Special Events
Philip Meyer Journalism Awards
The presentation of the 2011 Philip Meyer Journalism Awards will take place on Friday at the 2012 CAR Conference in St. Louis. The awards recognize the best uses of social research methods in journalism and are named in honor of Philip Meyer, author of "Precision Journalism" and retired Knight Chair in Journalism at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Liberate the data with Scraperwiki
IRE and ScraperWiki are hosting a 12-hour data liberation marathon during the CAR Conference from 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, to 6 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 24.
We’re soliciting your nominations for data sets that you’re longing to crunch but haven’t been able to get your hands on. We’ll build a list of prime candidates for liberation. Then, on the opening evening of the CAR Conference, all those willing to join in the fight to free the data will join in an overnight scraping fest. The experts from Scraperwiki will be on hand to lend their expertise and their platform. They'll lead an opening session how to scrape using Scraperwiki, and the liberation will begin. Nominate a data set to liberate and sign up for the free event. All you need to bring is a laptop.
Missouri Botanical Gardens tour
There’s more than flowers and sunshine at the Missouri Botanical Gardens — there’s GIS and other technology that aids the gardens in research, maintenance, education and more. Come see how this technology is being put to use with a special (free) tour just for NICAR attendees Saturday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. Space is limited so you’ll need to sign up. As this is an off-site event, you’ll need to arrange for transportation (leave the hotel no later than 9:30 a.m.).
Contact Jennifer LaFleur for more details and to sign up at Jennifer.lafleur@propublica.org.
Rebecca Sucher, Coordinator of Plant Records and Applications at the Missouri Botanical Garden will be giving the presentation Mapping a Garden: Using GIS Technology to Manage a Living Museum.
Botanical Gardens have been using maps to aid in the documentation of living collections for centuries. Until recently, these maps were often paper-based and static in nature. Through the advent of GIS technology, or Geographic Information Systems, botanical garden maps have evolved into a comprehensive tool that can be used at all levels of institutional operation. Rebecca and her team have mapped over 30,000 plants, as well as donor items, utilities, irrigation systems, and more. This data is put to use on a daily basis for various purposes, including landscape design and planning, collections assessment, and inventory management. By using the latest web-aware technologies, these maps can be delivered to any internet-enabled device, aiding in day-to-day management of the Garden’s properties, enhancing visitor engagement opportunities, modernizing educational outreach, and facilitating nationwide conservation efforts. Rebecca will take us on a virtual tour of the Garden, showcasing the capabilities and uses of GIS technology in a botanical garden.
Trivia Night
Friday, February 24 — 7:30 – 10 p.m.
Hard Rock Café private dining room
What’s the one activity that says St. Louis? If you said trivia, you’re correct. So we couldn’t have NICAR here without a CAR-related trivia night. Grab three or four of your closest NICARians to form a team and join us at the Hard Rock Café at 7:23 p.m. Trivia begins at 7:30 and runs until 10. You might even be in one of the questions. Seating is limited to 30 people so please sign up early at the sales desk. The $20 fee will get you trivia, food from an appetizer bar, and all of the soda and coffee you can drink. (Alcoholic drinks will be on your own dime, unfortunately, but we'll be right next to the bar.) For questions, please contact Jaimi@ire.org.