Now that it's just warm enough to get in a boat, the NICAR database library has updated the Coast Guard's U.S. Recreational Boat Accident Database.

WHAT'S IN IT?
The updated data has accident reports from 1995 through 2011. Accidents involving vessel damage of more than $2,000 or disappearance of a person under circumstances that indicate death or injury are reported. The data include information on the nature of the accident, the vessels involved, plus any injuries and/or deaths. See the record layouts on each of the four tables for more detailed information.

The data ...

How far back do the roots of data journalism go?

Simon Rogers of the The Guardian's Data Blog can traces them pretty far. In a video this week on the blog, he explains that "journalists have been working with - and visualising - data since the Guardian first published in 1821." 

The video is the second in a three-part documentary on data journalism. Watch the videos here.

The Baltimore Sun’s investigation of red light cameras over the past year prompted changes to the system a city task force to study the cameras, a lawsuit and draft legislation. Though officials have refused to credit the paper’s reporting for the policy changes, the Sun’s findings exposed wrongful tickets -- including idling vehicles cited for moving violations -- that the city is now working to ...

After taking an introductory data journalism course, a small group in Argentina set out to transform the way data journalism was done in their country, a country where data was barely updated, let alone public. They fought for open data and analyze it in the public interest. The result of their efforts is La Nacion Data, and you can see their data-driven journalism here. At O'Reilly's Strata Conference this year, they presented the inspiring video below on their efforts.

Fresh out of CAR 2013 and itching for data to work with? The NICAR database libarary is offering discounts on popular federal databases to help you get started. The data library updates databases on a variety of topics. You can explore our data by searching for a specific database, or looking for data by topic or by agency.

Here are the databases we're offering at a discount:

$50 for SBA disaster loan data
Recently updated to include Hurricane Sandy! Track money provided to businesses and homeowners for disaster losses. A large database with more than a million records and ...

Need a vacation but can’t imagine the outer darkness that is you without your work? Why not take it with you to exotic northern Europe.

In “Data Journalism Around the Globe” panelists trotted out some of the best  data projects coming from our cousins on the continent in the German, Danish and Scandinavian press.

Many of the notables included crowdsourced projects like a Finnish mapping of places where people felt unsafe. Sebastian Mondial demoed Frag den Staat, a Teutonic forebear to FOIA Machine, which helps journalists and citizens query government agencies and track results of information requests. Another project ...

As expected, there was no shortage of swag at “Make the robots work for you,” a panel on implementing PANDA, data store of the gods, brought down the mountain to a newsroom near you. (In the interest of full disclosure, the integrity of your reviewer was compromised by a free T-shirt.)

For those of you out-the-know, PANDA is a data library that stores your data and makes it easily accessible and searchable across your organization. But maybe the best feature is the ability to turn any search into a subscription, which will provide you with instant notification when new data ...

IRE executive director Mark Horvit and training director Megan Luther presented the Year in Car yesterday, highlighting data-driven journalism from across the country in 2012 and what can be learne from them. Here's their list:

California Watch: Broken Shield

• FINDINGS: Exposed flaws in the way a special state police force handles crimes against the developmentally disabled.
• Abuse cases rose 43 percent while patient population decreased 12 percent.
• DATA: Inspection, salary
• RESULTS: Triggered new laws, a criminal investigation and staff retraining

The Seattle Times: Glamour Beasts, the dark side of captivity

• Findings: Zoos’ efforts to preserve elephants have failed with ...

What if you could predict a hospital’s quality of care the same way baseball statisticians can predict a pitcher’s season or a team’s record?

The sports world has long been using statistics in creative ways -- and Ryan Pitts, Jeremy Bowers and Matt Waite say journalists can and should tap into that.

It starts with a single goal: to simplify complex comparisons.

Take basketball for example. Who is better between a player averaging 20 points per game and 3 rebounds per game and a player averaging 15 points per game and 8 rebounds per ...

Reporting and app development don’t have to be separate processes. In fact, the earlier these workflows are integrated, the more efficient both processes can be. This makes for better reporting and presentation, which amplifies your value for your audiences.

This was the main take-away from a power-panel of Lena Groeger, Ted Mellnik, Charles Ornstein, Serdar Tumgoren, Derek Willis, and Sarah Cohen, moderated by Troy Thibodeaux of The Associated Press. These folks, who have produced some of the best CAR projects and news apps around, shared what they’ve learned on the job, as the field of news apps has ...