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MOOC on data journalism opens for registration

The JMSC is offering a five-week course on the fundamentals of data journalism starting 4 April, in partnership with the Google News Lab and top news organisations in Asia.

Taught by a panel of experts on data journalism from New York City, San Francisco, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai, the course will introduce the latest tools in data acquisition, analysis, interpretation and visualisation. Students will also learn how to integrate these skills to tell compelling stories.

Regional newsroom partners for the course include IndiaSpend (India), Malaysiakini (Malaysia), KataData (Indonesia), Caixin (China) and DataLEADS (India).

Targeting journalists of all levels of experience, students and anyone with an interest in data journalism, the course will also feature case studies from newsrooms in Asia and data stories by leading international media organisations.

‘Journalists today must know the basics of getting stories from data. All journalists should be required to take a data journalism course,’ said Professor Ying Chan, Director of the JMSC and producer of the MOOC.  

Data tools from Google, and other instruments, will be applied to data sets from around the region. Instructors will use the tools to illustrate techniques for acquiring, analysing and visualising data across multiple areas, countries and languages.

Simon Rogers, Data Editor at the News Lab says that the new course will help reporters gain vital skills: ‘Data journalism is about telling stories in the best possible way and it is happening now across the region. It is changing the way we work as reporters, giving us new access to tools which tell stories in new and exciting ways. This course will give you a start in getting to grips with this exciting area of reporting.’

Yolanda Ma, course co-ordinator and one of the five instructors of the MOOC, said that the course is being offered at a time when data has become more available from governments: ‘This is a great opportunity for media institutions and individual journalists to equip themselves with the skills to understand data and tell better stories with it.’

Students will be asked to contribute local examples as well as data sources in local languages. ‘Through the course, we are also building a community of data practitioners,’ said Ma.

Students can earn a free certificate for the course by completing all required assignments. Those who complete the course project will get an exclusive chance to showcase their work on our website as well as receive expert critique by instructors.

To see a full overview of the course and instructors, click here

Register for the course by following these steps:

You will be taken to the homepage of the course. We recommend you bookmark this page and mooc.jmsc.hku.hk for easy access to the course later.