April 2008 Archives

I just logged into a Caspio Bridge trial account and followed their "wizard" instructions to create a searchable database using some pre-loaded 2005-06 FBI crime statistics. Caspio powers the controversial Sacramento Bee state employee salary database and a bunch of other newspaper-site resources (like Jacksonville.com's sex-offender database -- where it was strange to see today's most-read story on the site was a blog post about an offender's escape from jail).

I just logged into a Caspio Bridge trial account and followed their "wizard" instructions to create a searchable database using some pre-loaded 2005-06 FBI crime statistics. Caspio powers the controversial Sacramento Bee state employee salary database and a bunch of other newspaper-site resources (like Jacksonville.com's sex-offender database -- where it was strange to see today's most-read story on the site was a blog post about an offender's escape from jail).

Here's a map that KTTWR fellow Tara Kimura made in the mapping class that Jerry Monti led this morning. I added a few local spots where I like to eat and drink. I also put up a few boxes to show places I went. Here's a tip: You should probably zoom out a few clicks (by clicking on the map's "minus" sign) to see more of those places. :) View Larger Map

On Tuesday afternoon, Matt Chittum (blog; Poynter E-Media Tidbits profile) laid out his transition from what he called the literary writing world to his data-cowboy title wrangling databases at Roanoke.com's Datasphere. Chittum spent a little over an hour pointing out free Web sites that Knight Digital Media Center fellows could use as resources, like Map Builder and Many Eyes.

The fine folks at the Knight Digital Media Center accepted my application for their Technology Training Workshop for Reporters. Then they asked me for a bio.

GEORGE KELLY is the online coordinator at Bay Area News Group-East Bay's Contra Costa Times, a 160,000-circulation newspaper that covers San Francisco's East Bay. His responsibilities include offering best-practices advice on blogging; moderating site forums, polls and reader-generated content; and collating the Sunday paper's "online extras" section. A native of Washington, D.C., Kelly graduated with a bachelor's in mass communications from Bowie State University. His first newspaper job was a Chips Quinn Scholar internship at the Oakland Tribune, which led to a schools and general assignment reporting stints with the Tri-Valley Herald in Pleasanton. He returned to Pleasanton two years later to work on ANG Newspapers' universal copy desk as an editor and paginator before leaving for online copy-editor shifts at thestandard.com and salon.com. He joined the Times in 2001 as a copy editor and paginator and most recently worked as the paper's first morning online reporter. He enjoys social media, songwriting and yearly jaunts to Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest's Interactive Festival.

There. That wasn't so bad. Did I miss anything?

You're more than welcome to look in on the lectures I'll be attending the rest of the week.

In this New York Times article, I think that should be Regina Belle, not Bell. Gee, I wonder how RushmoreDrive.com treats the results of that particular search?