Posts tagged Personal

The key lesson I learned building PolitiFact: Demos, not memos

So there was a little news around here lately. PolitiFact won a Pulitzer Prize. To say I'm still in shock is an understatement. A week later, it doesn't seem real.

All week long, we've been talking about how PolitiFact started, how it all came together. It's been fun remembering how it started out with Bill Adair having an idea and me having an idea on how we could pull it off. The crude mock-ups, the development environment on a box that was headed for the trash. I still can't believe we did it. But out ...

By: Matt Waite | Posted: April 27, 2009 | Tags: Journalism, Personal, Django | 10 comments

Back from the dead

I know. I should know better. And I should.

And I know. I should have been quicker getting back online. And I should have.

But I didn't. And I wasn't.

And now I'm finally back from the dead.

I lost the first version of this blog - a self-hosted Wordpress install - when my hosting company lost the database and the backup of the database, which was stupidly stored on the same drive. After ridding myself of them, I moved over to a hand-crafted Django blog hosted by Slicehost. Like an idiot, I didn't spring for the $5 ...

By: Matt Waite | Posted: Jan. 17, 2009 | Tags: Personal | 2 comments

My annotated guide to DjangoCon videos

* Note: This post came from a version of this blog that got lost in a server failure. It's been restored from old RSS feeds, Google caches and other sources. As such, the comments, links and associated media have been lost.

I've been meaning to post my notes from DjangoCon since I got back but haven't had time. Now with the posting of the DjangoCon sessions on YouTube , I'm fresh out of excuses. Now it's an annoated guide to the sessions I attended and took notes on.

Reusable Apps: James Bennett

Pound for pound, this was ...

By: Matt Waite | Posted: Oct. 17, 2008 | Tags: Personal, Django | 0 comments

New app: Neighborhood Watch

* Note: This post came from a version of this blog that got lost in a server failure. It's been restored from old RSS feeds, Google caches and other sources. As such, the comments, links and associated media have been lost.

I've launched a new app at work: Neighborhood Watch. We've got lots of plans for it, but at launch it focuses on home sales in over 200 neighborhoods in Pinellas and Pasco counties in the Tampa Bay area.

The seed for this app actually started in 2004, when I wrote this. At the time, we did 30 ...

By: Matt Waite | Posted: Aug. 24, 2008 | Tags: Journalism, Databases, Personal, Django | 0 comments

DjangoCon and me

* Note: This post came from a version of this blog that got lost in a server failure. It's been restored from old RSS feeds, Google caches and other sources. As such, the comments, links and associated media have been lost.

The program for the very first DjangoCon is up and my name is on it. And it's not a typo. I'm speaking at the very first DjangoCon.

My three reactions, in rough order:

1. I am so excited I can't even tell you.

2. I am so honored it's ridiculous.

3. I am so scared ...

By: Matt Waite | Posted: July 20, 2008 | Tags: Personal, Django | 0 comments

We interrupt this career...

* Note: This post came from a version of this blog that got lost in a server failure. It's been restored from old RSS feeds, Google caches and other sources. As such, the comments, links and associated media have been lost.

My job title changed today. For the first time that I can remember, I’m not a reporter. As of today, I am the News Technologist at the St. Petersburg Times.

What is that? We’re not sure yet, and it’s going to change a lot. It’s a hybrid job, a programmer-journalist job. We even toyed with ...

By: Matt Waite | Posted: Oct. 27, 2007 | Tags: Personal | 0 comments