The Scoop

The 2010 CAR Conference begins on Thursday, and here are some of the sessions I’m trying not to miss:

Thursday, March 11

• Big Data: Analyzing legislation with machine learning. Always good to hear what Chase Davis has been up to.
• Open Source GIS. Now that mapping is more and more accessible, it pays to stay on top of what people are using.
• Juice up your stories with advanced methods. After a few months in the academy, Sarah Cohen should have some good stuff to share.
• Some lightning talks!

Friday, March 12

• Semantic tagging and DocumentCloud. Really need to get more in-depth on this.
• New Frontiers in Reporting Tools. More of the New New Stuff.
• Forensic Accounting for Reporters. Nice to have some outside expertise.

Saturday, March 13

• GeoDjango & OpenLayers. Yes, I’m on this panel. But you should come anyway to hear from Ben Welsh of the LA Times.
• Not a programmer? Not a worry. The new software from ProPublica that helps publish data on the Web. Very interested to see this in action.

There’s also the Django bootcamp and plenty of opportunities for demos, discussions and debates. Hope to see you there!