Michael J. Berens presents the first part of the free, two-day webinar, "Data Journalism 101," hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.
For access to the webinar materials, visit http://bit.ly/datajourn101.
For more information about training for business journalists, please visit http://businessjournalism.org
11. Cops who own crack houses
Secret release of fugitives
Sexual misconduct in health care
Jailing the poor
Nursing errors
Unsanitary hospitals
12. Most dangerous highway
Most dangerous intersection
Number of deadly police chases
Most dangerous area for crime
Most unsanitary restaurants
“Quantitative”
13. Poll Question:
Why were you denied data?
• Too expensive
• Agency claimed info was not a public
record.
• Agency claimed the request was a burden.
14. Negotiating for data
• Delay - we’re working on it.
• Deny – it’s proprietary software
• Divert – yours for just $12,000
15. “If you don’t know who I am, then
maybe your best course of action
would be to tread lightly.”
""Walter White in "Breaking Bad"
17. Fields, position, type, length
Field
Number
Variable
Type
Format
Label
Comment
1
SEQ_NO
Char
$10.
Sequence Number
Unique sequence number assigned to each record within a year. First four digits
are the year of discharge.
2
REC_KEY
Num
11.
Record Key
Unique number assigned to each CHARS record. Added in 2003.
3
STAYTYPE
Char
$1
Type of Stay
1 = Inpatient
2 = Observation patient
DOH assigned hospital number.
Fourth character describes the Medicare certified unit type with:
blank = acute care
R = Rehabilitation unit
P = Psychiatric unit
S = Swing bed unit
----------------------------------------------------A = Alcohol (discontinued after 1992)
B = Bone marrow transplants (discontinued after 2000)
E = Extended care (discontinued after 2001)
H = Tacoma General & Group Health combined (discontinued after 1992)
I = Group Health only at Tacoma General (discontinued after 1992)
4
HOSPITAL
Char
$4
Hospital Number
5
LINENO
Num
3.
Number of Reported Revenue Items Codes
6
7
ZIPCODE
STATERES
Char
Char
$5
$2
Patient's Zip Code
99999 indicates the zip code is unknown.
99998 indicates homelessness (some homeless patients may have a zip code for a shelter or
other temporary location).
Blanks indicate non-U.S. residence.
State of Residence
State abbreviation used by U.S. Postal Service.
This is assigned from the zip code.
Residents with zip code 99998 are assigned to Washington
XX = invalid zip code or a non-U.S. residence.
23. Stories that hide in plain sight
E9220
E9221
E9222
E9223
E9224
E9225
E9228
E9229
E9230
E9231
E9232
E9238
E9239
E9240
E9241
HANDGUN ACCIDENT
SHOTGUN ACCIDENT
HUNTING RIFLE ACCIDENT
MILITARY FIREARM ACCID
ACCIDENT - AIR GUN
ACCIDENT-PAINTBALL GUN
FIREARM ACCIDENT NEC
FIREARM ACCIDENT NOS
FIREWORKS ACCIDENT
BLASTING MATERIALS ACCID
EXPLOSIVE GASES ACCIDENT
EXPLOSIVES ACCIDENT NEC
EXPLOSIVES ACCIDENT NOS
ACC-HOT LIQUID & STEAM
ACCID-CAUSTIC SUBSTANCE
24. Secret release of fugitives – code in court data
Rising tide of innocent people killed in police chases –
code in NHTSA data
How many people contracted a hospital-acquired
infection during heart surgery – code in hospital data
---------------------Power of two – combining data
Death certificates – list of adult family homes
27. Every computer file has an extension:
.txt Text file
.csv Comma-separated value
.dbf Database format
.html Hyper-text mark-up language
.mdb Microsoft database (Access file)
.pdf Portable Document Format
Rule of thumb: Always request commadelimited text if Excel format is unavailable
33. Poll Question:
In general, how long do you wait
for public data?
1) Quickly - within a few weeks at most
2) Slowly – often takes a month or more
3) Never – there’s always some issue
42. CASE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
DATE
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/21/87
11/22/87
11/22/87
11/22/87
11/22/87
11/22/87
TIME
COUNTY
645 Sauk
730 Marathon
930 Oneida
945 Juneau
950 Buffalo
1000 Portage
1000 Portage
1135 Rock
1235 Columbia
1300 Columbia
1440 Shawano
1445 Trempealeau
1445 Columbia
1630 Langlade
815 Trempealeau
900 Oconto
900 Trempealeau
1130 Buffalo
1143 Door
AREA
south
centrl
north
south
centrl
centrl
centrl
south
south
south
centrl
centrl
south
north
centrl
centrl
centrl
centrl
north
WOUND
neck
arm
chest
chest
leg
foot
chest
head
head
abdomn
chest
neck
leg
arm
head
toe
leg
head
hand
INJURY
minor
major
fatal
major
major
major
major
fatal
major
fatal
fatal
major
major
minor
major
major
major
minor
major
TYPE
sp
si
sp
si
sp
si
si
sp
si
sp
sp
si
CAUSE
victim in car-stray bullet
loaded firearm in vehicle
careless handling-tree involvd
victim in line of fire
victim out of sight of shooter
careless handling-tree involvd
careless handling-tree invovld
victim in line of fire
careless handling-tree involvd
victim fell from tree
victim out of sight of shooter
ricochet-off gun
gun hammer struck an object
victim out of sight of shooter
ricochet-bullet thru deer
careless handling-tree involvd
victim in line of fire
victim out of sight of shooter
unloading firearm-defective
43. Tip
Make a copy of the database.
Call it “master file” and never
touch it.
Always work from a copy.
Hint: Keep a log of everything