The Deal on Data by: David Akin, Canadian Association of Journalists

[Tracey P. Lauriault-2]

Ted Hilderbrandt sent me the following article! Thanks Ted!

MEDIA, SUMMER 2002

COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING
BY DAVID AKIN

The deal on data

"Canadian journalists who use computer-assisted reporting techniques to search for new
stories are often jealous of our American colleagues.

In the United States, it’s easier and cheaper to get data about all sorts of events –
everything from municipal police car chases to federal political party campaign finances
is available on the web,and often at no charge.

In Canada,the culture is different at most of the public institutions that collect and
publish data about our economy and society.

I wrote a column for The Globe and Mail about this issue, taking a look the some of the
data sets published by the country’s biggest data collector and publisher,Statistics
Canada. I argued that while lots of Statscan data are made available for free,a great deal
of important data,particularly the finely detailed sets of numbers that describe Canadian
life at the neighbourhood level,are made available only to those willing to pay a great deal.

Companies in Canada that collect, sell and market this ....."
Full article at:
<a
href='http://www.caj.ca/mediamag/summer2002/car.html'>http://www.caj.ca/mediamag/summer2002/car.html</a>

Tracey P. Lauriault
Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC)
[hidden email]