Data journalism: Take your first steps

Please contact journalismnow@thomsonfoundation.org if you are having difficulties enrolling into this course

COURSE OVERVIEW

Welcome to the course.  Data journalism is talked about a lot these days, by the public and by journalists themselves. It is not new, it’s just that governments and others are publishing data more than ever, and modern computers are capable of helping us to handle the data and make sense of it.

Data is everywhere – we generate data all the time, by living and dying, buying houses, using cars, moving around etc. Governments and other organisations publish data all the time, which is available for us to explore and analyse. Data, and the patterns we can find in it, often leads to stories or ideas for stories.

You just need to learn how to find useful data, how to analyse it, and how to tell stories with it.

This course – first steps in Data Journalism, is divided into six chapters:

1. Introduction
2. What is data journalism?
3. How to “interview” data
4. Visualisations
5. Where and How to get data
6. How to get help and extend your data skills

By the end of the first four chapters, you will know:

- what data journalism is

- what it can do for you

- where to find the data you need

- how to analyse it

- how to build a simple graphic to show the patterns in the data.

- where to get help and training online, as you go further with data.

- We will set you a challenge to work with some real data – and you will then be able to go on and find the data relevant to your own country.