Caspio and frameworks...

Mr. Hartnett up in trendy, swanky Palm Beach Co. gets the nod for finding this interview with David Milliron of Caspio.

Now I'm not as anti-Caspio as a lot of some people, who are way smarter than me. We've seen the blowups between Milliron and various bloggers.

In fact, for full disclosure, I pushed for my current employer to get involved with Caspio when I started back in October.

I think Caspio is absolutely, positively great for allowing reporters to put up searchable tools. Especially if a reporter has pieced together a small database on their own and needs a way to get it out there. But I don't think it's the ultimate solution, either.

But Milliron's quote here really gets me:

"Publishers are looking for tools that do not require huge upfront costs. More and more publishers are outsourcing the creation and maintenance of their database applications. A relative low entry point with a high return on investment is the mantra for today’s online database publishing world."

With all due respect, that's because newspaper owners are dumb. And their schemes, cheap ways and monopolistic haughtiness is what got our industry into the situation we face today.

We need research and development. We need investment in new ways of providing content. And that's not a one-size-fits-all application like Caspio.

Again, I think it serves its role well. But in the end, we need imaginative, new research and development that keeps readers reading our papers and Web sites. Please, no more schemes.

EveryBlock....

The great Adrian Holovaty has launched his much-anticipated EveryBlock.

I'm not quite sure what to think. Well, that's a lie. The geek in me loves it.

I love how it aggregates info from all kinds of different sources. I noticed it even grabs "missed connections" from CraigsList. Cool.

But what will the average person think? Who knows? But it sure seems to be headed in the direction of what Matt Waite calls "molten" data. Or at least the way I understand what he means by molten data.

Any thoughts?

Data ghettos....

Some random rambling thoughts...

Fellow Floridian Matt Waite has coined a new term: "Data ghetto."

"The Data Ghetto is that one mishmash page where all of that site’s databases are lumped together."

I think Matt hits on some great points here. I've gotten that feeling that most of the industry is just plain confused. Sometimes it seems like we want stuff online just for the sake of having stuff online, but we don't have a clear mission.

Chalk it up to the tumultuous time in our industry, I suppose. But the confusion can't last long. Or we're in trouble.

At the same time, I am a bit of a fan of the data ghetto for some reasons, a lot of it having to do with public service. I think we should take advantage of the ability to bring the power of public records to our readers --- and add some transparency to what we do.

"That said, here’s how we can get out of the data ghetto: add some journalism to it."

I agree. And I think a lot of us are trying to figure out how to do it.

Like one of Matt's readers points out, a lot of this is version 1.0. Hopefully we keep going to version 2.0 and beyond.

Well, here we go again....

I like to think I'd gotten to know Oklahoma's Open Records Act pretty thoroughly.

Now it's time to start all over.

Since I moved to South Florida, I haven't had time to dive into the state's fairly broad sunshine laws. Sitting on my desk is the pretty hefty --- and I must say kick ass --- Florida Public Records Handbook.

It's tough starting over in a new state when it comes to sunshine laws. When you've been somewhere for a while, you get used to the lame excuses and how to maneuver around them.

About a week ago, I had my first negotiation for some electronic records in Florida. I usually play dumb in a first conversation, letting them explain themselves and then I take some time to craft up a response.

I figure it's also useful to play dumb early because you can give them enough rope with which to hang them. But, in this instance, I also needed some time to go back and do some reading.

So here goes...

And what a good thing to see....

William Hartnett, CAR specialist at the Palm Beach Post, points out a fine follow-up to an earlier post of mine.

And it was right under my nose. A nod to him for doing my work for me.

The Sun-Sentinel is hunting a municipal reporter to cover Pompano Beach, where yours truly lives.

"Spanish skills as well as knowledge of computer-assisted reporting are preferred."

I like.

There's got to be a better way......

The Houston Chronicle's Chase Davis has put together a great idea for the Knight News Challenge.

His idea for a sort of collaborative lawmaking site --- to put it lightly --- is very interesting.

I covered the Legislature for about two years at The Oklahoman before becoming the database editor. When I stepped back and noticed how we covered the Legislature --- afraid to miss any little event, a feeling of obligation to write about every back-and-forth political nonsense spewed in a "statement" --- I always thought there had to be a better way.

I just didn't know what it was.

I think sometimes we fell in the trap of thinking the public gave a crap about what went on inside the state Capitol. We thought the public cared whether former House Speaker Todd Hiett and Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan got along.

Or whether they called each other names.

Kings in a castle syndrome, I suppose.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find a way to combine our knowledge of the beat and how things work in legislative bodies with the power of the Web? Like I said, Chase's idea really seems like a gigantic step in that direction.

I've really got a data crush on some of the stuff the folks at the NY Times are doing with some of the national elections, such as this gem on visits by candidates. They did something similar with campaign contributions.

I've always thought it'd be wonderful to come up with a way to show a flow of campaign contributions vs. bills moving through the Legislature. And we wouldn't have to stop there --- you could add in a number of other variables.

Again, I'm not sure what else, though.

But there's got to be a better way.

What this place is about....

Apparently I don't have enough to do.

So today, I'm trying out a new blog. This is on top of my other site.

I wanted a place where I could talk about journalism.

Journalism Bull is a nod to the stock market. I'm not ready to hang up the cleats on journalism because of the Internet. A friend of mine, who admittedly is a lot smarter than me when it comes to these types of things, tells me he's a bear on the industry. But maybe we're talking Xs and Os.

He was talking about newspapers. I'm talking about journalism. Then again, I don't think the buzzards are circling around newspapers just yet, either.

But it won't take long if we aren't careful. Chalk it up to cheerleading, if you want.

As for journalism, I think the Internet is great for journalism. It provides us a medium to do things print couldn't --- and expand on topics that newspapers prevented because of space reasons.

You'll probably see me talk about data and its role in journalism a lot --- mainly because that's what I do.

So, at risk of rambling with no point and boring you, here we go....