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Michelle Minkoff brings us wealth of interviews with “data delvers”

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Michelle Minkoff, graduate student at Medill School of Journalism, has been working extremely hard over at her blog to provide us excellent interviews with numerous professionals specializing in computer-assisted reporting (CAR). Below are snippets from her eight interviews, but make sure to bookmark these links to read them in their entirety when you get the chance!

Data Delver: Mo Tamman, Wall Street Journal

“When I got into this business 20 years ago, I had assumed that the skills I was working on in the newsroom would be as common as people using a telephone or word processor. But that hasn’t come to pass. I still have people coming up to me with a spreadsheet saying, “Can you convert this into a PDF so I can print it out?” Some are older guys, but there are also young reporters who have no idea how to do even the most rudimentary things in a spreadsheet, which I find discouraging and flabbergasting all at the same time.”

Data Delver: David Donald, Center for Public Integrity

“… When we post data to the web it should be data that no one else has because a) we discovered it and analyzed it first. Therefore it’s not our data, it’s public data, but nobody’s making it available. b) We enhanced the data. We had built some very specific lobbying databases because in order to track certain issues in lobbying, you can’t just download the data, and do some sorting and a little bit of math. You actually have to go in and do hand coding and reading documents, because the data has flaws.”

Data Delver: William Hartnett, Palm Beach Post

” … I’ve always thought that the basics of computer-assisted reporting and working with the data should be an expected part of any reporter’s skill set . And it’s probably to our detriment that we’ve allowed it to become, and be called, a subset, as though it were a sort of optional, specialized skill … There are advanced things that you wouldn’t expect everybody to know how to do, and if you did, you’re not running a newsroom or a news organization anymore, you’re basically running a freelance web design/information visualization/engineering/consulting firm, but everyone should know the basics.”

Data Delver: Gregory Korte, Cincinnati Enquirer

“Using programming for analysis and web scraping is a great way to take your skills further, he said. “The value of programming is that it can speed up the more repetitive tasks that you were doing manually, and it allows you to do what others cannot.”

‘Most reporters see a new database, and it’s just too tempting– they’re only doing the story because it’s low-hanging fruit, begging to be analyzed. The issue in news is to find the right data.’”

Data Delver: Tyson Evans, NY Times Interface Engineer

“‘I have a hand in how we combine information into one interactive piece through editing and design,’ Evans said, describing his position. ‘We want to help people make discoveries on their own.’

He said that he, and the other members of the New York Times’ Interactive News Technology Group, led by Aron Pilhofer, each have specialties but are capable of wearing many hats.”

Data Delver: Matt Waite, St. Petersburg Times

“Aspiring journalists should all have some understanding of how coding works, but not everyone needs to be able to do it. ‘You’ve got to have interest, ambition and talent,’ Waite said.

He said sometimes he misses his computer-assisted reporting days, but he believes in what he’s doing now. ‘Sure, there are days I wish I could go out and cover a fire, get that adrenaline rush. But I’ve made peace. I think you have to ask yourself what you want to do, but also what journalism needs right now. And writers, they’re a dime a dozen. But we need more coders, we really need coders. So that’s what I do.’”

Data Delver: Perry Swanson, The Gazette

“Swanson said he wonders if data-based positions will continue to exist in newspapers, or even news organizations, but strongly believes that data work will continue to be important in the long run. Journalists who know how to post data to the Web will be better off.”

Data Delver: Ted Mellnik, Charlotte Observer database editor

“‘Anytime you do a story, you have an interest in how it’s published,’ he said. ‘When working on a typical story, you have a photographer and a graphic artist.’ But, he said, data stories require some different skills. Mellnik often has a general idea of how to display something, and talks to the graphics team to finesse the visual experience.”

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Hat tip to Michelle for working so hard to bring us these interviews. If you like what you see here, make sure to follow her on Twitter, check out her del.icio.us bookmarks, and learn more about her professional background on her LinkedIn profile.

Other posts that might interest you:

• Much to be excited about after Amsterdam’s “data driven journalism” conference
• WSJ visualizes Foursquare user activity in “A week on Foursquare”
• Video interview with New York Times’ Amanda Cox

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