Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

I just came out of my first session at the 2009 Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference: a discussion of new frontiers and strategies in mapping. For the next few days, I along with many others from the Dart network will be attending panels and talking to some of the world's best investigative reporters, editors, producers and news directors.

We'll bring you some highlights here in the blog, including coverage of Dart Society- and Dart Center-sponsored panels on covering invisible populations, staying optimistic in dark times and the best international investigations.

One tidbit from this morning's panel: what's the biggest challenge in the next year for journalisms who use maps for context and analysis? Washington Post database editor Dan Keating says it's figuring out how to use (usually free) online tools, like Google Maps, to do the kind of analysis that right now requires sophisticated (and expensive) software, like ArcGIS.

You can find the complete 2009 IRE Conference schedule online. And for up-to-the-minute thoughts from panel attendees, check out the Twitter hashtag #ire09.