Introduction and Narrative: It was in graduate school at the University of Florida, studying journalism, when Willis found his passion with database journalism. He was taking a class of survey research, analyzing the results, which showed him how much information is already in a database or what could be construed as a database. What finally sealed his niche into database journalism was a conference of Investigative Reporters & Editors in 1994, “without the training and support they provide, I wouldn’t have the same career, they helped with classes and bootcamps in CAR (computer-assisted reporting). Willis worked at a paper in Florida and came to Washington in 1998 working at the congressional quarterly.

“If you are interested in data - the federal government is the largest producer of data there is, Washington is the place to work,” said Willis. After a brief stint at the Center for Public Integrity, Willis began working for the Washington Post newspaper only to move over to the website last February, stating that if you are working in database journalism the web is a better platform.

Main Goal: The basic philosophy for our information work is that there are a lot of databases that the public never sees the best or most useful versions of. Those versions are kept hidden for the people who use it or sell it. At the Washington Post online we try to put the best versions of a database in the public. What you see online is the best version we have, “we don’t hold anything back,” says Willis.

Recently the Post, for the first time, opened up a story on conditions in D.C. schools and published all of its data inviting people to dig into it and contact reporters with corrections or additions - things that we could never know about all the schools.

Notable Achievements: The schools project noted above is one of several database projects Willis has been a part of at the Post.

In another, the Post is tracking where the candidates have been and where they are going along the campaign trail - building a database of several thousand campaign appearances. Bloggers have used this to try and determine a candidates strategy, says Willis. “We ought to be able to know where the presidential candidates are going and we are building on the database, adding new features like speeches.

A Surprising Realization: You never know how other people will use your data.

That doesn’t happen very often in a print newsroom, but online pretty much every time you put up a data set you can be lead in any number of directions by readers.

If one person calls a newspaper reporter — doesn’t guarantee a response — for us — if we can do something and it can be a benefit to one person — its probably worth doing it. “I didn’t appreciate that aspect of it until it happened to us,” said Willis.

Biggest Practical Lesson/Mistake: What we really have not done as well as we could do, and are really working on, is a better visual component. There are things we have learned about the way you present info to people — it has to be done in a way that is accessible — not everyone is interested in the raw data.

Future Goals: We’d like to extend what we’ve been doing on a national level — down to the state and local level — there is no reason why our voter database should only be national.

I think the more — that we do in terms of putting information in people’s hands- - the closer it’s going to bring us into contact with people who want to do journalism whether they want to work with us or not. “It’s hard for me to see how getting more people involved is a bad thing for the news industry,” said Willis.

What do you hope to get from people attending this conference?

There are always going to be people who are experts on something specific. We need those people and journalism organizations need to know who those people are — so I like meeting those people.

I’m also interested in meeting anybody who is exploring in our area, to see if there are there ways that we can do things in different way.

Introduction and Narrative: The idea that eventually became the Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI) Blogroll Ad Network formed a year ago this August. It began from a series of blog posts Burkett wrote addressing the question of how to place advertiser’s content that doesn’t fit on the paper or website of a traditional news organization with its emphasis on reporting timely news. The Blogroll program that Burkett created matches ads with content produced by bloggers who write about every niche under the sun. “The thought is - we need them because they provide quality specific content that our advertisers want and they benefit from increased exposure, so it would be a win win situation,” says Burkett. The WPNI Blogroll Ad Network was created as an experiment to play around in this territory and create a stronger connection with the blogosphere.

The WPNI Advertising Sales Department sells advertising packages for the 100+ bloggers who are part of their network. The bloggers, chosen from over 1,500 applicants, have the ability to accept or reject the ads and receive 60 percent of the money that is made from the sales. Advertising sales have been made to Luftansa , Marriott, Slingbox, etc. “It’s a way for bloggers to make some revenue — and it’s an opportunity for them to get on our homepage,” says Burkett.

Main Goal: The number one goal is to acquire content for advertisers that washingtonpost.com normally wouldn’t editorially produce. The bloggers who are part of the network have no editorial restrictions. The second goal is to experiment and build relationships within the blogosphere.

Notable Achievements: The number of applicants: The Blog Ad Network received 1,500 applicants in the first two weeks. Today it has garnered over 2,000. But it remains a side project, a test to see, across the company, if it should be something that should move beyond a side project.

A Surprising Realization: Beyond the number of people that initially applied, Burkett was surprised to find that most participants weren’t interested in the money. “It’s not about it being an advertising network, for them it’s about being associated with us and getting a little bit more traffic. So many people were willing to work with us, a traditional news company,” says Burkett.

Biggest Practical Lesson/Mistake: Burkett underestimated the amount of time it would take to get blogs up and running in the program. Reviewing the blogs for acceptance, answering questions about the agreement and getting the ad tags installed took a lot more effort than originally thought.

Money: Compared to what has been invested into it, the program has been profitable. The success of it is primarily based on The Washington Post’s brand. “It didn’t take us much to get this thing started,” says Burkett. “But I’m not running around telling everyone this is something they should definitely do.”

Now washingtonpost.com knows what it might take to get it to the next level but currently the Ad network remains an experiment to learn from.

Future Goals: The program is still up in the air. Burkett continues to advocate it and use it in his sales process and build relationships with the bloggers that are part of the network. But a lot of the future is still to be decided.

“This would all sound crazy if I was running a business unit, but our goal when we started was really just to see what we would learn and what would happen and then maybe take those learnings and do other things,” says Burkett.

What do you hope to get from people attending this conference?

“I’m on the commercial side — I’d love to hear more ideas from business people about how they are using and benefiting monetarily from citizen journalism — how they are growing audience and any crazy ad ideas they have.”