New Data Journalism Resources from NICAR 26
March 17, 2026
I spoke about basic AI tools for journalists at NICAR 26 in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. It’s one of my favorite conferences as I get to nerd out on cool tools and resources with other journalists.
Here is the link to my presentation and handouts for those who couldn’t make it to Indy. And here are some useful resources I learned from my colleagues in several other sessions, with a focus on ICE data resources:
AI Glossary
Database of dozens of AI terminology, written in plain language so everyone can understand it.
BillTrack50
Learned about this one from Samantha Sunne at Tools for Reporters. AI-powered resource for finding and tracking legislation in the US. Free with paid upgrades.
Chartle
Generates charts from plain English descriptions. Type something like “US newsroom employment over the last 20 years” and it finds the data, picks the right chart type, and renders it in seconds. It can also recreate charts from screenshots, which is useful for pulling editable visuals out of PDFs and reports.
Jeff Hargarten’s ICE Github Repository
Minnesota Star-Tribune data reporter shares resources on tracking ICE data. Jeff gave a clinic on ICE and immigration data, and also spoke frankly about the impact the story is having on him professionally and personally.
Worst of the Worst Database
This DHS database that oversells minor offenses of ICE detainees. Be careful of using this data, as much of it is political propaganda to justify ICE’s presence. But Hargarten points out that there is some useful data: names, faces, etc. that can be useful in confirming information and identities of potential sources or tracking people after they are detained.
Many people in the database had just parking tickets and misdemeanors; there also are people falsely accused, etc. But once you filter out all the nonsense out and you can see trends going back to the start of Trump’s second administration.
ICEout.org
ICEout gathers community-submitted information about possible ICE activity to help inform the public and raise awareness. All reports are reviewed by our moderator team before appearing on the map. They categorize reports as either confirmed, which are submitted through trusted community partners, such as nonprofits, or non-confirmed, which come from the general public.
Deportation Data Project
This site collects and posts public, anonymized U.S. government immigration enforcement datasets. It uses the Freedom of Information Act to gather datasets directly from the government, and we also post datasets that the government has posted proactively or in response to others’ requests. We expect these datasets to be used by journalists, researchers, lawyers, and policymakers.
NICAR 26: How to Find Data Slides
A treasure trove of links to useful federal, state, local and other databases.
Big Local News
One of my favorite sessions at NICAR each year is Stanford’s Big Local News training on how to use their databases, which are rich with great stories for newsrooms of all sizes. Here are some of their tools built by Cheryl Phillips, Craig Lyons and their team. Using a MuckRack log-in, you can take these tools for a ride:
DataTalk: Campaign finance agent (beta). Chat with campaign finance data in plain language. Lets you use SQL to query it. Pulls from FEC.gov so it’s easy to fact-check the results. You also can upload your own data and search it. (Great use for 311 calls dataset).
Agenda Watch: Search through datasets on a variety of topics. Search for ICE, block cameras, detention centers. Has DocumentCloud built into it.
BillTrack50: AI-powered resource for finding and tracking legislation in the US. Free with paid upgrades. Built by Stanford’s Big Local News.
Federal Contracts Terminated for Convenience
This dashboard lets you explore and download data about canceled federal contracts. Use the dropdowns in the sidebar to filter the data by performance location or vendor location. Hover on the table to download the filtered data.
Github page for Big Local News
Video
Watch a training video on how to use Perplexity and Claude for research, locating datasets and expert sources, and developing interview questions.
Sponsor
Be sure to check out the incredible production tools suite with our new sponsor at HeyNota.com
More Tools and Research
Earth Index
A platform that enables you to quickly train an AI model to identify a specific pattern in satellite imagery, without requiring technical knowledge or a large corpus.AI Convert Hub
A fast, secure online file conversion and compression platform for video, audio, and images, supporting more than 200 formats with no software installation.Eight Tools That Investigative and Data Journalists Use and Recommend
From the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.DeDigger
Searches for public documents on Google DrivesFilePhish
The original query builder for fast and easy document discovery
Textbooks
Data + Journalism
Samantha Sunne and I co-authored the 2nd Edition of the textbook, “Data + Journalism” that will be available late summer on Routledge. (Order 1st edition here). It’s an introductory- to intermediate-level guide to learning data storytelling from A to Z. The second edition features new tools, datasets, exercises and AI tools.
The Journalist’s Toolbox
My new book, “The Journalist’s Toolbox A Guide to Digital Reporting and AI” is published by Routledge. You can order it here,
In Quotes …
“AI can do many things that can support your work and, as any other technological innovation before, it is changing newsroom roles. But then it’s up to us. We decide what to ask AI to do. By itself it doesn’t have the ambition, nor the ability to steal our jobs anytime soon.” — Mattia Peretti, in a 2022 GIJN article
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