The Story of James mobile project: My work up for an journo award
One of the projects I completed for The Hamilton Spectatoris up for an Ontario Newspaper Award in the Online Multi-Media Special Project category.The project up for the ONA is the Story of James project which I created the interactive mobile component of. The mobile project involved the manual…
My 2010 summer internship cover letter
*During the winter, a few individuals applying to The Spectator for summer internships contacted me with questions about applying and the paper. I’ve decided to post my cover letter from 2010 for future reference and use by those interested in the example it may (or may not) provide.*17…
Brad Clark running for Conservatives in 2011 federal election
Ward 9 city councillor Brad Clark is the newly minted candidate for the Conservative Party in Hamilton East Stoney Creek. The news came late Saturday night when the Hamilton East Stoney Creek Conservative riding association changed the name of their campaign to the Brad Clark campaign. Clark’s personal…
Scraperwiki and UK's Channel 4 – media embracing the web
ScraperWiki is a new website I discovered this weekend that collects code used and teaches how to scrape data from websites. I’m thrilled by this site – my nerd skills are not what they were prior to becoming a journalist and I need to get better at scraping…
Scraperwiki and UK's Channel 4 – media embracing the web
ScraperWiki is a new website I discovered this weekend that collects code used and teaches how to scrape data from websites. I’m thrilled by this site – my nerd skills are not what they were prior to becoming a journalist and I need to get better at scraping…
Beasley residents demand better on toxic sites
I attended a unique public meeting Saturday, those in power were responding frankly to public questions regarding abandoned toxic waste in Hamilton. (The Spectator covered the meeting and can be read here) In a tiny old community centre, a dozen residents of Hamilton’s Beasley neighbourhood gathered to speak…
Open Data makes for happy citizens: no surprise
A survey by the Pew Research Center finds that citizens who believe their local government is forthcoming with information are more engaged and satisfied with their government. The survey also finds people who are able to access government information are more likely to feel they can have an…
Word Cloud: Hamilton Mayor Bratina's State of the City breakfast speech
Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina delivered his annual “State of the City” speech on Monday, you can view the entire speech on the Cable 14 YouTube page. *The Hamilton Spectator *listed a word frequency count in their print edition. This inspired me to create a “word cloud” of the…
Word Cloud: Hamilton Mayor Bratina's State of the City breakfast speech
Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina delivered his annual “State of the City” speech on Monday, you can view the entire speech on the Cable 14 YouTube page. *The Hamilton Spectator *listed a word frequency count in their print edition. This inspired me to create a “word cloud” of the…
Invitation to TheSpec – join citizens in live streaming Council
I contacted The Hamilton Spectator Tuesday after they used a live video stream I was providing with other volunteers of Hamilton City Council meetings on their website Monday. Myself and the others providing the stream have requested The Spectator join us in providing the stream instead of using…