Blogging on database journalism

For your next blog post, I would like you to write about three online databases at the “Mass. Facts” site of Boston.com, which Boston Globe reporter Matt Carroll demonstrated for you today. Simply choose three that you find especially interesting, explain what they are, and tell us why you chose those three.

Select no more than one of your three from the “Your town” section, as those are Globe presentations of database information. The idea is to examine actual databases and try to make sense out of them.

Finally, your blog item should include at least one idea for a possible story based on the databases you have found.

If you were unable to attend class today, you should still write this blog post. You missed an excellent presentation, but that should not prevent you from being able to do the assignment.

Please have this done before class this coming Wednesday.

Our first guest speaker

Matt Carroll of the Boston Globe will be joining us for the final hour of our class tomorrow to demonstrate the power of Web-based databases in journalism. You’ll be asked to write a blog item about his talk.

Rounding up the political blogs

Students in Reinventing the News this week are evaluating four nonpartisan political Web sites — FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, the Washington Post’s Congress Votes Database and Project Vote Smart. Here’s what they’re saying about them.

Why can’t users post comments on any of these sites? That is a key component of Web journalism, and Adrianne Loggins thinks commenting ought to be incorporated into these sites as well.

PolitiFact is the most interesting of the four, says Belen Bogado, because of the way it combines serious political information with an entertaining presentation.

Is there a trend emerging here? Bobby Feingold, too, is a PolitiFact fan, writing that its initially convoluted appearance masks an entertaining approach to politics.

There’s value in all four sites, says Candice Novak. But she points to some other worthwhile sites that track the role of money in politics.

Chaz Miller also has nice things to say about the four sites, but he seems to be the most impressed with the Congress Votes Database, despite what he calls its lack of aesthetic appeal.

Since both major-party presidential candidates are senators, Drew Bonifant points out that the Congress Votes Database ought to be a useful tool in analyzing their backgrounds.

What the political-database sites lack in context and analysis, writes Firuzeh Shokooh-Valle, they make up for in sheer democracy-enhancing information — and thus serve the basic roles of good journalism.

Does Sarah Palin hate puppies? That’s what Jared Molton concludes after reading a FactCheck analysis of an ad criticizing Palin for shooting wolves from airplanes.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s astrological sign (Sagittarius) is just one of the facts Jess Volpe gleaned at Project Vote Smart, her favorite of the four political sites.

Julie Balise pleads guilty to enjoying PolitiFact, but wishes that its content didn’t look like advertisements and its advertisements didn’t look like content.

Political databases have their place, writes Liz Stitt. But she adds that there are plenty of other worthwhile political resources on the Web — including a video of David Letterman mocking John McCain for canceling his appearance this week.

Like many students, Mark Rizzo finds PolitiFact and FactCheck to be similar — and PolitiFact better. Among other things, he notes, PolitiFact simply covers more content.

PolitiFact has a technological edge over FactCheck as well, says Matt Collette — FactCheck makes you download videos before you can watch them, whereas PolitiFact uses Flash.

“Somewhere, Mitt Romney is crying,” writes Michaela Stanelun. Why? Because PolitiFact has unveiled a new feature called the “Flip-O-Meter,” which seems somehow appropriate for the former presidential candidate.

Wikimedia Commons

On Wednesday we talked about how to use Creative Commons to find photos for your blog, and how to credit those photos. We also heard a suggestion that Wikimedia Commons was a good source of photos and other media. Indeed it is, and I just want to make sure you have the link. Same idea; if you use it, pay attention to how the creator wishes to be credited.

Political database blog post

I’d like you all to take a look at four political databases — FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, the Congress Votes Database and Project Vote Smart — and write a 350-word (approximately) post telling your readers what you like about them, what you don’t like about them and how they might be improved. Please try to have this post up by late Friday afternoon.

If you can suggest another worthwhile political site in your post, so much the better.

The programmer as journalist

In addition to the interview with Adrian Holovaty that I asked you to read, you may find this article about him in the Chicago Tribune interesting.

As you’ll see, the reluctance that newspaper executives had to making use of Holovaty’s work is beginning to diminish, as both the Tribune and its rival, the Chicago Sun-Times, have formed partnerships with Holovaty’s EveryBlock project.

Holovaty got his start at the Lawrence Journal-World in Lawrence, Neb., which remains an innovative, much-admired newspaper Web site. If you poke around, you’ll notice, among other things, that the newspaper paradigm has been broken completely: the site looks nothing like a newspaper. Nor should it.

Holovaty’s Congress Votes Database is still going strong, though some of the more whimsical touches, such as members’ astrological signs, appear to be gone. Unless I’m just not looking in the right place.

The Politico’s hybrid model

There’s an interesting story in the New York Times today on the Politico, the Web-mostly political news source that launched 20 months ago.

As we’ve discussed in class, the notion that print publications are going to fade away entirely is morphing into a new idea — that print and online each brings something to the table.

According to the Times, the print edition of the Politico is pulling in most of the advertising, even though it’s distributed only within a mile of Capitol Hill — and even though the Web site is wildly successful, drawing some 3 million unique visitors each month.

Scanning your blogs

I spent my night reading your blogs, which you’ll find linked at the bottom of the right-hand column. I was very impressed — every one of them had a lot to offer, and some of you have put a lot of thought and effort into how they look. Nearly all of you have struck a good balance between substance and attitude.

You should all have received an e-mail from me with specific comments.

I am looking forward to watching your blogs progress throughout the semester. And now I’m going to add them to Google Reader.

Good advice

Amy Gahran has some great tips for young journalists who are just starting to blog.

Help the Huntington News

The Huntington News — formerly the Northeastern News — is looking for students to help with multimedia and other online features. I met with the editors over the summer, and we talked about blogging, Google map presentations and other possibilities, so this sounds like a great opportunity.

The News has scheduled two meetings for interested students — Monday and Thursday, Sept. 22 and 25, at 6 p.m. The News’ new offices are at 295 Huntington Ave. (near the Boston House of Pizza), in Room 205, on the second floor.