More than 250 journalists from across the globe gathered in Charlotte in March for IRE and NICAR's Annual Computer-Assisted Reporting conference. Attendance was smaller than many of the other recent CAR conferences, but those who attended were part of a committed bunch. How committed? Let me put it this way: Some of the conference-goers helped load CDs full of software onto the PCs in training rooms.
Others performed manual labor, hauling PCs and monitors out of packing crates and lugging them into the training rooms. It was a great reminder that IRE and NICAR work because the journalists at the grass roots work by sharing their time, experience and knowledge. For those of you who missed it, the conference was packed with panels and demo sessions on all kinds of topics: weaving CAR into the beat, data for covering CAR during wartime and spatial analysis for investigations.
And then there were special advanced workshops geared to CAR power users and hands-on classes for everyone. With the prospect of war looming, many of the panels had a special focus on defense and homeland security. Likewise, the spotlight panel focused on a timely subject: the battle over access to information. If you want to catch up on the happenings at the conference, you can order tipsheets provided by panelists.
For more information about ordering contact the IRE Resource Center at (www.ire.org/resourcecenter or 573-882-3364). The tipsheets are a great way to learn lessons from other journalists. Thanks to everyone for making this a great conference. Contact David Herzog by e-mail at dherzog@nicar.org.