Ver 1.0 -- The beat goes on

JTJ — 2006-04-18T14:14:32-06:00

We're pulling together the final pieces following the Ver 1.0 workshop in Santa Fe last week. Twenty journalists, social scientists, computer scientists, educators, public administrators and GIS specialists met in Santa Fe April 9-12 to consider the question, "How can we verify data in public records databases?"

The papers, PowerPoint slides and some initial results of three breakout groups are now posted for the public on the Ver1point0 group site at Yahoo. Check it out.

Ver 1.0 - A workshop on public database verification for journalists and social scientists

Tom Johnson — 2005-08-28T11:11:43-06:00

Call for papers

(This document available at http://www.ver1point0.cjb.net/ )
(Please circulate)

Ver[1] 1.0
A workshop on public database verification for journalists and social scientists

The Challenge: An uncountable number of public agency databases have been created in the past 30 years. More and more, public and private decision-makers draw on this collected, digital data to make decisions about everything from disciplining doctors to zoning decisions to law enforcement to deciding who gets to vote. The often-unquestioned assumption is that the data, as found, analyzed and presented by a government or quasi-government agency, is valid. Increasingly, anecdotal evidence indicates that data is riddled with serious errors. Often, if initial investigations indicate the data is too suspect -- and the cost to clean the data by hand or automatically too high -- then good and important analysis and investigations are put aside.

Focus: Participants in the three-day workshop will explore developing statistical and other methodological tools suitable for social scientists, biomedical and behavioral researchers, journalists and other interested investigators to determine the veracity of public records databases.

· Participants will learn how reporters and public administrators discovered, analyzed, verified and corrected public databases.

· Participants will learn how biomedical researchers, social scientists and investigators from other disciplines cope with the record validation problem.

· Participants, in small-group breakout sessions, will develop first-phase experimental strategies to ultimately measure the validity of databases.

· The intent is to approach the problem of database veracity at a high theoretical level while constantly keeping in mind the pragmatic needs of analysts.

Participants: By invitation based on proposals for submitted papers and presentations. Eight to ten journalists with track records of high-concept involvement in analytic journalism and who have demonstrated in-depth knowledge of database sciences will participate. An equal number of participants will be biomedical researchers, public administrators, data-mining experts, statisticians, forensic accountants, computer scientists and social scientists interested in the problem of database veracity.

Format: Mornings: Thirty-minute presentations based on selected papers, followed by discussion. Afternoons: three break-out groups focusing on
(1) developing new statistical methods for DB verification;
(2) building a flowchart/decision tree for the DB verification process;
(3) developing rules for creation of a hierarchy of importance/significance of record elements, i.e. variables, in common databases.

Submission process:

· Send the following information for proceedings committee review to Ver1papers@analyticjournalism.com by November 15, 2005: Please include the title of the paper, author(s) name (only on title page), the abstract or paper, contact name, address, city, state, zip, phone, and e-mail address.

· Potential participants are asked to submit a 300- to 500-word abstract of their proposed paper including details on research questions and methodology. Journalists’ papers may address their experience with databases and how they discovered and solved particular problems of data validity. However, all final papers, no longer than 3,500 words, are expected to be at least semi-scholarly in format and follow the American Psychological Association manuscript style. (Final papers shall be submitted before the workshop. All 20 papers will be published in downloadable and hard copy formats; the authors of 12 papers will be asked to make presentations at the workshop.)

· Abstracts and papers must be submitted in the .RTF (Rich Text File) format and attached to the submission e-mail cover note. No other formats (.doc, .pdf, etc.) can be accepted.

· If your abstract/paper is selected, you will be notified by December 15, 2005.

· Participants will make all their travel arrangements. (Plan on four-night stay at minimum). [NB: To reach Santa Fe, one flies to Albuquerque, then takes a one-hour shuttle van (approx. $22 each way) to Santa Fe. Santa Fe’s altitude is 7,000+ feet. It often takes at least 24 hours for visitors from lower elevations to adjust, so plan your hotel reservations accordingly.]

Deadlines:

· Submission of proposal: Nov. 15, 2005

· Notification of acceptance: Dec. 15, 2005

· Submission of final paper: March. 15, 2006

· Presentations: April 9-12, 2006

Coordinator: Institute for Analytic Journalism (www.analyticjournalism.com)
Sponsors: IAJ and TBA

Dates: Sunday evening through Wednesday evening, April 9-12, 2006

Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico USA. Both lodging and the workshop will be at the Inn of the Governors -- www.innofthegovernors.com -- in downtown Santa Fe. A block of rooms will be available at $119+15% tax from Sunday, April 9 through Wed April 12, 2006. Room rate includes breakfast, tea and sherry in the afternoon and free parking. All rooms have, gratis, wireless Internet connections. Participants’ stay may be extended at same workshop rate.

Cost: $100 registration fee for all participants; $500 for a limited number of observers. Registration fee scholarships available for three graduate students willing to serve as session recorders.

Contact: J. T. Johnson, Inst. for Analytic Journalism
tom@analyticjournalism.com or 505-577-6482

[1] “Ver” as in “verification” and “verify” and, from the Spanish verb ver: “to see; to look into; to examine.”

Institute for Analytic Journalism