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Data-driven local stories: Ideas from NICAR 2016

by: Amy Gahran |

Data journalism isn't just for big national news; it can work at the community level, too. Two sessions at the 2016 conference for the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting, held this month in Denver, offer some data-driven story ideas that any community news outlet might try.

Energy is a topic that affects every community. The reporting team at Inside Energy (a collaborative journalism initiative of public media outlets in Colorado, Wyoming and North Dakota) presented a list of 24 data-driven, localizable energy stories. Exploring easily available national and state-level energy data resources can reveal intriguing local stories.

Some of these stories can help people understand energy better by putting it in a local context. For instance, most people only understand electricity costs in terms of the amount of their monthly utility bill. But helping people understand the unit cost of energy in terms of cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), and how this price is influenced by various factors, can help engage them on larger energy supply issues that might otherwise seem more esoteric.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is Inside Energy's go-to source for much of the data that fuels state and local energy reporting. They publish the average price of electricity by customer type, for each state, updated each month. Trending this data for your state, and perhaps augmenting it from similar data from your state's public utilities commission (or even from your own utility bill -- it's listed there) can help people understand what affects their energy costs.

Looking at other line items in utility bills from people in your community, and trending that data, also can reveal local energy stories. This is an opportunity for crowdsourcing. Have taxes or fees been going up or down? Why? Asking ratepayer advocates at your state PUC can illuminate trends that might otherwise be less visible to community members.

If there's a power plant, or large solar or wind farm, in your area, another useful story idea (or at least interesting bit of context) could be to explore the sources of energy generated in your state. What proportion comes from coal, nuclear, natural gas, renewables? And how are those proportions trending? EIA's state energy profiles, especially the "quick facts" section in each, can shed light on surprising statistics and important trends.

And then, there's outages. How reliable is electricity in your state? The key questions Inside Energy recommends are: How often does the power go out where you live, and for how long? Is your utility keeping the promises it makes to its customers?

In 2013, EIA began publishing some utility-specific grid reliability statistics: System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), as well as the causes of outages. You can download this data as an Excel spreadsheet to get the numbers for your local utility. (For reliability statistics from earlier years your state PUC may be able to help.)

An entertaining bit of context on electricity outages is Cyber Squirrel. While fears of crumbling infrastructure and cyberattacks are increasing, squirrels are actually the most common cause of power outages. The website Naked Security explains, "This website is a tongue-in-cheek comparison of infrastructure outages known to have been caused by animals, notably squirrels, and those that the site claims can officially be considered nation-state attacks on critical infrastructure." All in good fun, but it does provide insight into power outages at a very granular level.

Inside Energy's presentation and tipsheet list many more local energy story ideas and resources.

In another NICAR16 session, ProPublica health journalist Charles Ornstein led a hands-on session guiding journalists through some local healthcare story ideas -- in particular, problems at nursing home. The tipsheet for this session focused on three different data sets released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Importing this data into an Excel spreadsheet and manipulating it with pivot tables (a foundational data journalism skill set) can reveal some interesting stories.

Inspection problems at nursing home are categorized as "deficiencies" in CMS reports. But not all deficiencies are a big deal; some are minor, some very severe -- even potentially life threatening. The tipsheet explains how to sift through the data to find severe problems, or trends in problems, at nursing homes in your community. Also, what penalties were levied for violations? And were problems resolved?

Working with government datasets can be frustrating and complex. So if you find useful data for your community, a good way to make it useful to community members is to republish it via a user-friendly online searchable tool. ProPublica's Nursing Home Inspect takes the CMS data covered in the tipsheet and makes it easy for people to explore.

These are just a few examples of local data journalism. From restaurant inspections to street maintenance and more, if you can acquire data in spreadsheet or similar structured digital form, you can explore it to look for local stories. If you're not sure what you're looking at, or for, NICAR (a project of Investigative Reporters and Editors) may be able to offer guidance.

Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran is a journalist, editor, trainer, entrepreneur, strategist, and media consultant based in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to writing
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