Read:
- https://schoolofdata.org/2013/11/07/sql-databases-vs-excel/
- httpss://ire.org/blog/ire-news/2013/08/20/assessing-and-mapping-dangerous-intersections-your/
- https://ire.org/blog/on-the-road/2011/12/20/behind-story-tracking-police/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/us/activists-wield-search-data-to-challenge-and-change-police-policy.html & https://www.unc.edu/~fbaum/traffic.htm – NC angle.
- https://www.nj.com/excited-delirium/data.html
- httpss://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6IBlUS1jXOuQmhleGgyNHJ2eE0/edit
- https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-in-nyc-manicurists-are-underpaid-and-unprotected.html
It’s important to remember that government databases are created for the convenience of government employees and elected officials. Sometimes those people have the same goals as journalists and sometimes they don’t. In the stories you read today, how many different distinct databases can you find in the stories? Why did the government create them? And what would have been missing from the story if the reporter’s didn’t have access to them?