Dina Cappiello, Reporter for the Houston Chronicle

People Power: 84 Volunteers Led To Improvements In Houston's Air Quality

jteischeid@yahoo.com — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:37:21 -0400

Crowdsourcing environmental coverage

John Eischeid interviews Dina Cappiello from the Houston Chronicle

Dina Cappiello is an environmental reporter for the Houston Chronicle who harnessed the power of crowds to gather information for a series of articles. Eighty-four trained volunteer monitors helped Cappiello measure local air toxins for an investigative series that ran in the newspaper.

Dina's toxic air series

John Eischeid: Why did you choose to implement this type of reporting?

Dina Cappiello: Because the information I needed to answer my question wasn't out there. The Houston Chronicle had to collect it for itself.

Interviewing the Experts of Crowdsourcing

a few more questions for Dina

jteischeid@yahoo.com — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:06:44 -0400

I'll be doing the interview. She's out today, and I hope to set it up next week. Below are my questions thus far.

Do you know of any other projects or stories that this process has worked with? If not, can you think of any with which it would?

There were 84 volunteers. About how many did you canvass?

There was a survey done before the monitoring. What questions were on the survey?

Did any of the volunteers raise any objections to the accuracy of the results?

I read the letters to the editor in response to the "In Harm's Way" series, and there was some criticism of the paper. Have those who participated in the study experienced any form of harassment?

Did the scientists analyzing the data find it to be suitable? Did they tell you that some of the data collected might be incompatible or somehow tainted? (You touched on a such concerns in the article. For example, some monitors were close to a pool, resulting in high cloroform levels.)

What response, if any, have you received from the scientific community? What do they think of the methodology or the wisdom of using crowds of citizens to collect data?

During the study, were there any accidental releases by the plants? If so, were they close to homes that were participating?

The state planned to investigate the results of the study. That was over a year ago. Has the state begun any investigation? Are there any results as of yet?

Dina Cappiello, Reporter for the Houston Chronicle

A few questions Assignment Zero team has.

David Cohn — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:40:28 -0500

Why did she choose to implement this type of reporting?

What hurdles did she face, both through her process and editorially at the paper?

What did she learn from her volunteers that she could have never discovered working on her own?

What motivated her volunteers to sign on to the projects?

What did she learn from working this way?

Has she tried similar projects since?

Does she see this mode of reporting changing the face of how local journalism is done?

Dina Cappiello, Reporter for the Houston Chronicle

Cappiello, crowdsourcing science reporting.

David Cohn — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:16:22 -0500

Dina Cappiello is an environmental reporter for the Houston Chronicle who has crowdsourced information-gathering for her own stories. You can read more about what she did below in the background section.

If you are interested in this assignment, please tell us why you're a good candidate by clicking the apply tab below.

Interviewing the Experts of Crowdsourcing

What should we ask Dina Cappiello?

David Cohn — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:13:29 -0500

What should we ask Cappiello in an interview? Suggest questions you'd like to see her answer.

Dina Cappiello, Reporter for the Houston Chronicle

Tell us about Capiello and her work.

David Cohn — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:11:20 -0500

Tell us everything you think we need to know about Cappiello and her project at the Houston Chronicle. Everything is useful - links, descriptions, data, anecdotes. If this is something you've followed or want to research, the more details, the better.