Teaching Computer-Assisted Reporting 2015

Brant HoustonUniversity of Illinois

brant.houston@gmail.comhoustonb@illinois.edu

Concepts

• Columns and rows

• Just counting

• Bad data, accuracy checks and data cleaning

• Importance of visualization

• Keeping it simple

Data Skills

• Principles of searching: From Boolean logicto file type

• Spreadsheets

• Database managers

• Charts and maps

Data Skills• Building a database

• Cleaning data – start with replace and find and then update

• Social network analysis

• Statistics

• Scraping as entry to coding

• Programming, coding

Other reporting skills

• Requesting data including freedom of information

• Researching the dataset – reading files about it, reading tip sheets, seeing how it has been used by journalists and others

• How to do interviews about the data with those who create it and maintain it

Other reporting skills

• How to do interviews with researchers and officials to test credibility of the data

• Using observation to augment and test data analysis – getting out into the field

• How to identify basic stories – change over time, comparisons, outliers, clusters

Teaching Skills

• Know your class – survey and test hands-on skills before teaching

• Difference between professional students and college students

• Show good examples including ones that can be achieved by students in short time

• Keep it simple - start small – two columns and five rows

Teaching Skills

• Know your class – survey and test hands-on skills before teaching

• Show good examples including ones that can be achieved by students in short time

• Keep it simple - start small – two columns and five rows

• Go slow – If you think you are going slow, go slower

Teaching Skills

• Remember that learning software involves three parts: Small motor coordination, seeing new windows and icons, and the concepts

• Use relevant data but also use for relevant stories

Syllabi

• IJEC.org• IRE.org