April 23, 2008, 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Welcome Reception

Presentation by:

• Vikki Porter, director, Knight Digital Media Center, USC Annenberg School for Communication

April 23, 2008, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Opening Night Dinner

Keynote address: “Transparency in the Age of the Internet”

Presentation by:

• Ellen S. Miller, co-founder and executive director, the Sunlight Foundation

Video: Keynote address: “Transparency in the Age of the Internet” (112 MB)
Keynote text notes (RTF)

April 24, 2008, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Politics and Web Strategies

How cyber campaigns are carried out.  What has worked, what doesn’t work, and online attacks and defenses.

Presentation by:

• Karen A.B. Jagoda, Founder and President, E-Voter Institute
• Colin Delany, founder and chief editor, epolitics.com
• Morra Aarons-Mele , Political Director, BlogHer.com, and Columnist, Huffington Post and TechPresident.com
• Dennis W. Johnson, professor, political management, George Washington University

Politics and Web Strategy: Metrics of Success
Congressional Elections: Looking at Some Basics
Video: Politics and Web Strategies (192 MB)

April 24, 2008, 9:45 AM - 11:15 AM

New Forms of Reporting (part one)

Blogs, wikis, crowdsourcing, Google documents, and other tools.
Facilitated by Brant Houston

Presentation by:

• Aron Pilhofer, editor of interactive news technology, The New York Times
• Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative, Enterprise Journalism, University of Illinois
• Matthew Waite, news technologist, St. Petersburg Times/Tampabay.com

Video: New Forms of Reporting (part one) (196 MB)

April 24, 2008, 12:45 PM - 2:15 PM

The Database Briefcase

Constructing the Congressional candidate’s profile with data (part one):  Obtaining campaign revenue and expenses and lobbyists’ filings (current and previous, Federal and state).  Finding the shadow committees and supporters.

Presentation by:

• Sarah Cohen, Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy, Duke University, former database specialist, The Washington Post

Video: The Database Briefcase (210 MB)

April 24, 2008, 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

The Database Briefcase

Constructing the Congressional candidate’s profile with data (part two): Tracking and capturing the legislation, the earmarks, and the favors.

Presentation by:

• Bill Allison, senior fellow, Sunlight Foundation
• Larry Makinson, Campaign Finance Researcher Consultant
• Paul Singer, investigative reporter, Roll Call

Video: The Database Briefcase (154 MB)

April 25, 2008, 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Cyber Sleuthing

Navigating and checking the credibility and backgrounds of supporters, opponents and operatives.  Investigating the Web sites, their links and the online players - special interests and parties - outside the Congressional candidates’ committees.

Presentation by:

• Margot Williams, Database Research Editor, The New York Times
• Marc Cooper, Director, Annenberg Digital News, USC Annenberg School for Communication

Video: Cyber Sleuthing (238 MB)

April 25, 2008, 9:45 AM - 11:15 AM

New Forms of Reporting (part two)

Visualizing the information from mashups to social network analysis.  What you could be doing on your Web sites.
Facilitated by Brant Houston

Presentation by:

• Dan Newman, co-founder, executive director, MAPLight.org
• Matthew Waite, news technologist, St. Petersburg Times/Tampabay.com
• Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative, Enterprise Journalism, University of Illinois

Video: New Forms of Reporting (part two) (196 MB)

April 25, 2008, 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM

Walk to Knight Digital Media Center offices

April 25, 2008, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Lunch

Buffet lunch - working lunch with teams

April 25, 2008, 12:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Team Group Project

Each group will develop strategies and content for coverage and investigations of Congressional candidates.  Groups will do PowerPoint presentations for Saturday.

April 26, 2008, 8:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Group Presentations

Group presentations and discussions.

April 26, 2008, 10:45 AM - 11:30 AM

Taking It Back to the Newsroom

Discussion of best strategies and creating memos of the watchdog plan for the next 30 days and long-term coverage.

Presentation by:

• Vikki Porter, director, Knight Digital Media Center, USC Annenberg School for Communication

April 26, 2008, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Closing Lunch