Alfredo Covaleda,
Bogota, Colombia
Stephen Guerin,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
James A. Trostle,
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Spatial data analysis and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology contribute to the advancement of crime analysis and the better understanding of criminal behavior. Since 1997 the Mapping & Analysis for Public Safety (MAPS) program, formerly the Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC), has reached out to academics and practitioners alike in the criminology, criminal justice and law enforcement communities to bridge the gap between research and practice. The MAPS program awards grants, sponsors conferences and workshops, publishes reports, and provides guidance. It also disseminates information on training opportunities in spatial data analysis techniques and GIS technology. In all, the program focuses on research, evaluation, development, coordination, and dissemination.
Gary Price's Resource Shelf indirectly pointed us to a new resource that can provide journalists with a quick and not-so-dirty GIS tool for their community or any other in the U.S. GeoLib is the Public Library Geographic Database (PLGDB) Mapping site. But its mapping engine delivers far more than just push-pining public libraries. The GIS server can display a variety of physical, demographic and political boundaries and data that can be turned on and off in traditional GIS layers. The resulting maps could be easily copied with a tool like Snag-It and dropped into a document or web page.
“Florida State University's GeoLib Program ( www.geolib.org ) is developing the National Public Library Geographic Database. The database includes the locations of 16,000 public libraries, data sets from the US Census, and library use statistics from the National Center for Educational Statistics. The goal of this database is to provide consolidated information on public libraries nationwide, easily accessible over the Internet. The project is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services ( www.imls.gov )
A key ingredient to the long term success of the PLGDB is the ongoing incorporation of other relevant data. We need your feedback as to what data you would like to have in the future. We hope the database will offer public librarians access to data that can shape local, regional and national library policies. For more information about GeoLib and its programs and to find out about the latest status and data releases of the National Public Library Geographic Database check back on this website regularly.”
A short, but touching, piece turned up on Alternet.org today, reminding us that no matter what government officials may say, at some point they are going to have to produce some numbers and measure change in those numbers. See: “Why Numbers Matter By Marla Ruzicka, AlterNet War on Iraq: Just before her death, Marla Ruzicka wrote about the importance of recording and publicly releasing Iraqi civilian casualty numbers.”
And this is the story from The Independent in the UK about Ms. Ruzicka and the general work related to tallying the numbers. See:
Finally, a news/obit on Ms. Ruzicka from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Here's a link to an education article with a suggestion to revamp the University of California admission's system. Our stake in public education
The good folks from TRAC just keep on keepin' on. Once again David Burnham and Susan B. Long are out in front on the effort to demand that the people's data be made available to the people. So comes this from TRAC today: “The IRS is illegally withholding information about its operations, claiming that the public release of some of it would compromise homeland security. Details of the agency's actions are laid out in the lawsuit against the IRS filed on April 14 under the Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit, brought for TRAC's co-directors David Burnham and Susan B. Long by Scott Nelson of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, is part of an ongoing effort to provide the American people with information they need to judge how the IRS is carrying out its important responsibilities. The agency's current policy of refusing to make public routine statistical information and how it is collected reverses a thirty-year period of relative openness. To see a press release about the filing, the actual complaint and a short discussion of the dangers posed by IRS secrecy, go to”: http://trac.syr.edu/foia
A while ago we participated in an on-line project to test the small world hypothesis — the idea that people are connected by only six degrees of separation. Some of the results from that project have been published in the journal Science. You can download a copy of the results here, http://smallworld.columbia.edu/results.html and also examine the methodology. This study has some interesting implications, not just about “social connectedness” but how one can use the internet and, Gasp!, “self-selecting respondents” to do what seems to be valid social science research, at least of a specific sort.
WHAT: Math for Journalists, a new and interactive online course and reference tool WHO: Written by Debbie Wolfe, technology training editor, St. Petersburg Times; designed by Casey Frechette, Poynter NewsU course administrator and Flash wizard WHEN: Available beginning today, Mon., April 11, 2005 at 9 a.m. EDT (US) WHERE: It's available where you are and when you need it. Just log onto the Web even if you only have a 56K dial-up modem. HOW: FREE thanks to the Poynter Institute and the Knight Foundation; just spend a few moments registering at Poynter's NewsU Web site at http://www.newsu.org WHY: Because many journalists need an easy to understand, available 24/7 and free resource to turn to for self-help with math. The content of the course is the collective wisdom of plenty of gifted math types written by one who is not, so it's the best of both worlds. Enjoy! Background about the Math for Journalists course: For the past 30 years, one of my professional goals has been to make routine math more routine for myself and other journalists. So, with this goal in mind, the NewsU staff at Poynter has helped me create an online and very interactive Math for Journalists course. Today just also happens to be the formal launch day for NewsU, Poynter's online university for journalists. You'll learn more about NewsU from official messages sent out to the industry by Poynter. In the Math for Journalists course, there are six theme areas packed with step-by-step formulas (I like to think of these as recipes), recipes for double checking your work, pop-up screens with common English tips, story examples, public records data examples and skill drills. And, by the way, the drills have plenty of skill levels to choose from so everyone will be challenged. The entire course has been written and designed to be used in the following ways: 1. LINEAR – Start from the beginning and work your way through 2. TOPICAL – Choose the order that makes the most sense to you 3. DEADLINE – Go right to the topic you need at that moment in time. The formulas and examples are right there without any fluff. Here's an outline of what's included in the initial launch: 1. REFRESHERS, includes terms and syntax; order of operations; and, fractions 2. BACKGROUNDERS, includes warm-up exercises; Web resources; and, math helpers 3. PERCENTS OF ALL KINDS, including percent change; percent of total; and, percentage point vs. percent 4. AVERAGES AND MORE, including mean; median; and, mode 5. NUMBER RELATIONSHIPS, including ratio; rank; and, rates with a special section on millage rates 6. ADVANCED TOPICS, including cost of living; weighted averaging; and, estimating the size of a crowd Take the course for a spin in whole or in part, then let me know what you think. As I hear about suggestions, additions will be made. “Just in time” newsroom math help and reference 24/7. Free. Forever. Now, is this cool or what?! Cheers! Debbie Wolfe Technology Training Editor St. Petersburg Times 800-333-7505, ext. 2919 727-892-2919 Preferred e-mail: dpwolfe@peoplepc.com Also, check these out these two Web sites: (1) http://canyonwolfephoto.com (2) http://usfspconvergence.blogspot.com
By Alex Knott
“WASHINGTON, April 7, 2005 — Special interests and the lobbyists they employ have reported spending, since 1998, a total of almost $13 billion to influence Congress, the White House and more than 200 federal agencies. They've hired a couple thousand former government officials to influence federal policy on everything from abortion and adoption to taxation and welfare. And they've filed—most of the time—thousands of pages of disclosure forms with the Senate Office of Public Records and the House Clerk's Office….”
The folks at LII (“Librarian's Index to the Internet“) delivered good works again this week. jux2 ———————————————————————- Test version for this “comparative research tool” designed to answer these questions: how different are the major Internet search engines, and is one any better than the others? The site is a search engine aggregator that simultaneously queries Yahoo, Google, and Ask Jeeves. Results include the rankings from the various search engines and other comparative and statistical information. * http://www.jux2.com * http://www.jux2.com/stats.php Also: Marion Brechner Citizen Action Project (CAP) ———————————————————————- This project's goal is to allow citizens “to better understand public access to local government information in all 50 states.” Includes ratings that are based on the analysis of statutes, constitutions, and case law. Also includes summaries of “sunshine” laws, and comparisons of state laws. The “I can help you get started” section is not very useful; use the categories to the left instead. From the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. * http://www.citizenaccess.org Copyright 2005 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, LII.
Remember Tom Leher's “Vatican Rag?” HE, at least, got the numbers right. (“Two, four, six, eight,/Time to transubstantiate!“) But we're not putting much faith in the Vatican numbers guys these days, along with all the journos who listen to them. All the reports are that “one million” people viewed the Pope's body the two days it was there for public viewing. The next sentence or so says something along the lines of “18,000 people per hour passed by the Pope's body.” Hmmm. Forty-eight hours times 18,000 equals an optimized 864,000 souls. Wouldn't a mere quarter of a million pilgrims have sufficed?
