Alfredo Covaleda,
Bogota, Colombia
Stephen Guerin,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
James A. Trostle,
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
GIS software discount for IRE members Return to IRE Training
Members of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., qualify for discounts on geographic information system (GIS) software from ESRI, the publisher of ArcView. ESRI is offering ArcView GIS single use licenses at no charge to IRE members who agree to attend a GIS training event conducted by IRE and NICAR or ESRI. Purchasers must sign a three-year maintenance agreement with ESRI at a cost of $ 400 a year, with the first year's fee waived. ArcView, the GIS program most widely used by journalists, lists for $1,500. During the maintenance agreement period, purchasers will receive software upgrades and technical support.
IRE members must attend a qualifying training session within one year of entering the agreement with ESRI, which is based in Redlands Calif., and has been a regular exhibitor at the annual IRE and CAR conferences. Qualifying sessions are IRE and NICAR's Mapping Data for News Stories mini-boot camp, offered two times a year with the next scheduled for Jan. 6-8, 2006; an online ESRI Virtual Campus course, and ESRI classroom training.
For more information about IRE and NICAR training visit IRE Training . For more information about ESRI training see www.esri.com/training_events.html. IRE members can also purchase discounted extension programs, which expand the analytical capabilities of ArcView. The single-license cost for Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst and Geostatistical Analyst is $1,500 each. That is a 40 percent discount off the list price of $2,500 each. To obtain an order form, please contact John Green, membership services coordinator for IRE, at jgreen@ire.org or 573-882-2772.
The concept of Power Law distributions is attracting growing interest, especially among folks in the Complexity and Complex Adaptive Systems communities. For journalists, some of the math involved is somewhat more complex than the elementary descriptive statistics we deal with, but it's not that tough to grasp the implications of research probing Power Laws as they apply to various phenomena.
Here's a perspective on global warfare that might prompt some deep contemplation for journalists.
Original source: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2005/09/wars_new_equili.html
“In technology, particularly in information based systems, advances can occur almost overnight. This likely applies to warfare as it becomes more information-based. As in technology, patterns and methods of warfare tend to stay within bounded equilibria depending on the type of war being fought. When an improvement arrives, the equilibrium point changes and warfare undergoes a rapid shift.
One of the ways to measure a equilibrium point was first demonstrated by Lewis Richardson over 50 years ago. He calculated that the distribution of casualties in conventional wars follow a power law distribution. Updates to his work show that this pattern of distribution continues to hold.
In a new paper by Johnson, Spagat, and others called “From Old Wars to New Wars and Global Terrorism,” ( PDF) — http://xxx.lanl.gov/pdf/physics/0506213/ — the authors demonstrate that a new pattern of war is emerging. To do this, they analyzed the frequency-intensity distributions of wars (including terrorism) and examined their power law curves. They found that conventional wars had a power law exponent of 1.8. An analysis of terrorism since 1968 found that the exponents were 1.71 (for G7 countries) and 2.5 (for non-G7 countries). This makes sense, conventional wars and G7 terrorism are both characterized by periods of relative non-activity followed by high casualty events (highly orchestrated battles). Non-G7 terrorism is a more decentralized and ad hoc type of warfare characterized by numerous small engagements and fewer large casualty events.
Here's where the analysis gets interesting. When the author's examined the data from Colombia and Iraq, they found that both wars evolved towards the coefficient for non-G7 terrorism (although from different directions). This finding doesn't fit the prevailing theories of warfare. A conventional understanding of fourth generation warfare , such the one posited by Thomas Hammes in the Sling and the Stone posit that 4th generation warfare began in earnest with Mao. However, within Mao's formulation (and Ho Chi Minh's variant), guerrilla wars are but a prelude to conventional war to seize control of the state. The power law for these wars should, based on this theory, tend towards the coefficient we see for conventional wars. In fact, we see the opposite. Guerrilla wars in both Colombia and Iraq have stabilized at a coefficient far from conventional warfare.
This has broad implications for 4th generation warfare theory — which clearly dominated the types of wars we saw in the latter half of the twentieth century. The patterns of conflict we see today in Colombia and Iraq are a break from the previous framework (which may be an example of punctuated equilibrium). Unlike the previous models of guerrilla wars which sought to replace the state, these new wars have moved to a level of decentralization that makes them both unable to replace the state and extremely hard to eliminate. Is this new evolutionary equilibrium a fifth generation of warfare? It is extremely likely. This new form of warfare, or what I call open source warfare, is what this site (and my book) is dedicated to understanding.”
Print journalists often ignore audio (and video) content when researching a story. Partially there is the “medium bias” at play (i.e. “Hey, I work in print, so that must be the most important source.”), but that bias also has something to do with the lack of search tools and the difficulty of getting those audio words into a transcript that can flow into text. Still, there is gold in those sight-and-sound files for a reporter who can find them and take the time to extract the ore. The always helpful blog “PI News Link” run by Tamara Thompson posts the following: “A new form of audio files called podcasts, so named because they can be downloaded from the Internet to a portable digital listening device (such as an iPod), are searchable through many search engines. Yahoo has just rolled out their podcast search. A keyword search of “legal” returned Involuntary Manslaughter: A Double Standard?, a broadcast with the editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. The Podcast Search Service catalogs a more extensive collection of websites with podcasts, searching terms within the site title or description. Pod Spider includes international audio files. Individual podcasts are beginning to be tagged, which will enable the searcher to uncover specific relevant audio files.”
He has posted some handouts at dicar.org/global2005 or
Friday's highlights from the conference in Amsterdam…. Henk van Ess has given two fine training sessions yesterday and this morning. The first: Training 02: Forensic surfing (Thursday 14.00 – 15.15) How can you figure out the reliability of a website – even without opening the site? How do you find the owner of a web site? How can you see how old a page is, even if it doesn't say 'Page last updated at..'? How do you find the author of a Word document? Welcome to the world of forensic surfing. Extra: CD-ROM with the course 'Internet Detective' for all participants. Watch the HTML version at www.searchbistro.com/forensic.htm The second session: Hacking with Google (Friday 9.30 – 10.45)
“People make mistakes. They put sensitive data on servers. They forget to remove delicate material. They leave directories open with hidden files. Learn how to use Google in a different way. The best search techniques for finding secret documents from governments, institutions and companies. Open them with the right questions. Henk van Ess (AD, Netherlands) teaches you what sort of words you have to type, which special syntax you have to use and how you should interpret the answers. Note: this training will teach you how to find material that shouldn't be on the web. It doesn't teach you how to hack into systems.” This presentation can be viewed at www.searchbistro.com/hack.htm There is a companion book – The Google Hacker’s Guide: Understanding and Defending Against the Google Hacker by Johnny Long (johnny@ihackstuff.com) — partial section at www.searchbistro.com/googlehacks.pdf
Originally found on TechnologyReview.com
Posted by David Appell at August 30, 2005 08:48 AM in Biotechnology and Health Care.
“There's a very interesting article by John Ioannidis in PLoS Medicine, the free online journal. Most current published research findings might well be false, he says. There are several factors, and I think it's worth presenting them in detail:
1. Many research studies are small, with only a few dozen participants. 2. In many scientific fields, the “effect sizes” (a measure of how much a risk factor such as smoking increases a person’s risk of disease, or how much a treatment is likely to improve a disease) are small. Research findings are more likely true in scientific fields with large effects, such as the impact of smoking on cancer, than in scientific fields where postulated effects are small, such as genetic risk factors for diseases where many different genes are involved in causation. If the effect sizes are very small in a particular field, says Ioannidis, it is “likely to be plagued by almost ubiquitous false positive claims. 3. Financial and other interests and prejudices can also lead to untrue results. 4. “The hotter a scientific field (with more scientific teams involved), the less likely the research findings are to be true,” which may explain why we sometimes see “major excitement followed rapidly by severe disappointments in fields that draw wide attention.”
1. Many research studies are small, with only a few dozen participants.
2. In many scientific fields, the “effect sizes” (a measure of how much a risk factor such as smoking increases a person’s risk of disease, or how much a treatment is likely to improve a disease) are small. Research findings are more likely true in scientific fields with large effects, such as the impact of smoking on cancer, than in scientific fields where postulated effects are small, such as genetic risk factors for diseases where many different genes are involved in causation. If the effect sizes are very small in a particular field, says Ioannidis, it is “likely to be plagued by almost ubiquitous false positive claims.
3. Financial and other interests and prejudices can also lead to untrue results.
4. “The hotter a scientific field (with more scientific teams involved), the less likely the research findings are to be true,” which may explain why we sometimes see “major excitement followed rapidly by severe disappointments in fields that draw wide attention.”
“This ought to be an eye-opener…. The solution? More publication of preliminary findings, negative studies (which often suffer that fate of the file-drawer effect), confirmations, and refutations. PLoS says, “the editors encourage authors to discuss biases, study limitations, and potential confounding factors. We acknowledge that most studies published should be viewed as hypothesis-generating, rather than conclusive.” And maybe this will temper journalists' tendency to offer every new study as the Next Big Thing.”
Company: Space Imaging Industry: Satellite Image Data Location: Denver, CO, United States of America
State of Arizona to Use Satellite Images as Evidence in Lawsuit
DENVER,CO-– IKONOS satellite imagery has revealed alleged land clearing by a developer in Arizona. The State of Arizona is suing the Scottsdale developer for allegedly illegally bulldozing state and private land known as La Osa Ranch located northwest of the town of Marana, Arizona. Before-and-after satellite images of the area captured by Space Imaging’s IKONOS satellite show certain changes to the environment and will be used as evidence in the case. From a 423-mile-high orbit the satellite can see objects on the ground as small as one meter in size.
Marana’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department has been collecting imagery for the last three years to map its expanding boundaries, chart the town's recreational trail system and produce three-dimensional views of proposed developments to provide citizens a glimpse of what their neighborhoods will look like in the future. In mid-2004, Chris Mack, Marana’s senior geographic information systems specialist, discovered the imagery showed that the terrain had been altered at La Osa Ranch. The satellite images captured the alleged land clearing which included 700 acres over four miles from north to south. <more>
The Dallas Morning News crew started publishing last weekend a terrific study of jury selection — or de-selection — in Dallas. Check it out at http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/spe/2005/jury/ Striking Differences Racial discrimination in jury selection was a scourge on the Dallas County district attorney's office for decades and was cited recently by the U.S. Supreme Court as it overturned a 1986 death penalty case. The Dallas Morning News spent two years gathering and analyzing jury data from felony court trials to see what had changed.
Key Findings: • Dallas County prosecutors excluded black jurors at more than twice the rate they rejected whites. • Defense attorneys excluded whites at more than three times the rate they rejected blacks. • Even when blacks and whites gave similar answers to key questions asked by prosecutors, blacks were excluded at higher rates. • Blacks ultimately served on juries in numbers that mirror their population primarily because of the dueling prosecution and defense strategies.
By Tamara Thompson Investigations
“This bill would require a local elections official to extend this confidentiality of voter registration information to specified public safety officials, upon application, as specified, for a period of no more than two years, if the local elections official is authorized to do so by his or her county board of supervisors. The application of a public safety official would be a public record.”
Friend Barbara Semonche, queen of the news research kingdom (queendom?) at the Univ. of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications, posts these always-pertinent observations today on the NewsLib listserv: “Journalism/mass comm students will be returning to colleges and universities within the next week or two. Time to get fresh examples for these emerging journalists about just what news researchers are capable of doing for and with them. Here is what I'm seeking for our beginning and advanced reporting students. Current (within the last couple of years or so) examples/strategies of the research methods and sources news librarians used for both investigative projects and breaking stories. Here is what I have now: 1. Kathy Hansen's and Nora Paul's recent book, “Behind the Message: Information strategies for Communicators,” has a classic example of a 1994 Minneapolis Star-Tribune story by reporter Tony Kennedy which was enhanced by not only his investigative research, but supplemented by the efforts of the Star-Tribune's news research team. The case study in the book reprinted Kennedy's article on the privately-held Schwan Company and then detailed each fact with what resources were discovered and used. Interesting note: the local public library and librarian proved to be a gold mine of information for Kennedy as did local interviews with former Schwan employees. 2. Alison Head's (former head of research at The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, California) handout on the news research involved with a breaking crime story. She took the text of reporter Tom Chorneau's 1995 article and then highlighted all the resources used to get the data for the story. A sort of “Anatomy of Crime Research.” [Note: please check this URL: http://parklibrary.jomc.unc.edu/head2.html ] 3. John Martin's (St. Pete Times' researcher) 1998 description of how he worked with a reporter on retrieving information on an alledged murderer's identity on deadline. [Note: please check this URL: http://parklibrary.jomc.unc.edu/stpete.html
