2014 AAJA National Convention: Full Schedule

10:00am EDT

Charts and maps and tables! Oh, my! The basics of graphics and data visualization

Small details like axis labels and proper proportions make a big difference when you’re telling a story with graphics and data. But don’t fear! We’ll walk you through examples of great and terrible graphics in the news. After this session, you’ll be able to avoid common mistakes in graphics and identify the right approach to data visualization.

Speakers

Hilary Fung

Visual Journalist, The Huffington Post

(@hil_fung) Hilary is a visual journalist on The Huffington Post data team.

Katie Park

Graphics Editor, The Washington Post

Katie Park is a graphics editor at The Washington Post, where she codes, reports and designs interactive projects. She recently graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Thursday August 14, 2014 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Meeting Room 10, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

10:00am EDT

Creating the perfect online portfolio

Bring your laptops and tables for this hands-on session. Attendees will see examples of free online platforms, including WordPress, Weebly, Wix, About.me and RebelMouse. We’ll also show how journalists have used them successfully to showcase their work. Attendees will then participate in hands-on training that will allow them to walk away with a solid framework that they can polish after the convention.

Speakers

Meena Thiruvengadam

Editor, Yahoo Finance

(@meena_thiru) Meena Thiruvengadam is a journalist with experience reporting, writing and editing multimedia news and feature content. She has worked at local newspapers, an international wire service and digital startups. She’s obsessed with innovative journalism, media strategy... Read More →

Benét Wilson

Social Media/Newsletters Editor, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

(@benetwilson) Benét J. Wilson is the social media/newsletters editor for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. She is an aviation/travel freelance journalist, serving as the air travel expert for About.com. She served as chair of NABJ’s program committee from 2011 to 2013... Read More →

Thursday August 14, 2014 10:00am - 12:00pm EDT
Meeting Room 12, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Data Track

11:00am EDT

Conquer the world of data with these simple tools

Do you want to bulletproof your story with solid statistics but you don’t know where to look for reliable data? Or have you ever wanted to make a simple chart for your work but don’t know where to start? Let us walk you through the making of an infographic — from the reporting to the analysis to making a chart. Along the way, we’ll tell you about the tools you can use to make your own.

Speakers

Joanna Kao

Interactive Developer, Al Jazeera America

Joanna S. Kao is a developer/reporter on Al Jazeera America's interactive/multimedia team. She graduated in 2013 with a degree in computer science at MIT. Currently, she covers technology, veterans and Native Americans.

Ritchie King

Visual Journalist & Science Reporter, FiveThirtyEight

(@RitchieSKing) Ritchie King is a reporter at FiveThirtyEight who focuses on telling stories with charts, maps, diagrams and interactive graphics. He’s one part writer, one part designer and one part programmer, generally stirred, and hopefully not on the rocks. His textbook on... Read More →

Lam Thuy Vo

Interactive Editor, Al-Jazeera America

(@lamthuyvo) Lam Thuy Vo is an interactive editor for Al Jazeera America, where she leads a team of multi-platform journalists. Before coming to Al Jazeera, she was a multimedia producer for NPR’s “Planet Money,” where she created interactives, data visualizations, videos and... Read More →

Thursday August 14, 2014 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Meeting Room 10, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

2:00pm EDT

Polling and stats 101 - don't be fooled

Understand the numbers in political polling and come out with smarter stories. Sure, you know the basics of reporting on polls, margin of error and basic methodology. But how do you become a pro at combing through the crosstabs for that hidden gem of a story? Learn from the best in the business how to tell the difference between good and bad polls, and some common mistakes that you can avoid on deadline. This is a great session for those who are interested in politics, survey research and stepping up their data game ahead of the election.

Speakers

Jennifer Agiesta

Director of Polling, Associated Press

(@jennagiesta) As director of polling for The Associated Press, Jennifer Agiesta manages AP’s survey research and reporting on polling. She joined AP in 2010, becoming director in 2012. She has covered polling for The Washington Post and worked on exit polling. She also has conducted... Read More →

Sara Goo

Senior Digital Editor, Pew Research Center

(@sarakgoo) Sara Goo is editor of Fact Tank (@FactTank), a new data blog by the Pew Research Center. She oversees editorial content and social media for @pewresearch. She is formerly a digital editor and reporter for The Washington Post.

Jocelyn Kiley

Senior Researcher, Pew Research Center for People & the Press

(@jocelynkiley) Jocelyn Kiley designs and manages surveys, develops questionnaires and analyzes polling data. She has been involved in Pew Research’s political typology report and related quiz, as well as the center’s first survey of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender... Read More →

Clifford Young

Managing Director, Public Affairs and Public Sector, Ipsos

Clifford Young is the managing director of Ipsos Public Affairs and Public Sector practice in the U.S. He oversees the Ipsos US election polling for Reuters and his research specialities include social and public opinion trends, crisis management, political risk polling and political... Read More →

Thursday August 14, 2014 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Meeting Room 10, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

2:00pm EDT

Data demo: How to jailbreak data from a PDF

Speakers

Mike Tigas

News Applications Developer, ProPublica

(@mtigas) Mike Tigas is a news applications developer at ProPublica. He works on tools for online privacy and the liberation of public data. He is a lead developer of Tabula (a tool to help extract data from PDF files), CivOmega (open search engine for public datasets) and Onion Browser... Read More →

Thursday August 14, 2014 2:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Meeting Room 12, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Data Track

2:00pm EDT

Data demo: Make a map in two hours

Speakers

Derek Lieu

Developer, Development Seed

(@dereklieu) Derek Lieu writes javascript and other front-end code for Development Seed, a small Washington, D.C., technology company that specializes in maps, visualizations and open data. He previously worked as a front-end developer and multimedia producer for The Chronicle of... Read More →

Thursday August 14, 2014 2:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Meeting Room 14, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

3:00pm EDT

How to data-enable your stories with Census Reporter

Want to know more about the ages, nationalities, economic situation and other demographics of the people in your area? Census data often has the answer, but it's been a hassle to use. This workshop will provide an introduction to Census Reporter, a new, free and powerful tool made by journalists to help journalists use census data in their stories. Through case-studies from participants’ beats, individual research tasks and exercises in generating visual design ideas from downloaded data, participants will learn some key strategies for getting the most out of this tool while gaining a deeper understanding of the data in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Speakers

Sara Schnadt

Artist/Technologist/Curator

(@SaraSchnadt) Sara Schnadt is a technology project developer, information architect, data visualization designer and new media artist. She is working on two Knight News Challenge: Data projects. [AC1] [I2] She is project manager for OpenElections, where she manages a national network... Read More →

Thursday August 14, 2014 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Meeting Room 17, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

10:00am EDT

Data for everyone: How to get data projects integrated into the workflow of small newsrooms

Everyone wants to get on the data bandwagon, which means tons of people aren’t doing it well right now.

Speakers

Emma Carew-Grovum

Homepage and Social Media Editor, Foreign Policy

(@emmacarew) Emma Carew Grovum is the homepage and social media editor for Foreign Policy. Previously, she's worked as a data journalist, cooking magazine editor and local news reporter. This is her second year developing programming for AAJA’s national convention.

Jenny Ye

Data News Producer, WNYC

(@thepapaya) Jenny Ye is producer on WNYC New York Public Radio’s data news team. She studied computer science and ethnic studies at Harvard University. Raised in New York’s Chinatown, she loves all things bilingual and basketball, not necessarily combined.

Friday August 15, 2014 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Meeting Room 10, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

10:00am EDT

Hands on tutorial: Make your first web graphic

If you’ve never built a chart or graphic to enhance your story online, this is your chance. This session requires no coding experience, just a mid-level comfort level with spreadsheets and datasets – great for producers, web editors and reporters. If you’ve got a clean, simple dataset, bring it along. Otherwise we will have sample data.

Speakers

Michelle Minkoff

Interactive Producer, Associated Press

(@michelleminkoff) Michelle Minkoff, an interactive producer for the Associated Press, creates data-driven interactive projects, focusing on politics and mapping. Previously, she worked at PBS and The Los Angeles Times. She also teaches data journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School... Read More →

Friday August 15, 2014 10:00am - 12:00pm EDT
Meeting Room 12, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Data Track

11:00am EDT

Building things people actually use

Snowfall. KnowMore. Apps. The newsroom is becoming a product factory and it’s time that we take the product into our hands. Learn how startups and other places build products and how that can apply to your journalism — not just building apps, we’re talking about building news as a product and how everyone contributes to that.

Speakers

Kim Bui

Freelance Digital Editor

(@kimbui) Kim Bui is a digital journalist with a bent for emerging media. Her career is focused on storytelling on the web and how journalism can learn from technology outside of the field. She was recently a part of Digital First Media’s Thunderdome working on the breaking news... Read More →

Friday August 15, 2014 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Meeting Room 10, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

2:00pm EDT

Optimizing for the medium

How to get multimedia stories off the ground, maximize user experiences on various platforms and tell better, more complete stories. It’s not always about pulling out all the bells and whistles — sometimes less is more. The session also will touch on resource allocation, planning, workflow and execution.

Speakers

Hilary Fung

Visual Journalist, The Huffington Post

(@hil_fung) Hilary is a visual journalist on The Huffington Post data team.

Aimee Schier

Senior Director, Design, CNN Digital

(@atlrunner) Aimee Schier is an Emmy Award-winning creative director and designer, who has led numerous creative teams for several media companies including ABC Disney, FOX and Turner Broadcasting. Currently, Schier heads CNN Digital's Editorial Design group. She has previously served... Read More →

Tyson Whiting

Lead Designer, Vox Media

(@komickiller) Tyson Whiting works directly on Polygon.com, a Vox brand dedicated to video games and the culture around that industry. He executes occasional illustrations and art directs feature stories. He also contributes to the general development of the site.

Tim Wong

Senior Designer, The Washington Post

Tim Wong works on various editorial, product and platform initiatives, using design thinking to improve user experiences and to streamline and enhance digital storytelling. He is always looking to push “the form” forward.

Friday August 15, 2014 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Meeting Room 10, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track

2:00pm EDT

MediaWatch: How to effectively respond to unbalanced news coverage

Asian American groups were rightfully dismayed when the Detroit News published a problematic column earlier this year revisiting the Vincent Chin murder case and its role in igniting social justice awareness within our communities. AAJA’s MediaWatch committee pressed the News to acknowledge the flawed journalism that contributed to the column’s dismissive tone. For many years, MediaWatch has advocated fair and accurate coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. This session will look at the committee’s work in the past year. But more important, this workshop will help attendees become better watchdogs themselves and teach people how to draft public statements and engage newsrooms in constructive dialogue when our communities are misrepresented.

Moderators

Rahul Bali

Politics Reporter & Co-Host of Georgia Votes 2022, WABE

Rahul Bali is a Politics Reporter for WABE Radio, Atlanta's leading NPR affiliate. He is also Co-Host of the Georgia Votes 2022 Podcast.His extensive broadcast resume includes working as a reporter, producer and editor for CNN Radio, WSB Radio, WTOP Radio and Georgia Public Broadcasting... Read More →

Speakers

Bobby Caina Calvan

Lead Reporter, The Heartland Project

(@bobbycalvan) Bobby Caina Calvan is chair of AAJA’s MediaWatch committee and lead reporter for The Heartland Project, a Nebraska-based reporting fellowship funded by the Ford Foundation to promote coverage of communities of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer... Read More →

Abe Kwok

Editor, AZcentral.com

(@abekwok) Abe Kwok’s day job is with azcentral.com/The Arizona Republic, where he beats the hired help on the homepage team. He also moonlights every other semester or so at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism. He is on his second — third? — stint with... Read More →

Doris Truong

Homepage Editor, The Washington Post

(@DorisTruong) Doris Truong is a homepage editor at The Washington Post, where she co-chairs the newsroom Diversity Committee. Before moving to the digital side, she was a longtime multiplatform editor for The Post and a copy editor at The Dallas Morning News. Wayne State chose her... Read More →

Friday August 15, 2014 2:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
Meeting Room 12, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Data Track

3:00pm EDT

Intro to cyber security for journalists

Why and when would you want to encrypt your communications? What type of security does encryption provide? What should you be aware of in light of recent reporting on the NSA’s surveillance and backdoor operations? A practical session about encryption and operational security for journalists.

Speakers

Mike Tigas

News Applications Developer, ProPublica

Friday August 15, 2014 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Meeting Room 14, Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, DC, 20001

Data Track