Week 1 - Intro to Data Journalism

For the first week, we will look at the field of data journalism as a whole. What is it? What does it mean? How was the field been shaped and where is it heading?

We’ll also analyze some existing data journalism stories and analyze what makes them successful or not. Rather than put off coding until later in the course, we’ll try a few exercises early on to get acquainted with it.

Journalists need to be data-savvy. These are the people whose jobs are to interpret what government is doing to the people. So it used to be that you would get stories by chatting to people in bars, and it still might be that you'll do it that way some times. But now it's also going to be about poring over data and equipping yourself with the tools to analyze it and picking out what's interesting. And keeping it in perspective, helping people out by really seeing where it all fits together, and what's going on in the country. ... Data-driven journalism is the future.

— Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web