{
  "id": "2000-julyaugust-kentucky-fried-car",
  "slug": "2000-julyaugust-kentucky-fried-car",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2000-julyaugust-kentucky-fried-car.html",
  "year": 2000,
  "month": "July/August",
  "monthNum": 7,
  "headline": "Kentucky Fried CAR",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "IRE and NICAR",
  "summary": "IRE's Kentucky Fried CAR conference will be held in Lexington from September 14-17, offering over 50 panels and 40 training sessions on computer-assisted reporting techniques for journalists of all levels. The event features expert-led sessions on topics ranging from Census data analysis and mapping software to investigating crime, government, and public records.",
  "keywords": [
    "conference",
    "journalism",
    "reporting"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Journalism & Newsroom",
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Data & Databases"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Access",
    "Excel",
    "SPSS",
    "SAS",
    "ArcView",
    "SQL",
    "Perl"
  ],
  "full_text": "More than 50 panels and another 40 hands-on training sessions will be offered at IRE's national computer-assisted reporting conference in Lexington, Kentucky, Sept. 14 through Sept. 17.\n\nThe Thursday through Sunday conference, known as Kentucky Fried CAR is co-hosted by the Lexington Herald Leader. The conference will feature the leading practitioners and have sessions for the beginner and for the expert; for the reporter and for the editor; and for the print journalist, the broadcast journalist, and the online journalist. Conference sponsors include the Gannett Foundation, the Scripps-Howard Foundation, Knight-Ridder, and WKYT-TV. The conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington where rooms start at only $104 a night. We plan to have breakout sessions for people interested in special topics and lots of opportunities for small workshops in the computer demonstration room. And of course there will be opportunities to appreciate the attractions of Kentucky, from horses to bluegrass to distilleries. To register for the conference, which costs only $150 plus $50 for non-members, you can go to www.ire.org/training/lexington or you can call IRE at 573-882-2042. The conference will include a special batch of sessions on the upcoming Census data. The sessions will be led by experts Steve Doig of Arizona State University and Paul Overberg of USA Today. There will also be a track of using mapping software and a close look at the best and safest use of statistics.\n\nOther topics\n\nRacial profiling\nGetting ready for the hurricane season and other natural disasters\nThe gun trade\nDoing your first CAR story\nDeciphering property records\nFinding the bad doctors\nUsing CAR effectively at small newspapers\nEditing CAR stories\nWhen the plane crashes: From bad rudders to runway incursions\nTraining the newsroom\nThe latest, greatest CAR stories\nUnlocking the secrets of the prison industry\nCool stuff. The latest in practical software\nTeaching CAR at the university\nThe recipe for illness: Covering the food industry\nDriving CAR on the highway beat\nCampaign finance: What to do after the election\n20 shortcuts to finding what you need on the Web\nCAR and broadcast: Getting past the time machine\nChildren at risk: Daycare and foster care\nDecrypting death records: Ingenious uses\nCrime and violence: What data to use\nBeyond the city limit: International data for local stories\nTracking venture capital\nMeasuring school test scores: More ways to an A\nCAR for the statehouse\nPlundering environmental data\nPublic employees: Absenteeism, benies and other snafus\nElderly care: Understanding the nursing home data\nLocal government: Budgets, bids, purchases and change orders\nThe Military Records Maze\nBuilding the Intranet for Your Newsroom\nUnveiling the hidden work of lobbyists\nSports CAR: Stadiums, teams and profits\nThe property scam: Landlords, land-flipping, and blight\nTracking an individual through on-line resources\nThe issues and ethics of public access and the need for privacy\n\nHands-on training\n\nYou can take up to three one-and-a-half-hour classes, which will include:\n\nDatabase managers: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced (Taught in Access)\nSpreadsheets, Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced (Taught in Microsoft Excel)\nStatistics (Taught in SPSS with special sessions in SAS)\nMapping: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced (Taught in ArcView)\nBasic primer in Structured Query Language\nUsing SQL Server\nA Primer in Perl\nData Cleaning: String functions and more",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "2003-novemberdecember-car-conference",
      "score": 0.306
    },
    {
      "slug": "2006-september-october-2007-car-conference",
      "score": 0.268
    },
    {
      "slug": "2006-november-december-ire-conference",
      "score": 0.268
    },
    {
      "slug": "1999-october-upcoming-advanced-car-training",
      "score": 0.263
    },
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      "score": 0.256
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2000-julyaugust-kentucky-fried-car.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2000-julyaugust-kentucky-fried-car.json"
}