{"rowid": 47, "title": "How a File Format Led to a Crossword Scandal", "speaker": "Saul Pwanson", "time": "2:30 PM", "day": "May 9 2019", "room": "Fuller Hall", "url": "https://csvconf.com/speakers/#saul-pwanson", "datetime": "2019-05-09T14:30:00", "abstract": "In 2016 I designed a plain-text file format for crossword puzzle data, and then spent a couple of months building a micro-data-pipeline, scraping tens of thousands of crosswords from various sources.  Then, having all those crosswords in a simple format, I wanted to see if there were any common grid patterns--and discovered egregious plagiarism by a major crossword editor that had gone on for years. This talk would cover the file format, data pipeline, and the design choices that aided rapid exploration; the evidence for the scandal, from the initial anomalies to the final damning visualization; and what it's like for a data project to get 15 minutes of fame.", "image": "https://csvconf.com/img/speakers-2019/spwanson.jpg"}