{
  "id": "2006-january-february-about-our-contributors",
  "slug": "2006-january-february-about-our-contributors",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2006-january-february-about-our-contributors.html",
  "year": 2006,
  "month": "January February",
  "monthNum": 1,
  "headline": "About our contributors",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "Associated Press",
  "summary": "A profile of seven investigative journalists who specialize in computer-assisted reporting (CAR), detailing their professional backgrounds, current positions at major news organizations, and training in data journalism techniques.",
  "keywords": [
    "journalists",
    "reporting",
    "databases"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Journalism & Newsroom"
  ],
  "technologies": [],
  "full_text": "Frank Bass is an investigative reporter for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. He has worked for the AP since 1997 as director of computer investigations. Bass has worked for the Wall Street Journal's Texas Journal, the Houston Post and the Alabama Journal, where he shared the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting. He is the author of the AP Guide to Internet Research and Reporting. He is an alumnus of the 2004 Advanced CAR Statistics Boot Camp and the 1998 SQL Server Boot Camp.\n\nDanielle Cervantes is a research analyst for The San Diego Union-Tribune and specializes in CAR and demographics. Before that she was a research librarian for five years. She is a 2003 alumna of the CAR Boot Camp.\n\nDoug Haddix is projects editor for The Columbus Dispatch. He is a 2001 alumnus of the CAR Boot Camp.\n\nJennifer LaFleur is the CAR editor for The Dallas Morning News. She was IRE and NICAR's first training director, serving 1994-95, and is co-author of \"Mapping for Stories,\" an IRE Beat Book. She is a 1997 alumna of the SQL Server Advanced Boot Camp and the 1990 CAR Boot Camp.\n\nAron Pilhofer is a database editor for The New York Times and has written extensively for Uplink about open-source software. He is the former director of IRE and NICAR's Campaign Finance Information Center and co-author of \"Unstacking the Deck: A Reporter's Guide to Campaign Finance,\" a beat book from IRE. Pilhofer is an alumnus of the 2004 Mapping Boot Camp and 1999 CAR Boot Camp.\n\nDave Smith is weekend editor for the Sentinel, in Fairmont, Minn., where he has worked for six years. He covers city government, business, health and medicine, and politics. Smith also writes a weekly humor column. He is a 2005 alumnus of the CAR Boot Camp.\n\nMaurice Tamman is a writer on the Sarasota Herald-Tribune special projects team. Before that, he was database reporter on the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's special projects team.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
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