..tools, techniques, research for public affairs reporting
This is an area we’ll use for links to and resources on tests for reporting tools. We’ll be doing disciplined tests on real public (and not public) records. They might be interview notes, collections of web sites, public documents or data, audio or video. In the end, when you have a reporting problem and are looking for a solution, you’ll be able to consult the test kitchen and know what a tool or technique might (or might not) do for you.
The Reporter's Lab is a project to curate, create and deploy tools, techniques and research into a vital phase of journalism that has sometimes been left behind by technology: the expensive work of uncovering and piecing together investigative and public affairs stories from reluctant sources and obscure or secret records.
The lab and its associated projects are supported by Duke University's DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy.
Sarah Cohen, a prize-winning journalist, is the lab's director and Duke's Knight Professor of the Practice. She has worked as a reporter and editor for nearly 20 years, most of that time specializing in computer-assisted reporting.
Cohen was a member of investigative reporting teams at The Washington Post for more than 10 years, where she shared in the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting and other national journalism awards. She is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors' board of directors and is an advisor to the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting. She teaches at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy and still loves to take on occasional reporting work.
Charlie Szymanski is the lab's lead developer. He has worked on interactive graphics and front-end development at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida and the National Journal in Washington, DC. His work is available at his portfolio. While at the Herald-Tribune he helped develop IBISEYE.com, a hurricane tracking website that won a Knight-Batten award for Innovation. He has also worked on a number of awarded graphics, including a series called Broken Trust about Florida teachers, and a series on flipping fraud in the Florida real estate market.
Tyler Dukes is the lab's managing editor. He is a freelance science and technology reporter who writes regularly for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer. Prior to joining the lab, he was the newsroom adviser to the daily student newspaper at N.C. State University, where he coached writing, reporting and other areas of news production in print and online. He also worked as a Web producer for News 14 Carolina, a 24-hour cable news channel, where he managed statewide multimedia content and led the launch of its social media campaign.
Philip Bennett, Managing editor, Frontline; Duke University
Cathy N. Davidson, Duke University; co-founder, HASTAC
Stephen K. Doig, Knight Chair in journalism, Arizona State University
Laura Frank, Executive director, I-News, the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network
Justin Gehtland, co-founder, Relevance Inc.
Mark Horvit, Executive director, Investigative Reporters and Editors
Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting, Univ. of Illinois
Mark Katches, Editorial director, Center for Investigative Reporting
Tom Lee, Director, Sunlight Labs
Andrew Lehren, Reporter, New York Times
Chuck Lewis, Executive editor, Investigative Reporting Workshop; American University
T. Christian Miller, Reporter, ProPublica
Aron Pilhofer, Editor of interactive news, The New York Times; co-founder, DocumentCloud
Ryan Thornburg, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Matt Waite, co-founder, Hot Type Consulting LLC; University of Nebraska; lead developer, Politifact.com
The Reporter's Lab
DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy
Duke University
Box 90210, 102 Science Dr.
Durham, NC 27708
sarah@reporterslab.org
Twitter: @reporterslab
or call Sarah Cohen at 919-613-7348
The Reporters' Lab
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