NewsTrain instructor Jill Riepenhoff provided this handout of tips on developing data-driven enterprise stories off beats as part of the NewsTrain workshop in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 20, 2014. It include links to various databases of interest to reporters on beats such as health, sports, education, business, cops and courts, and government. Please see an associated PowerPoint presentation -- Data-Driven Enterprise on Any Beat. NewsTrain is a traveling workshop for journalists sponsored by Associated Press Media Editors. For more information, visit http://www.apme.com/?AboutNewsTrain

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Data-driven enterprise off your beat
Jill Riepenhoff | @jriep | jriepenhoff@dispatch.com
Getting started in data journalism
1 – Convince a buddy to teach you Excel. It’s a powerful tool that is easily mastered.
2 – Start small. A guaranteed success will impress your editors and readers/viewers and convince yourself that this is doable.
3 – Master one tool at a time. Don’t think you need to learn everything at once. Some data journalists use only Excel, period.
4 – Use Excel often. To keep fresh, track FOIAs, your Rolodex, passwords, recipes. It isn’t a bicycle – you will lose it if you don’t use it.
5 – Join Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). As a member ($70 annually/$25 for students), you have access to thousands of how-to tip sheets, practice datasets, training opportunities, clean datasets and listservs. http://ire.org/membership/
Why you need data
1 – In this new media climate, you have to be able to do more than interview and write a story. Data journalism is another area that sets you apart from the pack.
2 – Find trends no one else can spot.
3 – Spot anomalies.
4 – Data is defensible. Numbers typically don’t lie and help hold the powerful accountable.
5 – It adds depth and texture in a way that an anecdote never could. It also makes you sometimes smarter than the government agency collecting the data because agency officials never analyze it.
How to find it
1 – Get record-retention schedules from the agencies you cover.

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2 – Read what other journalists have written on the topic – especially look for the how-to geek boxes.
3 – Ask the agency. How do you track ______?
4 – See below.
Data galore by beat
Slam-dunk data on any beat
 Inspection reports: nursing homes, taxi cabs, amusement-park rides, stadium food
 Licensing: nurses, massage therapists, mortgage brokers, food trucks
 Disciplinary actions: teachers, doctors, lawyers, coaches
 Complaints
 Property records: slumlords, foreclosures
Sports
 Minor league baseball: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/
 College athletic department salaries. See USA Today for top coaches’ salaries in football: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/
and basketball: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/ncaab/coach/
 Team rosters: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m- footbl/mtt/osu-m-footbl-mtt.html
 Major NCAA infractions: https://web1.ncaa.org/LSDBi/exec/miSearch
 Academic progress rates for college athletes (Click cancel if it asks for a password): http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/newmedia/public/rates/index5.html
 High school participation rates: http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/ParticipationStatics.aspx/
Health
 Vaccinations
 Ohio nurses’ licensure: http://bit.ly/1rnHY9i
 Nursing Home Compare: http://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
 Ohio Department of Health data center: http://www.odh.ohio.gov/healthstats/dataandstats.aspx

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Business
 Consumer complaints filed with the Attorney General’s office: http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Individuals-and- Families/Consumers/Search-Consumer-Complaints
 Sheriff’s sales
 Wildlife bird strikes: http://wildlife.faa.gov/
 Data breaches: http://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach
Local government
 Housing-code violations
 Parking tickets
 Time sheets
Education
 Ohio historical-enrollment data to see how the size of districts has changed over time: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently- Requested-Data/Enrollment-Data
 Ohio Department of Education frequently requested data: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Data/Frequently-Requested- Data/Requesting-Student-Level-data
 Campus crime 2001-2012: http://www.ope.ed.gov/security/, or you can buy clean data from IRE for $25
Environment
 Tracking algae blooms in Ohio: http://epa.ohio.gov/habalgae.aspx Downloadable spreadsheet on the page about algal-toxin results at Lake Erie, Ohio state park beaches and public water supplies.
 Ohio EPA enforcement actions: http://www.epa.state.oh.us/enforcement.aspx
Cops and courts
 Jail-booking data: Stories – domestic violence, immigration, drunk drivers
 Sex offenders
 Supreme Court’s Ohio Courts Statistical Summary tracks in aggregate form the types of cases heard in Common Pleas Court – probate, juvenile, civil and criminal: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/default.asp

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The arts
 Ohio Arts Council: http://www.oac.state.oh.us/search/default.asp
 Guidestar for nonprofits’ IRS Form 990 or tax return (NTEE codes – A60 performing arts): http://www.guidestar.org/
Nonprofits
 Youth sports, booster clubs: http://www.guidestar.org/
 Bingo profits: http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Business/Bingo- Operator/Bingo-Financials
Features
 Dog licenses: popular breeds/names, location of pitbulls
 Punxsutawney Phil vs. Buckeye Chuck
 License plates: variations of Go Bucks, banned phrases
 U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features.html
 U.S. Department of Labor violations for clothing manufacturers, retailers and fashion-media companies: http://ogesdw.dol.gov/homePage.php
Need more ideas?
Here are 60 from data journalists Mary Jo Webster and Jodi Upton. They put together this presentation for the NICAR/IRE conferences this year. It’s rich with ideas: http://goo.gl/9EKDfz
Questions?
Jill Riepenhoff
Projects Reporter, The Columbus Dispatch
(614) 461-5292 – w; (614) 638-6883 – c
jriepenhoff@dispatch.com | @JRiep