DataBasic Intro Workshop - Learn 3 new tools for finding stories in data

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DataBasic Intro Workshop - Learn 3 new tools for finding stories in data

By Center for Civic Media

When and where

Date and time

Tuesday, December 8, 2015 · 6 - 8pm EST

Location

MIT Media Lab 75 Amherst Street 3rd Floor - Room E15-341 Cambridge, MA 02139

Description

Are you journalist, educator, student or community activist frustrated by data tools that don't help you learn anything? Wish working with data could be more fun? Join us for the first public workshop introducing three new tools and activities that can help! We built the DataBasic suite of tools to help you learn how to find stories in your data in fun ways.

We'll do three quick hands-on, creative, and fun activities that help you understand what the f*&^ is going on with your CSV file and analyze and understand large sets of text. You will have a chance to try out three web-based tools. One of them helps you get started analyzing a spreadsheet. The two others help you get started analyzing text documents as quantitative data (think "Hillary Clinton's emails"). The hands-on activity we do with will introduce you to a more playful approach to getting started with these types of data storyfinding questions. We hope you will find the tools useful enough to use in your own work and that you'll be able to introduce them to the communities that you work with to help them learn to work with data in a more fun way.

The evening will include yummy dinner. Beginners welcome - no prior experience in data analysis or data storytelling is necessary.

Bring your laptop! Please email us in advance so we can accomodate any special dietary needs.

Sponsored by the Emerson Engagement Lab and the MIT Center for Civic Media.

About the organizer

Rahul Bhargava is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Civic Media in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. E-mail: rahulb@media.mit.edu.

Catherine D'Ignazio is an Assistant Professor of Civic Media and Data Visualization in the Journalism Department at Emerson College, a fellow at the Engagement Lab and a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab. Email: catherine_dignazio@emerson.edu

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