Database journalism, also known as computer assisted reporting (CAR), is an increasingly important tool that enables journalists to add depth to their stories by accessing, making sense and presenting government, financial, and social statistics.
30 March – City University London
Course fees – £25, Students only
Registrations begin at 10am. The course will run from 10.30-4.30pm.
The course fees include coffee vouchers.
Bookings
Places are limited. Please book your place via this online booking form. Your place will be confirmed once payment is received. For any questions, please email minal@tcij.org or ring the office on 020 7040 8220.
What You’ll Learn
Learn the techniques used to find stories hidden within any data set. This course will teach you how to use Microsoft Excel or Google Docs to find story ideas or to provide more depth and context. You will be shown the basics of finding, importing/downloading and cleaning data to advanced techniques such as searching data for journalistic purposes.
This course is suitable for beginners as well as practising journalists who want to be able to work on their own data stories or futher their data skills.
Course Outline
Digging in institutional databases can take your investigative skills to a new level. In this class, participants learn about the tools of data journalism and see examples of how it can enhance their reporting.
Data Journalism Against a Deadline 1: Spreadsheet Tools
Data is everywhere – from government computers to websites. This course introduces data analysis using Microsoft Excel and Google Docs. Spreadsheets can help reporters find story ideas in the data. Participants will learn basic calculations, rates, ratios and analytic tools that generate story ideas.
Data journalism Against a Deadline 2: More Spreadsheet Tools
The second spreadsheet course covers built-in analytical tools, such as sorting, filtering, chart creation that help reporters quickly find great stories within databases.
Data Journalism Against a Deadline 3: Pivot Tables
To complete your spreadsheet toolkit, you will learn how to make pivot tables that will summarise trends in your data.
Getting the Data: Hands-On
The web is flooding with data, but before it can be analysed, it needs to be transferred to a computer. Here, participants will be introduced to different methods of data transfer from web pages, basic web scraping and PDF files using Microsoft Excel and Google Docs.
Advanced Search
A look at using the advanced search function in Google to find datasets and documents in the ‘hidden web’ – information that a simple Google search won’t find. Also, freely available tools for people finding – how to track down specialists and potential contributors.