Members of the Interactive Newsroom Technologies group at
The New York Times may be journalism's new rock stars.
A glowing profile in New York Magazine calls them "renegade cybergeeks" and hints that they may save journalism.
Well, not single-handedly. Data-as-journalism is flourishing everywhere, especially in the political arena. Here are three examples of political data projects launched just this week:
Slate is attempting to build
"the world's first mass inaugural address." As of this writing, 247 contributors have produced 226 versions of an inaugural address. The speech with the highest average rating is by "Honu," and begins like this:
Over two centuries ago, a general from Virginia was the first to take the oath I have been fortunate to repeat here today, swearing allegiance to this newborn Union.
Nearly a century later, a lawyer from Illinois swore this same oath, and then, he, too, had to fight. This time, the battle was to preserve the Union, and then to perfect it by recognizing as citizens the many who had been excluded soley because of the color of their skin.
It's a fascinating project.
Bill Adair, Washington bureau chief of Poynter's
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and editor of
PolitiFact.com,
announced that the popular political truth-seeking web site has created the "Obameter," and will track President-elect Barack Obama's follow-through on campaign promises.
Among the 510 campaign promises identified so far: "Get his daughters a puppy" (one of three promises that have already been judged "in the works"); and "Require hybrid fleet at the White House" (one of 505 labeled "no action").
Congressional Quarterly is charting in real time
the nominating process for 18 key administration officials. CQ explains:
Senate committees with special jurisdiction over each position hold hearings to assess the merits of each nominee before voting to confirm. If the committee approves the nomination it is sent to the full Senate for a full vote.
You can tell at a glance where each nominee is in the process, and there are links to more information.
(Full disclosure: Ken Sands is executive editor for innovation at Congressional Quarterly, which is a corporate cousin of both the St. Petersburg Times and The Poynter Institute.) 
