Innovations

Derek Willis is still thinking about how newsrooms apply technology, and has posted the latest essay in his 'The Fix' series, Better Tools:

The basic way that journalists gather information - reading, calling, interviewing, researching - will not go away, and this isn’t an attempt to argue that they should. Rather, it’s a suggestion that we need to start doing all of those things better, not just because we face greater competition for news, but because we can.

Required reading, and includes some interesting links, too.

And here's an example of a newspaper helping readers get access to public records: The Arizona Republic's Data Central. It uses Google Maps to map crime data, has useful databases of real estate, restaurant inspections, campaign finance, and more, with links to other Arizona public records, and FOIA forms and advice on requesting public records.