It’s the only way to live, in cars
Computer-aided reporting (or CAR, if you’re one of those who likes an acronym for everything) is, apparently a fairly new phenomenon in the UK. It’s been kicking about for a fair while over in the USA, but has only really hit our shores in the past few years.
I find this quite surprising.
I know that “computer-aided reporting” is quite a clumsy, technical-sounding phrase, and I’m sure that the fact it’s a jargon-esque enough name to have an acronym is probably enough to put some people off, but the concept is actually a pretty simple one. It’s just using computer programmes to manipulate data so that you can get useful statistics for your journalism.
Not even especially complicated computer programmes – apparently a lot of journalists just use fairly standard spreadsheet stuff like Microsoft Excel. I know, I know: it’s all very well to denounce it as not being rocket science while I probably couldn’t do it myself. I’ll happily stand up and admit that I’ve not used Excel since the stressful days of ICT GCSE coursework, and even then a lot of it was done by our teacher.
But the point is, a lot of other people can use Excel. The fact that I can’t, without a bit of help, do something myself doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s hard; I sometimes need help with the tumble drier, and they’re widely accepted as an easy-to-use household appliance.
It’s not getting people’s heads around the computing aspect of it which baffles me – more the fact that nobody’s come up with the idea before. The Freedom of Information Act was originally passed in 2000; we’re now almost into 2010. This means we’ve had pretty much a decade of being able to find out just about anything we like. Well, there are probably some exceptions to that, but you get the picture; it’s still brilliant.
Figures may not be the most interesting thing in the world, but they can conceal – and, when looked at in the right way, reveal -some incredible secrets. Just look at the MPs’ expenses scandal, for instance. It’s certainly worth a bit of boredom for a scoop of that scale.
CAR is definitely something to be embraced. I’m just surprised it’s taken us this long.
