Hosted by Code for America & Institute for the Future

Please join us on Friday April 27, 2012, for a conversation with the founders

of the Organized Crime and Corruption Project (OCCRP), an innovative platform

that helps investigative reporters from around the world to uncover large-scale

global criminal activities. Paul Radu, Executive Director, and Drew Sullivan,

Advising Editor, will discuss the significant and underutilized role of technology

in investigative reporting and opportunities for current and future cooperation

between programmers and investigative journalists in the fight against organized

crime and corruption, especially in emerging democracies. Beginning with some

examples, such as how OCCRP managed to track down the money of dictators such

as Hosni Mubarak or Azerbaijan’s Aliyev with the help of hackers, they will highlight

investigative projects that were initiated and developed with such interactions.

This evening will begin with an introduction and comments by Marina Gorbis, executive director of Institute for the Future, and Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., followed by a presentation by Paul Radu and Drew Sullivan. Finally, there will be an audience Q&A session facilitated by Marina Gorbis. 

Paul Radu (@IDashboard) is the executive director of the Organized Crime and

Corruption Reporting Project (www.reportingproject.net) and a co-creator of the

Investigative Dashboard concept (www.datatracker.org). He has held a number

of fellowships, including the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship in 2001, the Milena

Jesenska Press Fellowship in 2002, the Rosalyn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health

Journalism in 2007, the 2008 Knight International Journalism fellowship with

the International Center for Journalists, as well as a 2009-2010 Stanford Knight

Journalism Fellowship. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Knight

International Journalism Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award

in 2004, the Global Shining Light Award and the Tom Renner Investigative

Reporters and Editors Award in 2007, and the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding

International Investigative Reporting in 2011.

Drew Sullivan is a veteran journalist and media development specialist who has

worked for almost a decade in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. He founded the Center

for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2004 and served as director,

editor, and now advising editor to the organization. He co-founded and served as the

first director of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Program, a regional

consortium of investigative centers, where he now serves as advising editor. He

 founded the Journalism Development Network, an innovative media development

organization with programs worldwide. As a journalist, he led a team of reporters

looking at corruption by the Bosnian prime minister, which led to his eventual

indictment and resignation. Stories he worked on have been awarded the Online

Journalism Award for investigative reporting, the Global Shining Light Award for

reporting under duress, the Tom Renner award for Crime Reporting and many other

international awards. He worked as an investigative reporter for the Tennessean

newspaper in Nashville and for the Special Assignment Team of the Associated

Press in New York. He has served on the board of directors of Investigative

Reporters and Editors and the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting.

Before becoming a journalist, he was an aerospace engineer on the Space Shuttle

Project for Rockwell International Space Systems. He was also a touring stand-

up comedian and has been an actor in Bosnian films—often typecast as the evil

foreigner.

About OCCRP:

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a joint program

of the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo, Rise Project Romania, the

Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Center, the Center for Investigative Reporting

in Serbia, Novaya Gazeta in Moscow, the Kyiv Post, HETQ (Armenian Investigative

Journalists) in Armenia, re:Baltica in the Baltic states, Atlatszo.hu in Hungary,

SCOOP-Macedonia, MANS in Montenegro, Monitor Magazine in Montenegro, and a

network of investigative journalists and media from Eastern Europe to Central Asia.

Our goal is to help the people of the region better understand how organized crime

and corruption affect their lives. OCCRP seeks to provide in-depth investigative

stories, as well as the latest news pertaining to organized crime and corruption

activities in the region. In addition to the stories, OCCRP is building an online

resource center of documents related to organized crime including court records,

laws, reports, studies, company records. and other public documents that will be an

invaluable resources center for journalists and the public alike.

For more information please visit: http://www.reportingproject.net/occrp/

index.php/about-us