopefully it encourages more journalists to take the plunge into computer-assisted reporting.
Tools
Treasure Hunters Roadshow is completely different from ‘Antiques Roadshow’
Not many media outlets note the distinction between Treasure Hunters Roadshow and the PBS program, “Antiques Roadshow.”
How some journalists are encouraging bloggers to republish their stories
The Guardian offers a WordPress plugin that lets bloggers republish stories. In return, a Web advertisement automatically runs at the bottom of the post.
Mechanical problems with your plane? Check its safety record online
You can search the safety history of the plane you’re going to board.
Reporting tool: Bookmarking and searching your personal archive of web pages with Diigo
If you bookmark lots of websites, then at some point you’ve fruitlessly searched for a specific page that you bookmarked years ago with your browser. Not fun. Diigo is a bookmarking tool that lets you build a searchable archive of websites that interest you. There’s a social-media component to Diigo. You set up a profile, …
Using LucidChart to connect the dots between people and organizations
When City Hall reporter Josh Baugh and I worked on this story about fired city official Fernando De León, Josh found a nice online tool to help us connect the dots. LucidChart lets you create flow charts and organizational trees that you can share with your colleagues and publish when you’re done. Here’s the chart …
Home sellers could pay hidden fee to real estate developers for generations
Jennifer Hiller wrote an interesting story about a company started in Austin that is trying to sell developers on a novel way to make a profit: Here’s a new concept in real estate: Buy a house, and when you go to sell it years later, owe the original developer or builder 1 percent of the …
Full C-Span archives now online
Political junkies, rejoice. C-Span has posted nearly its entire video archive online for the public to search and view. This is awesome. Let’s say you’re researching the roots of the economic crisis, and you want to explore whether the deregulation of the banking industry played a role. The C-Span archive offers the full video of …
Mapping voting sites with ZeeMaps
Somehow my unofficial beat during every election in San Antonio is to roam around and write about the problems and low-voter turnout that afflict our messy Democracy. While on “election snafu” patrol, I was relying on a list of voting sites put out by the Bexar County Elections Department. But the list of locations was …
How to check the quality of a nursing home
The San Antonio Express-News published an investigative story Sunday that revealed how some local nursing homes consistently neglect the elderly but are allowed to stay in business with little or no penalty. Here are a few tips and resources we used for our story that might help you if you’re looking for a good nursing …