Asia Data Journalism Bootcamp 2014

In this increasingly data-driven, electronic world, good reporting isn’t just about going to press conferences and developing sources. We no longer have to take the word of “experts” to crunch numbers or rely on their analysis/spin – we can, and must, do it for ourselves.

Stories are buried in public data all over the world – from government records to census data to private company disclosures. Whether it is providing a few numbers for a breaking news story or making sense of a large government data set for an exclusive story, mastering basic computer-assisted reporting tools will give you the edge to unlock these stories ahead of the competition.

In this weeklong workshop, you will learn to acquire electronic information, to ask and negotiate for data from official sources, use spreadsheets and databases to analyze information and translate that information into compelling stories. This weeklong workshop is taught by instructors from the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR), based at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre.

No experience with data is necessary for this training.

Using a combination of hands-on tutorials and case studies, you will learn how to:

• Find data for stories in Hong Kong, China and throughout Asia
• Request and negotiate for information
• Convert .txt, .csv, .pdf files into a usable spreadsheet
• Analyze data in Microsoft Excel using formulas and pivot tables
• Understand relational databases and learn how they are used to analyze data
• Understand the how other types of computer-assisted reporting applications, such as GIS mapping and other data visualization, can be used as both reporting and story-telling tools
• Use data to enhance, rather than weigh down a story, by blending it with strong interviews, color and description

Date: Dec. 1-5, 2014
Location: DM Lab, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU

For more information, please contact Irene Jay Liu, irene.j.liu@gmail.com.

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About NICAR: The National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, a program of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) and the Missouri School of Journalism. Founded in 1989, NICAR has trained thousands of journalists in the practical skills of finding, prying loose and analyzing electronic information.

Mark Horvit is the executive director of Investigative Reporters & Editors. He oversees training, conferences and services for more than 4,300 members worldwide, and for programs including the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) and DocumentCloud. Horvit also is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, where he teaches investigative reporting. A longtime IRE member, Horvit most recently served as projects editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He worked as a reporter, editor and on the projects teams at newspapers in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri and Florida.

Jaimi Dowdell is IRE’s senior training director. Before that, she was computer-assisted reporting editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for more than three years. In addition to her work at the Post-Dispatch, she taught a CAR course for Washington University in St. Louis.

Irene Jay Liu is a reporter on the global enterprise team at Thomson Reuters and an honorary lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, where she teaches a graduate-level course on data journalism and computer-assisted reporting. She was previously senior reporter and special projects team leader at the South China Morning Post, and a political writer/ blogger and television correspondent covering New York’s state capitol in Albany, New York.

在这个日益数据化的电子世界，好的报道已不再只依赖记者参加新闻发布会和开发新闻来源，新闻工作人员也不必再依赖“专家”对数据的分析和看法。他们能够也必须自己来做数据分析。

从政府档案到人口普查数据到私有公司披露的信息，全球各地的公共数据里都藏有故事。无论是为爆发性新闻提供几个数字，还是为一个独家深度报道对大量政府数据集进行分析，掌握基础的数据新闻工具，将有助于一个新闻工作人员在竞争中领先。

2014年亚洲数据新闻工作坊为期五天，培训专家来自密苏里大学的全国电脑辅助报道研究所， 以及香港新闻和媒体研究中心。

工作坊将把动手实践和案例分析相结合，教授以下技能：

• 如何找到有关故事的数据；
• 如何索要信息并和数据来源机构进行商谈；
• 如何把 .txt, .csv, .pdf 文件转为可用的数据表格；
• 如何使用 Excel 公式和数据透视表 （pivot table)分析数据；
• 如何使用关系数据库来分析数据 ；
• 其它类型的数据新闻应用软件（比如GIS 对映和其它数据可视化方法）如何可以被用来作为报道工具
• 如何将数据分析与采访相结合，使数据起到加强、而不是拖累一则报道的效果。

2014年亚洲数据新闻工作坊
2014年12月1-5日
主办：香港新闻和媒体研究中心

工作坊诚邀新闻工作人员报名申请。申请人无需有数据分析经历，但最好有一些英文底子。 工作坊对参与人员全部免费。

请将填写好的申请表和简历在11月7日前发给2108239388@qq.com.。