Getting Good at Primary Research: Expert Calls and "Alternative Data"

What do you think the best materials (books, blog posts, conferences, resources) are on how to be very good at (i) expert calls and (ii) using "alternative data"?

(i) Expert calls: I am looking for an in depth discussion of the best questions to ask and how to "get more" out of questions I ask on expert network calls. I also wanted an in depth discussion of what exactly the legal boundaries are of what I am and am not allowed to ask (other than just saying that it is "common sense"). Does anyone know of where to find good reference on this information? (ii) "Alternative Data": By alternative data, I mean using data on social media sites or other public online resources to create datasets that can be correlated to future fundamental changes, which is increasingly popular. Are there any online bloggers that I am missing that have discussed this? If so, who are they? I am presuming a discussion of this wouldn't be in any other forum.