PANDA: Make the robots work for you

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 pertinent to your query hits your PANDA. Paired with an automated web scraper, your PANDA can be a tip engine, for example, giving you notice when prominent political figures find their way onto your local police department’s nightly rap sheet.

Panelists, some solicited from the audience, shared their own testimony of how they’ve been able to put PANDA to work in their newsroom. A common hurdle discussed was getting buy-in from reporters and editors to use PANDA. But in each case, PANDA was its own best advertisement, making data deadline friendly. One search across your entire data library can instantly deliver important context for breaking news with no more effort than a google search.

For more info on how you can get your own PANDA (to match that T-shirt you likely as not already have) visit pandaproject.net.