{
  "id": "1998-june-paper-riches",
  "slug": "1998-june-paper-riches",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1998-june-paper-riches.html",
  "year": 1998,
  "month": "June",
  "monthNum": 6,
  "headline": "Paper riches",
  "kicker": "HANDOUTS OF THE MONTH",
  "author_name": "Diane Renzulli",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "Public Integrity",
  "summary": "This article provides comprehensive guidance on creating accurate campaign databases from paper records, covering essential steps from data gathering and entry through editing, coding, and fact-checking to ensure data quality and integrity.",
  "keywords": [
    "database",
    "campaigns",
    "records"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Data & Databases",
    "Government & Politics"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "CD-ROM"
  ],
  "full_text": "Tips for Creating Campaign Databases from Paper Records\n\nStart small\n\nDon't take on the whole state legislature on the first try. State legislators in leadership positions, committee chairs, or candidates from local races are much more manageable subsets.\n\nStaffing\n\nMore people does not mean better data quality.\nIf you can, avoid in-house data entry for major projects.\nIf you can't, test potential data-entry personnel for attention to detail before hiring them.\n\nGathering the data\n\nMake friends with the staff at the local elections board.\nCreate an index of the candidates you want to include in your database.\nKeep copies of the records on site.\n\nData entry\n\nUse a double-entry system.\nGive each contribution a unique identification number that allows you to quickly retrieve it in paper form.\nEnter the name of the contributor exactly as it was written on the campaign records, even if it is incorrect.\n\nEditing the data\n\nKeep both an \"edited contributor\" and an \"original contributor\" field in your database.\nTo identify which acronym belongs to which organization, sort your database by address.\nNever guess. If a contributor has two different addresses, confirm that it is the same person or organization.\nIf family members give from the same address, you can combine them by using an \"and/or\" notation in the \"edited contributor\" field.\n\nCoding contributions\n\nCode contributions AFTER the database has been edited.\nUse the Center for Responsive Politics coding system.\nAvoid identifying organizations by name only.\nCreate a field on the database that lists your source for the coding.\nAfter coding, sort by industry code and check for mistakes.\n\nIdentifying individuals\n\nPrioritize. Identify top donors first.\nAlways confirm that an individual at two different addresses is the same person. Call them directly if you need to.\nIf your state or locality doesn't require employer or occupation information, you can match the following with your database:\n- lists of professionals regulated by state agencies\n- information from a CD-ROM telephone directory (for example, ProCD)\n- local companies' board of directors and officers\n- local companies' contributors to state and federal PACs\n- your newspaper's press files\nSort your database by address to find individuals who work at a particular organization.\nCreate a field in the database for the initials of the staff person who identified the individual.\nIf you're in a state or locality that mandates employer or occupation information by law, contact the campaign for more information on unidentified donors.\n\nFact checking\n\nCheck your database with the candidates' cover pages. If the totals for a candidate don't match your database, check each contribution individually.\nTreat your database suspiciously before writing your story: sort, sort, and sort some more.\nIf you are using a campaign database provided by the state, first check it with paper records to ensure its accuracy.\n\nFinal note\n\nWhile you should do everything you can to ensure your database's accuracy, don't let the idea of the \"flawless\" database control you or your project.\nDiane Renzulli can be reached at (202) 783-3900 or by email at drenzulli@publicintegriy.org",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1997-october-making-data-entry-easy",
      "score": 0.32
    },
    {
      "slug": "1995-july-uplink-update",
      "score": 0.213
    },
    {
      "slug": "1991-november-data-entry-problems-how-do-newspapers-protect-the-integrity-of-information",
      "score": 0.183
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-june-checking-data-integrity",
      "score": 0.167
    },
    {
      "slug": "1996-january-on-the-internet",
      "score": 0.165
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1998-june-paper-riches.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1998-june-paper-riches.json"
}