Deputy Managing Editor Amanda Barrett today announced a key appointment: Troy Thibodeaux, who has led AP’s data journalism since 2013, is now director of digital news:

The Associated Press will be sharing expertise and learning from other data journalists from around the country at a computer-assisted reporting conference put on by NICAR and Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE). The annual event runs today through March 8 in Atlanta.

“Every year we pick up tools and techniques that become essential to our data journalism toolkit. And every year, I personally steal a few teaching ideas that help me bring the material back to the broader AP,” said AP Editor for Interactive Technology Troy Thibodeaux. “All this, and we get to compare notes and ask questions of the people in other news organizations whose work most inspires and challenges us.”

Here’s some of the hands-on training AP is providing:

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

• Grabbing data from websites without scraping
  AP data journalist Michelle Minkoff co-leads a tutorial on how to get structured data from websites using a web browser with free tools and ad-ons.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

• Bridging the developer/journalist gap
  AP newsroom developer Maureen Linke shares best practices for bringing together coders and non-coders alike in newsrooms to tell great stories.

• Introducing Geomancer: Don’t let your data be lonely tonight
  Thibodeaux and AP data journalist Serdar Tumgoren talk about Geomancer, a new tool created by AP and a team of developers from civic technology company DataMade, that makes it easier for journalists to add context to a data set.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

• Getting started with SQLite
  This workshop led by Thibodeaux will provide an introduction to the world of SQL (Structured Query Language), “the lingua franca of relational databases.”

• Summing and grouping in SQLite
  Thibodeaux will help journalists build their SQL skills in this advanced workshop.

• Visualization for reporting
  Minkoff co-leads a workshop on how to use visualizations and graphics as a powerful reporting tool.

Though all the votes have been cast in the U.S. midterm elections, the importance of uncounted ballots looms large in some tight contests as AP journalists and race callers continued today to analyze Election Day results. Highlighting the remaining tasks, AP issued an advisory to its customers in the wee hours of this morning:

As votes in the U.S. midterm elections roll in across the country on Nov. 4, it’s The Associated Press that will be counting the results through the evening. The news industry and the public turn to AP, a not-for-profit cooperative, to provide fast and reliable results on national, state and local races and key ballot measures.