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Data Journalism research methods JOUR 4101 – E Wednesdays 19:00-22:00 Location: Room 1105 River Building (the TV Newsroom) David McKie 181 Queen Street 1-613-288-6523 (office) 1-613-290-7380 (cell) 1-613-288-6490 (fax)
Mustafa Naziri: B.Sc Double Honours Earth Sciences and Geography, minor in Geomatics
Rosalie Murton: B.Sc Honours geography, concentration Geomatics
COURSE DESCRIPTION The goal of this course is to teach students how to find and negotiate for data that is already publicly available, or must be obtained formally or informally through access to information. We will analyse the information using the following: Excel; the data-visualization tools, Tableau Public, Google’s Fusion Tables; the document-annotation software called DocumentCloud; and the mapping program called ArcMap. Taken together, these skills comprise computer-assisted reporting, also known as data journalism. Our textbook will be, “Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Comprehensive Primer”. At the end of this term, students will become adept searching for information, analyzing the material for story ideas, or for questions that could lead to stories. They’ll learn how to use Excel to spot trends, and employ data-visualization and mapping programs to show the patterns and allow readers to interact with the material, such as being able to identify the income level or levels of crime in their neighbourhood. As well, they’ll be taught how to do spatial joins, allowing them to, for instance, see how many income groups, federal contaminated sites, oil spills, construction projects or disguarded needles and syringes fall within certain municipal, provincial and federal electoral boundaries. These matches, and more importantly the story ideas that are produced, can only be obtained using mapping software like ArcMap. For instance, spatial joins have allowed journalists such as the Ottawa Citizen’s Glen McGregor to tell the story about the bodies of water protected under the Harper government’s Navigable Waters Protection Act that are in or near federal Conservative ridings. The assignments, or stories, will be submitted as blogs in WordPress that will allow for a multi-media treatment. Documents used as referrence Though it’s designed to be a data-journalism-focused research methods course, there will also be a with a heavy emphasis on storytelling, both with words and data in interactive maps and charts. As such, we will begin each class with a story that has appeared in the news: either as an example of how data journalism was used, or how it could have been used. These discussions and the exercises will help students develop new analytical and storytelling skills, driven by data. The course will be divided up into four, three-week modules. Each module will teach the following skills: There will be four assignments ( see chart below ), building to a final assignment that combines all the skills we’ve learned during the semester. These assignments can also be projects that could lead to larger collaborations with the CBC, a prospect my colleagues have already signalled they’d be willing to support. Examples stories using data journalism Toronto data reveals hundreds of discarded syringes ANALYSIS | Health Canada drug approval policy lacks key power (CBC News) After federal changes to waterways rules, 90 per cent of protected A new view of Edmonton (Edmonton Journal) Battleground B.C.: Election Trends (The Vancouver Sun) A new view of Edmonton (Edmonton Journal) Battleground B.C.: Election Trends (The Vancouver Sun) Federal Parolees Per Capita (The Vancouver Sun) Explore the data: Toronto bicycle collisions mapped over 25 years http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/explore-the-data-toronto-bicycle-collisions-mapped-over-25-years/article543684/ Interactive Map: Explore the data behind Toronto’s working poor (The METHADONE AND THE POLITICS OF PAIN (The Seattle Times) WHAT YOU WILL LEARN 1) How to dig for gold in cyberspace 2) How to use a spreadsheet to analyze statistics 3) How to create a pivot table 4) How to use advanced functions in Excel 5) How to use technical skills such as exporting tables from pdfs into Excel 6) How to advance your numeracy skills 7) How to use Fusion Tables 8) How to use Tableau Public 9) How to use ArcMap 10) How to conduct spatial joins to discover trends and display data 11) How to become effective storytellers using data-journalism techniques ASSIGNMENTS
GRADES We will be using a 12-point grading scale with the marks to be as follows, A+ = 12 A= 11 A-= 10 B+ = 9 B= 8 B-=7 C+=6 C=5 C-=4 COMMUNICATIONSWITH STUDENTS This will be done primarily through email correspondence and phone calls, given that I do not have an office at Carleton. The protocol will dictate that emailed queries will be answered as promptly as possible, usually within the hour. As such, it will be important for you to regularly check your email account for communication regarding assignments, new data sets or class work. You’ll also be required to use your Carleton account. PROFESSIONALISM Because we’ll conduct ourselves as professional journalists. That means attending class, showing up on time; being prepared and ready to make a meaningful contribution based on the preparation work you’ve been assigned; paying attention to your instructor and colleagues and ignoring email correspondence, Facebook, text messages, Twitter, and promptly responding to emails from the instructor. You’ll also be expected to stay on top of current events, which is part of your obligation as a journalist. If you must miss class, please communicate with the instructor via email. If it’s for a medical reason, then you will be required to provide a doctor’s note. If it’s for an internship, then you’ll have to provide details. REQUIRED SUPPORT RESOURCES The course would be taught in the TV computer lab, using the overhead projector. As the school possesses an ArcMap licence, we are be able to use the mapping software, which is installed on the desktops. The library’s Maps, Data and Government Information Centre is well positioned to provide support to faculties including journalism and communications. OUTLINE Sept. 11 Introduction to the course. Political donations in Alberta – 2004 to 2010 Toronto data reveals hundreds of discarded syringes Number of reported bird strikes at Windsor airport soars (The Windsor Star) ‘Huge, huge overtime’ lifts Ontario nurses into $100,000 salary club Birth control pill recall expands to Esme-28 as a precaution Health Canada’s Adverse Drug Reaction Database Download Health Canada’s adverse reaction data by clicking here. Arctic coast guard helicopter crash kills 3 (CBC News) Transport Canada’s accident data called CADORS Downloaded CADORS database Ottawa seeks to dial down post-quake aid to Haiti, documents show (The Globe and Mail) Readings: Computer-Assisted Reporting chapters three and four, Excel basic and advanced Sept. 18 Via Rail train, Ottawa city bus crash leaves 6 dead: Worst bus crash in city’s history, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says (CBC News) Passenger trains on Transportation Safety Board watch list: 3 investigators from Transportation Safety Board, 2 from Transport Canada at Ottawa crash site (CBC News) Transportation Safety Board of Canada Transportation Safety Board stats in Excel On-line exercise using the Ontario public-sector salary data Universities and colleges Excel workbook Canada pursues trade ties with Russia amid human rights concerns (Postmedia) Arms Exports Excel: pivot tables In-class exercise using Transport Canada’s accident data called CADORS Please download the table we’ll be using for the tutorial here To obtain the tutorial using the salaries database we’ve just downloaded, please click here. Sept. 25 Review filtering, sorting and pivot tables from the first two weeks Continuation of pivot table using salaries data you can download here. Click here to obtain the instructions for the in-class tutorial. Examples of stories using data uploaded to Fusion Tables Toronto data reveals hundreds of discarded syringes Discarded syringes and needles data for Ottawa Homicides mapped: 1999 to 2011 (Edmonton Journal) Crime data PDF for Ottawa Ottawa crime data Excel file Assignment: You’ll be required to produce a story, using any of the data set we’ve examined so far, or one of your choosing. The story must emerge from your data set. It can be just one number, a trend, whatever. Your story will be 600 words, and must contain at least one interview. You’ll also be required to submit a 500-word explanation that explains your methodology, and an Excel workbook that contains the tables used for your calculations. Your methodology and story will account for 50 percent each. The story is to be uploaded to our WordPress site. The methodology is to be emailed to me as a Word document. The assignment is due October 4 at midnight. Oct. 2 Lobbyists mount full-court press (The Ottawa Citizen) Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada Download the 2013 lobbyists registration data here Download the pivot table tutorial for the lobbyists data here Fusion Tables part two Use the “save as” option to download the Ottawa wards KML file Download the discarded syringe file Use the “save as” option to download the 2006 Ottawa income level census tract file Examples of stories using more advanced Fusion Table techniques Click here for the pivot table tutorial. Download the discarded SyringeCountByWard file Click here for the Fusion Table tutorial Oct. 9 Tory Senate leader received large donations from 17 members of same family (Ottawa Citizen) Elections Canada Download federal campaign donation data Pivot Table tutorial using the federal campaign donations data Elections Ontario Zambito implicates Laval mayor, parties at corruption inquiry (CBC News) Zambito blames broken system that puts pressure on politicians, industry Quebec political contributions Crime dataset for Fusion Tables Crime dataset_2 for Fusion Tables Download the crime data tutorial for calculating ratios. Download the Quebec political donations data Oct. 16 Ontario campaign contributions 2013 Ottawa crime data in Tableau Tableau Public download Installing the Tableau Add-In for Reshaping Data in Excel Tableau-Wordpress-Plugin Tableau Public for Mac coming next year Tableau tutorials Examples of other stories using Tableau Fare evasion on SkyTrain and Canada Line( The Vancouver Sun ) Federal Parolees Per Capita (The Vancouver Sun) By The Numbers: Lobbying In Missouri (News for St. Louis) 2011-2012 Ottawa crime data for Tableau Public Tableau Public tutorial My Tableau example based on the tutorial Reading: Computer-Assisted Reporting, chapter seven, mapping Assignment: It’s due Friday 25. It’s to be a 600-word story based on the crime data we’ve been using. There are to be at least two interviews, an embedded Fusion Table heat map, a Tableau visualization based on the tutorial, and a photo of one of the characters in your story. I also suggested that you could use video. Feel free to be creative in this multi-media universe. Please upload the story, as I’ll see the numbers in Tableau and Fusion Tables. Upload your stories to the “Assignment 2″ category. Oct. 23 Interesting use of Fusion Tables to indicate Canadian towns and cities opposed to the proposed Canada-European Union trade deal Interactive: 93 years of Ontario baby names (Global News) See a map of more than 275 natural gas transmission line accidents Installing the Tableau Add-In for Reshaping Data in Excel Canadian Trade Data List of Countries – European Union (EU) 2013 Download the Import/Export Excel dataset here Canada-EU trade: Canada’s trade balance with European Union countries, 2008-2012 (CBC News) Introduction to mapping and ArcMap Montreal Gazette examples using ArcMap Glen McGregor’s navigable waters story Bike theft data City of Ottawa’s Data Catalogue page Discarded syringes data to upload into ArcMap. Federal Contaminated Sites Inventory Contaminated sites data to upload into ArcMap Boundary files (Statistics Canada) Bike theft data Examples of stories using mapping software like ArcMap Reading: Computer-Assisted Reporting, chapter eight, negotiating for data Oct. 30 (Fall break) Tableau tutorial using Industry Canada trade data Canada-EU trade: Canada’s trade balance with European Union countries, 2008-2012 (CBC News) Have a good break!! Nov. 13 Ottawa casualties from the First World War: CBC Ottawa has mapped the local addresses of soldiers who died as result of First World War Examples of stories using spatial joins in mapping programs like ArcMap Doing spatial joins in ArcMap First of ongoing discussions of final assignment Introduction to mapping Excel discarded syringe file for ArcMap tutorial Download the syringe zip for ArcMap file here Download new syringe file for ArcMap ArcMap tutorial one ArcMap tutorial two Ottawa building files for ArcMap ArcMap tutorial using Ottawa building data Canadian Trade Data Assignment: Using the Canadian Trade Data, download a dataset, using any criterion you choose. It can be “Product” or “Industry” (the two main tabs on the home page) for a five- or 10-year period. The idea is to find a trend worth writing about, just like we did using the European Union data in the Tableau Public tutorial. The story is to be 600-words. The multi-media components will be: a data visualization using Fusion Tables, Tableau, or ArcMap ( if you feel confident enough ); a mug shot of the person or country or product in your story. Be creative. You are to interview at least one person, who must be a trade expert; that is, someone who can provide context to your numbers. And speaking of context, I want lots of it: for instance, hyperlinks to the trade deal or study that is germane to your story. So it will be important to line up your expert promptly, which means analysing the trade data ASAP!!! If you need help, please let me know. The earlier, the better. Upload the assignment to category three. HINT: Statistics Canada will be an enormous help. So get used to using this agency as an invaluable resource. In addition to consulting the agency’s website, you might want to check with the University’s library to see what StatsCan trade data sets it might have that are not posted on-line. From our ArcMap session, you can see what an invaluable resource the library can be. The story is due to midnight, Friday Nov.15. Nov. 20 Search Summaries of Completed ATI Requests Access to Information and Privacy Coordinators Canada Border Services Agency release Review of ArcMap skills City of Ottawa Data catalogue page ArcMap buffering tutorial Ottawa day care data for ArcMap tutorial Upload Ottawa day care shape file Reading: Chapter 10, advanced techniques Final assignment: Nov. 27 Data from the 2006 Census 2006 Census Tract Boundary files Tutorial for cleaning the 2006 Census data 2006 household income census data in Fusion Tables 2011 household income census data in Fusion Tables Zip file from the 2011 Householder survey on income level Ottawa income level data for ArcMap tutorial The Ottawa 2011 Census Tract boundary file, which can also be found on the Statistics Canada website. Census profile 2011 Census tutorial Putting it together part three Discussion of multi-media examples Trouble shooting for the final assignment Dec. 4 Ottawa restaurant inspections Tutorial for downloading ArcMap on your desktop ArcMap shapefile-creation tutorial Introduction to mapping using Qgis Go to the city of Ottawa’s Data catalogue website and download the Wards2010 “shp” file to download in the tutorial. The Wards2010 file comes in a zipped format. Unzip and save contents in a folder for the Qgis tutorial. NOTE: The shape file is a combination of six, different file formats (dbf,prj,sbn,sbx,shp, and shx), so make sure each one is contained in your file. When you browse for the shape file within Qgis, it will only see the “shp” file. Download the SyringesQgis file we’ll use for the tutorial. Be sure to download by “saving as” Download the Qgis tutorial Qgis tutorial_part two Qgis tutorial_part three Discussion of stories to be done using data visualization techniques and strategies to use them going forward |
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