2010 Program (English)

The VVOJ Conference on Investigative Journalism 2010 has a distinctive international feel to it. Even though the VVOJ is an association aimed at Dutch-Flemish (investigative) journalists, we strive to look and learn across borders, be it our countries’ or our professional borders.
Throughout the conference program, you find a large number of panel and training sessions in English, and thus accessible to non-Dutch speaking journalists. Trainers and speakers come from the United States of America, Great-Britain, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Location
Arteveldehogeschool, Campus Kantienberg, Voetweg 66, Ghent (Belgium)
Panel and training sessions in English include:
Thursday, November 18
• 19.30 – 22.00 ‘Free media, bad media?’, panel discussion on the future of free content with Paul Lewis (special projects editor The Guardian, UK), George Brock (City University London, UK)
• 10.00 – 17.00 Data journalism bootcamp with Elena Egawahry (freelance, UK) and David Donald (Center for Public Integrity, USA)
* * *
Friday, November 19
• 10.30-11.10 key note session by Vadim Lavrusik (Mashable, USA) on the use of social media to the investigative journalist
• 11.25 – 12.05 key note session by Stephen Engelberg (Pro Publica, USA) on the increasing influence of non-profit investigative reporting organisations
• 14.00 – 15.15 Paul Lewis (The Guardian) and Stephen Engelberg (Pro Publica) discuss running an investigative project at management level
• 15.45 – 17.00 Paul Bradshaw (onlinejournalismblog.com) shows the latest and most advanced techniques on crowd sourcing, using the public’s knowledge, for investigative reporting
• 15.45 – 17.00 David Donald (Center for Public Integrity) teaches a hands-on class on SQL, a technique to work with large amounts of data
• 15.45 – 17.00 Deborah Cohen (British Medical Journal, UK) shows how the use of FOIA laws (freedom of information laws) helped her uncover the dangerous side effects of diabetes medication
• 15.45 – 17.00 Vadim Lavrusik teaches a hands-on class on the use of social media to find stories and develop sources
* * *
Saturday, November 20
JOIN OUR SPECIAL TRAINING ON HOW TO USE THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
• 9.00 – 10.15 Starters in data analyses join Elena Egawahry for a quick course in all the Excel basics
• 10.45 – 12.00 Wikileaks publishes 92.000 documents and you need to grasp their content in a day’s time? John Bones (Verdens Gang, Norway) has the solution: text mining!
• 14.00 – 15.15 David Donald answers questions on data analysis. Bring your bag of troubles, and let him help.
• 14.00 – 15.15 How to handle tips from readers and viewers so they keep bringing you new story ideas? John Bones shows the successful model his newspaper, Verdens Gang, developed over time.
• 15.45 – 17.00 Battle of the brains. In the closing key note of the conference, search experts Paul Myers (BBC) and Henk van Ess (Voelspriet) clash and unite in a battle to unearth the latest ánd most fruitful search techniques.
Interested?
Participation is open to journalists and journalism students and teachers. VVOJ-member fee € 195, non-VVOJ member fee € 390 (including all sessions, receptions, lunches and Friday night dinner). You can apply here or send an e-mail to secretariaat@vvoj.org for instructions on how to apply.