The PANDA Project
Tutorial
- Welcome to PANDA!
- Uploading a dataset
- Searching for data
- Searching for datasets
- Subscribing to search results
Problems + Solutions
- Importing fixed-width files
- Importing Access files
- Importing DBF files
- Importing unusual CSV file formats
- Storing related files
- Searching for names
- Searching for phone numbers
- Determining the encoding of a CSV file
- Handling unsupported Excel features
- Dealing with two-digit year columns
- Seeing PANDA data on a map
- Sorting PANDA data
PANDA User Group »
Administrator or developer?
PANDA Admin Documentation »
Welcome to PANDA!
Hi NICAR!
If you are reading this documentation it is probably because your interesting in using PANDA to manage your newsroom data. This brief introduction will introduce you to PANDA and show you how it can save you time, keep your data safe and improve the quality of your reporting. More detailed descriptions of the features of PANDA can be found in sections following the introduction.
Try the live demo now »
What is PANDA?
Welcome to PANDA! from PANDA Project on Vimeo.
First and foremost PANDA is a "data library", which means that it stores all the data you work with--voter registration records, police reports, water testing results, etc. When you upload your data to PANDA it is stored safely away so that it can be easily found again, either by yourself or by another reporter in your organization.
PANDA is also a search engine. By uploading your datasets to PANDA you make them searchable by everyone in your organization. This search feature is designed to work like Google, so you don't need to learn a new way of exploring the data.
How does PANDA help me?
PANDA will save you time
When all your data is stored in PANDA it is just a quick search away. No more opening Excel and scrolling through thousands of rows to find one piece of information. PANDA is fast and it is always available. Give your data to PANDA and it will save you time on deadline.
PANDA will keep your data safe
Never worry about a crashing computer, a lost thumb drive or a scratched CD destroying your sources. Give those files to PANDA for safekeeping. PANDA works just like Google so you will always be able to find it again.
PANDA will improve your reporting
PANDA encourages serendipity in the reporting process. By having access to all the newsworthy data in your newsroom you will uncover information you might have otherwise overlooked. For instance, a search for the name of a state senator might return a dataset of his political affiliations, a record of his graduation, a list of bills he has sponsored and a brother who is an energy lobbyist.
How does PANDA help my organization?
By providing a single place to store all your newsroom's data PANDA will encourage knowledge sharing, prevent the loss of information and slow knowledge attrition when reporters retire or change jobs. Never again should more than one reporter FOIA the same dataset.
Tell me more!
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