Thursday, December 11, 2008

Liz Donovan

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I didn’t know Liz Donovan, who had been a news researcher at The Washington Post and The Miami Herald, but a lot of luminaries in the world of computer-assisted reporting did because she was an early and significant advocate for it. I was a regular reader of her blog and will miss it and her. She died of lung cancer Tuesday at age 63.

As a veteran at The Miami Herald, Donovan helped lead the transition to computer-based research. A pioneering Internet user -- yet eternal flower child -- she enabled Herald writers to produce work that won Pulitzer Prizes.

Said humorist Dave Barry: 'I went to her with many strange requests, and they never fazed her. I'd ask her something like, `Are there any politicians whose last name is Doody?' And she'd say, `Do you want federal, state or both?'''

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