{
  "id": "2000-december-bits-bytes-and-barks",
  "slug": "2000-december-bits-bytes-and-barks",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2000-december-bits-bytes-and-barks.html",
  "year": 2000,
  "month": "December",
  "monthNum": 12,
  "headline": "Bits, Bytes and Barks",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "",
  "summary": "The article discusses upcoming Census 2000 data release plans, provides technical solutions for importing fixed-width text into Access, and introduces the NICAR Database Library's federal campaign finance data subscription service.",
  "keywords": [
    "census",
    "database",
    "data"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Data & Databases",
    "Journalism & Newsroom",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "FTP",
    "CD-ROM",
    "Excel",
    "Access",
    "Word",
    "WordPad",
    "FoxPro"
  ],
  "full_text": "Bits, Bytes and Barks\n\nCensus Data\n\nThe big question these days is, \"How will I get the Census 2000 immediately after it's released?\" The first data, state-by-state redistricting data, will come out sometime in March. The Census Bureau plans to make it available in several ways, including on the Web, via FTP and CD-ROM. IRE and NICAR and the Associated Press are both studying ways to get the information to journalists the same day it is released. Details have not been worked out yet. However, NICAR's plan will include producing a standard set of extracted data, offering the most immediately useful summary levels (like state, county, place and tract). These would be extracted into Excel files for each state and put on an FTP server accessible to subscribers.\n\nStay tuned to Uplink and the NICAR-L and IRE-L listservs for more details about the NICAR Census plan. More information about Census 2000 for journalists is available at Steve Doig's Web site, http://cronkite.pp.asu.edu/census.\n\nAccess Tech Tip\n\nHere's a question posted to the NICAR-L list recently with a common, but annoying, importing problem: \"I'm trying to import fixed-width text into Access, using the import wizard, but before the process begins, an error message appears telling me that the first row on my records is too large. The record length is about 320 characters. The text I'm bringing in includes about 300,000 records. Where have I missed the boat?\"\n\nThe problem was that the file either didn't have end-of-record characters, or had ones that Access doesn't recognize. As a result, Access was thinking the entire 300,000-plus-record file was one big record and it choked.\n\nThere are several ways to fix this problem:\n1) If the file isn't too large, you can open it in Word or Wordpad and save it as MS-DOS text.\n2) If you have FoxPro in your office, another option is to open it in FoxPro's text editor and saving it as a new file. FoxPro will automatically add the end-of-record characters.\n3) There are many text editing programs available, including demo and shareware versions. These will allow you to add in the necessary characters. Two possibilities are EditPad, www.jgsoft.com, or UltraEdit32, www.ultraedit.com.\n\nCampaign Finance Data\n\nThe NICAR Database Library offers a monthly subscription to federal campaign finance data from the Federal Elections Commission. Each month, you would receive four tables of data, including individual contributions, committee contributions and other transactions, a listing of candidates and a listing of committees.\n\nThe subscription costs $100 for news organizations with circulation under 50,000 or 50-200 market; $200 for circulation 50,000 to 100,000 or 25-50 market; and $225 for circulation over 100,000 or top 25 market.\n\nMore information about this data is available at www.ire.org/datalibrary/databases or to place an order call NICAR at (573) 884-7711.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
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  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2000-december-bits-bytes-and-barks.html",
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}