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Wednesday, August 31
Be careful believing what you read
by
Tom Johnson
on Wed 31 Aug 2005 11:14 AM MDT
Originally found on TechnologyReview.com
Posted by David Appell at August 30, 2005 08:48 AM in Biotechnology and Health Care.
"There's a very interesting article by John Ioannidis in PLoS Medicine,
the free online journal. Most current published research findings might
well be false, he says. There are several factors, and I think it's
worth presenting them in detail:
1. Many research studies are small, with only a few dozen participants.
2. In many scientific fields, the "effect sizes" (a measure of how
much a risk factor such as smoking increases a person’s risk of
disease, ... more »
Monday, August 29
Alleged Land Clearing by Arizona Land Developer Revealed with IKONOS Satellite Imagery
by
Tom Johnson
on Mon 29 Aug 2005 10:28 AM MDT
Company: Space Imaging
Industry: Satellite Image Data
Location: Denver, CO, United States of America
State of Arizona to Use Satellite Images
as Evidence in Lawsuit
DENVER,CO-– IKONOS satellite imagery has revealed alleged land
clearing by a developer in Arizona. The State of Arizona is suing the
Scottsdale developer for allegedly illegally bulldozing state and
private land known as La Osa Ranch located northwest of the town of
Marana, Arizona. Before-and-after satellite images of the area captured
by Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite show certain changes to the
environment and will be used as evidence in the case. From a
423-mile-high orbit the satellite can see objects on the ground as
small as one meter in size.
Marana’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department has been
collecting imagery for the last three years to map its expanding
boundaries, chart the town's recreational trail system and produce
three-dimensional views of proposed developments to provide citizens a
glimpse of what their neighborhoods will look like in the future. In
mid-2004, Chris Mack, Marana’s senior geographic information systems
specialist, discovered the imagery showed that the terrain had been
altered at La Osa Ranch. The satellite images captured the alleged land
clearing which included 700 acres over four miles from north to south. <more>
Sunday, August 28
There are mountains and then there are molehills
by
Tom Johnson
on Sun 28 Aug 2005 10:41 PM MDT
ADAM LIPTAK has a
piece
in this week's NYT Week in Review that is, we gather, a re-write of a
forthcoming article in The Georgetown Law Journal. (We're not going
to bother with the link because the article isn't posted.) In his
story, "If
the Law Is an Ass, the Law Professor Is a Donkey," Liptak writes, "The study...analyzes 11 years of records reflecting federal
campaign contributions by professors at the top 21 law schools as ranked by
U.S. News & World Report.
"Almost a third of these law
professors contribute to campaigns, ... more »
Saturday, August 27
So what do we think about ourselves?
by
Tom Johnson
on Sat 27 Aug 2005 09:43 PM MDT
It's
taken an uncommonly long time, but IAJ co-director Steve Ross and his
co-investigators at The Euro RSCG Magnet firm have finally posted some
of the summary of their "Survey of Media."
Steve and Don Middleberg have been doing this for more than a decade,
first just in the U.S. and internationally for the past few years.
Some talking points:
* Media appear mixed about blogs’ role in journalism
Blogs have not yet infiltrated journalist reporting techniques but have become a source of information
* Recent media scandals have challenged media trust
New wave of high-profile journalist misdeeds are expected to take a heavy toll on the newsroom
* Corporate scandals continue to thwart corporate credibility
Journalists point to the lack of transparency for their loss in trust in corporations over the past year
* CEOs may be regaining some stature with the media
Journalists are more likely to turn to CEOs and consider their
performance in their reporting than in 2003
Thursday, August 25
What's stirring in your back yard?
by
Tom Johnson
on Thu 25 Aug 2005 12:50 PM MDT
From Gary Price's Resource Shelf:
"Toxic Chemicals--United States--Databases
Source: NLM New Version of TOXMAP Available
"TOXMAP is an interactive web site from the National Library of Medicine that shows the amount and location of reported toxic chemicals released into the environment on maps of the United States. TOXMAP allows users to visually explore information about releases of toxic chemicals by industrial facilities around the United States as reported annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."
Wednesday, August 24
"Strikingly" good work
by
Tom Johnson
on Wed 24 Aug 2005 04:29 PM MDT
The Dallas Morning News crew started publishing last weekend a terrific study of jury selection -- or de-selection -- in Dallas. Check it out at
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2005/jury/
Striking Differences
Racial
discrimination in jury selection was a scourge on the Dallas
County district attorney's office for decades and was cited
recently by the U.S. Supreme Court as it overturned a 1986
death penalty case. The
Dallas Morning News spent two years gathering and analyzing
jury data from felony court trials to see what had changed.
Key Findings:
• Dallas County prosecutors excluded black jurors at more than twice the rate they rejected whites.
• Defense attorneys excluded whites at more than three times the rate they rejected blacks.
• Even
when blacks and whites gave similar answers to key questions asked by
prosecutors, blacks were excluded at higher rates.
• Blacks ultimately served on juries in numbers that mirror their
population primarily because of the dueling prosecution and defense
strategies.
Thursday, August 18
The basics of the basics: What is/are the definitions?
by
JTJ
on Thu 18 Aug 2005 06:22 PM MDT
Ford Fessenden, of the NYTimes, has yet another strong piece in Thursday's paper, "Health Mystery in New York: Heart Disease." The lede lays out the perplexing problem in NYC: "Death rates from heart disease in New York City and its suburbs are
among the highest recorded in the country, and no one quite knows why."
But among possible answers -- and here especially is where the AJ kicks in -- is that there is some "...speculation that doctors in the area may lump deaths with more subtle
causes into the heart disease category, making that toll look worse
than it actually is." And "...the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at the health
department's request, has sent specialists to determine whether doctors
in New York City ascribe causes of death substantially differently."
I know, I know, we're preaching here, but we don't think it can be pointed out too often: journalists and all social scientists cannot simply accept given numbers as a true, valid, honest. We always have to swim up the data-creation stream to determine where, why and from who came the numbers.
More government employees may be removed from public records
by
JTJ
on Thu 18 Aug 2005 02:00 PM MDT
Tamara Thompson reports on her blog PI News Link....
By Tamara Thompson Investigations
California
SB 506
will add an additional group of public officials to the roster of
those whose personal data is confidential. Keep this idea filed in the
back of your hat. When subject to a potential threat, various
government employees may apply to have their address and other
identifiers removed from public records. In its current form, SB 506
deems the application for closure a public record. If the
document exists, you'll know that the subject has convinced another
public official that "a life threatening circumstance" exists that
impels the request for confidentiality.
"This bill would require a local elections official to extend this
confidentiality of voter registration information to specified public
safety officials, upon application, as specified, for a period of no
more than two years, if the local elections official is authorized to
do so by his or her county board of supervisors. The application of a
public safety official would be a public record."
U.S. paper using Google Maps online
by
JTJ
on Thu 18 Aug 2005 01:43 PM MDT
As Anna-Maria Mende reports from journalism.co.uk:
By Anna-Maria Mende
As Journalism.co.uk reports US local sites are beginning to experiment with Google Maps. New York State local newspaper Record Online,
for example, began to put Google maps on its articles. While reading
the article readers can see the location of the story on maps or
satellite images. Newspapers are thereby taking advantage of Google in
contrast to usual complaints that Google News and Google Ads threaten
newspapers.
"Recently, technology firm Daden from Birmingham, UK, developed a tool that combines Google Earth with users' favorite RSS feeds (see previous posting).
(Google Earth - unlike Google Maps - shows three-dimensional images.)
With this tool readers can select news by location on an international,
regional or local map on their computer. Newspapers experimenting with
Google Maps works the other way round; showing readers the location of
a news story while they are already reading it.
Source: Journalism.co.uk"
We wonder when Google will begin licensing its maps to I-o-P publications for inclusion in the hard copy edition.
You will want to link to Matt Waite's blog
by
JTJ
on Thu 18 Aug 2005 01:05 PM MDT
Matt Waite, a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times,
is one of the bright lights in analytic journalism. (And "bright"
has all the meanings you can apply.) He is one of a handful of
the next generation, i.e. folks <40 years old, who are pushing some
intellectual and methodologtical boulders up the institutional hill
that is classic journalism.
Matt has
created a non-rant blog describing his stories and projects in St.
Pete. It's a learning resource. See www.mattwaite.com
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