{
  "id": "2004-september-october-readmetxt",
  "slug": "2004-september-october-readmetxt",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2004-september-october-readmetxt.html",
  "year": 2004,
  "month": "September • October",
  "monthNum": 9,
  "headline": "readme.txt",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "IRE",
  "summary": "Journalists from top news organizations share expertise on computer-assisted reporting projects through panel sessions, tapes, and tipsheets available from the IRE Annual Conference in Atlanta, covering topics from story selection to data analysis and final publication.",
  "keywords": [
    "journalism",
    "data",
    "reporting"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Journalism & Newsroom",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [],
  "full_text": "Some of the best journalists in the business recently spoke at the IRE Annual Conference in Atlanta about putting together a computer-assisted reporting project from start to finish. You can purchase tapes of these panels and related tipsheets.\n\nOrder tapes from Sound Images Inc. by providing the Session ID number. Contact Sound Images at 888-649-1118 or service@soundimages.net. A complete list of the available sessions can be found at www.ire.org/store/tapes/atlanta04.pdf.\n\nIRE members can search for the tipsheets online and view them online at www.ire.org/resourcecenter/initial-search-tipsheets.html. You may also order the tipsheets by contacting the IRE Resource Center at 573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org and providing the tipsheet number.\n\n\"CAR from start to finish: Choosing stories.\" John Erickson of the Dayton Daily News and Douglas Pardue of The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier. (Session ID No. IRE04-009). Pardue provides advice on looking for cues to good stories in Tipsheet No. 2065. Erickson's Tipsheet No. 2001 also provides ideas for identifying stories while on the beat.\n\n\"CAR from start to finish: Fighting for data.\" Russell Carollo of the Dayton Daily News and Jennifer LaFleur of The Dallas Morning News (Session ID No. IRE04-014). LaFleur's Tipsheet No. 2095 shows how data restrictions have hampered reporting.\n\n\"CAR from start to finish: The data is in – now what?\" Ted Mellnik of The Charlotte Observer and David Milliron of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Session ID No. IRE04-019). Tipsheet No. 2132 offers advice about looking at data before analyzing it.\n\n\"CAR from start to finish: Putting it all together.\" Rose Ciotta of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Shawn McIntosh of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and George Papajohn of the Chicago Tribune. (Session ID No. IRE04-024). The panelists share their advice in Tipsheet No. 2099.\n\nFor an overview of the lessons learned in two decades of CAR, order \"Blending traditional reporting with data analysis: What we've learned in 20 years\" (Session ID No. IRE04-099) with Sarah Cohen of The Washington Post, John Erickson of the Dayton Daily News, and Deborah Nelson of the Los Angeles Times. Nelson has a checklist to use at the start of a CAR project (Tipsheet No. 2092). Erickson provides guidelines for editing the CAR project (Tipsheet No. 2087). Cohen shares advice for working in teams (Tipsheet No. 2128).\n\nThe IRE Resource Center also has tipsheets from earlier conferences:\n\nMark Nichols of The Indianapolis Star provides ideas on how editors can help guide the CAR story. (Tipsheet No. 2049)\n\nBarbara Vobejda of The Washington Post provides advice for putting together the CAR project. (Tipsheet No. 1945)\n\nDebbie Wolfe of the St. Petersburg Times provides a quick checklist of questions for editors so they can be CAR-savvy through every step of the reporting process. (Tipsheet No. 1828)\n\nGriff Palmer of the San Jose Mercury News offers tips about editing and organizing a large data-heavy project, from getting a strong start and helping it grow to making it relevant for readers. (Tipsheet No. 1557)",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "2002-march-april-readmetxt",
      "score": 0.241
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-december-tapes-of-panels-from-the-national-car-conference",
      "score": 0.234
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-april-uplink-story-ideas",
      "score": 0.21
    },
    {
      "slug": "2005-novemberdecember-about-our-contributors",
      "score": 0.204
    },
    {
      "slug": "2003-novemberdecember-readmetxt-newsroom-intranets-tipsheets",
      "score": 0.203
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2004-september-october-readmetxt.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2004-september-october-readmetxt.json"
}