Professional Skills: Data Storytelling – 33310- JOUR 4401 – A
School of Journalism and Communication
Fall 2021
Day: Wednesday
Time: 6:05 – 8:55
Location: usual location is room Richcraft Hall 1105 (the TV Newsroom),
Hybrid of in-person and virtual
Instructor: David McKie
Phone Number: 1-613-288-6523 (office) 1-613-290-7380 (cell)
Email: davidmckiec@gmail.com
Teaching Assistant:
Payton Pei
Email: PaytonPei@cmail.carleton.ca
873-354-4085 Rebecca Bartlett & Meaghan Kenny
GIS and Digital Resources Librarians
Research Support Services
Carleton University Library
613-520-2600 x 1615
gis@carleton.ca.
David and Fred are co-authors of
“The Data Journalist: Getting the Story“
You can also obtain a copy of The Data Journalist e-book. You’ll need a Kobo device or reader (reader available free for Android, iOS, Mac and PC).
Data journalism stories | What you will learn | Needs and Special Accommodations | Assignments and deadlines | Week one | Week two | Week three | Week four | Week five | Week six |Week seven | Week eight | Week nine | Week ten | Week eleven | Week twelve | Week thirteen | Assignment One | Assignment One |Assignment Two| Assignment Three |Readings | Additional Reading |Tutorials | Datasets | Additional Resources
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The goal of the Data Journalism Storytelling course is to teach students how to find and negotiate for data that is publicly available, or must be obtained formally or informally through a federal access-to-information, or provincial or municipal freedom-of-information request. We will analyse the records using the following: Excel; MySQL; DocumentCloud; Qgis; and ArcGISOnline;
Taken together, these tools are packaged into a discipline called data journalism. Our textbook is The Data Journalist: Getting the Story., which is available at the Carleton bookstore in hard copy for curbside pickup, or as ebooks.
At the end of this term, you will become adept at searching for information, perusing and downloading files from government open-data websites, recognizing patterns in data, analyzing the material for story ideas, or for questions that could lead to stories or background information for interviews.
As the course’s name suggests, there will be a heavy emphasis on storytelling, using words, maps, charts, video and sound. As such, we will emphasize stories that have appeared in the news, either as examples of how data journalism was used, or how it could or should have been used. These discussions and in-class exercises will help you develop new analytical and storytelling skills. Specially designed tutorials based on data used in this class, and tutorials from The Data Journalist will be used to hone your newly-learned skills.
The course will be comprised of three modules: spreadsheets (Excel); database managers (MySQL); mapping (Qgis and ArcGIS Online)
There will be three assignments ( please see chart below ). At the end of each segment, there will be an in-class tests worth five percent.
This is a professional school, and you’ll be held to professional standards in both assignments and conduct. As a student of journalism, you must read and adhere to the school’s policies:
- Our ethics policy sets out the rules of behaviour that you, as students and journalists, are expected to follow as you carry out your assignments for this course.
- Our publishing policy requires certain authorizations before journalistic coursework can be published outside of the class. In addition, your sources must understand that any assignments they are associated with may be published outside of class.
- Our policy on electronic media usage requires that you follow copyright regulations with respect to your use of all materials culled from the Internet.
Undergraduates can find all three policies on this page https://carleton.ca/sjc/journalism/undergraduate-studies/resources-current-undergraduate-students/
Graduates can find all three policies here https://carleton.ca/sjc/journalism/graduate-studies/resources-current-students/
You are expected to be familiar with these policies and apply them to your work. Failure to abide by them will adversely affect your standing in the course.
Requests for Academic Accommodation (TOP)
You may need special arrangements to meet your academic obligations during the term. For an accommodation request, the processes are as follows:
Pregnancy obligation
Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, visit the Equity Services website: carleton.ca/equity/wp-content/uploads/Student-Guide-to-Academic-Accommodation.pdf
Religious obligation
Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, visit the Equity Services website: carleton.ca/equity/wp-content/uploads/Student-Guide-to-Academic-Accommodation.pdf
Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
If you have a documented disability requiring academic accommodations in this course, please contact the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities at 613-520-6608 or pmc@carleton.ca for a formal evaluation or contact your centre coordinator to send your instructor your letter of accommodation at the beginning of the term. You must also contact the Paul Menton Centre no later than two weeks before the first in-class scheduled test or exam requiring accommodation (if applicable). After requesting accommodation, meet with your instructor as soon as possible to ensure accommodation arrangements are made.
Survivors of Sexual Violence
As a community, Carleton University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working and living environment where sexual violence will not be tolerated. Survivors are supported through academic accommodations as per Carleton’s Sexual Violence Policy. For more information about the services available at the university and to obtain information about sexual violence and/or support, visit: carleton.ca/sexual-violence-support
Accommodation for Student Activities
Carleton University recognizes the substantial benefits, both to the individual student and for the university, that result from a student participating in activities beyond the classroom experience. Reasonable accommodation must be provided to students who compete or perform at the national or international level. Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. https://carleton.ca/senate/wp-content/uploads/Accommodation-for-Student-Activities-1.pdf
If you are an international or exchange student and need help in areas such as proofreading, please feel free to contact the International Student Services Office.
For more information on academic accommodation, please contact the departmental administrator or visit: students.carleton.ca/course-outline
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN (TOP)
1) How to use federal, provincial and municipal open-data web portals;
2) How to analyze statistics using a spreadsheet;
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 use MySQL;
7) How to advance your numeracy skills;
8) How to use Tableau Public;
9) How to use Qgis , ArcGIS Online, and OpenStreetMap;
10) How to become effective storytellers.
Assignments and Deadlines (TOP)
Assignments in this course are governed by the provisions of the document Ethics and Standards in the School of Journalism and Communication. There are three assignments, each with a deadline. Lateness will be penalized with the deduction of a half a grade for every day the story is overdue, though exceptional circumstances will be taken into account. Assignments will be graded and returned with feedback within two weeks of submission.
Questions or appeals about your grade on assignments or other graded components of the course should be raised with the instructor no later than seven business days after the grade has been issued, as explained in the university’s academic regulations (2.7 and 2.8). Your final course grade is based on grades earned throughout the term on the assignments and other graded components listed in the syllabus. This means requests to raise an overall course grade at the end of the term or year cannot be considered.
Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the faculty dean. This means that grades submitted by an instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean.
There is no final examination. Each assignment has two components, all of which will figure in the grade:
A. A description of how the documents and data were obtained, why they were useful and how the material was analyzed
B. The resulting story
Academic Integrity
This course abides by Carleton University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Acts of academic dishonesty include, but are not restricted to, plagiarism and unauthorized resubmission of work, and will be dealt with accordingly. Plagiarism is a serious offence, which cannot be resolved directly between the student and the course instructor. If an academic offence is suspected, it will be referred to the office of the dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs. The associate dean of the faculty will conduct a rigorous investigation, including an interview with the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not trivial. They can include a final grade of “F” for the course.
- Do not, under any circumstances, present someone else’s work as your own.
- Do not download and/or copy any files, stories, photos, audio or video you find online or elsewhere and use them as your own.
- Do not fabricate sources of information.
- Do not invent facts.
For undergraduates: Undergraduate Calendar section 12.0 Academic Integrity http://calendar.carleton.ca/undergrad/regulations/academicregulationsoftheuniversity/ or http://carleton.ca/senate/wp-content/uploads/Academic-Integrity-Policy1.pdf
For graduates: General Regulations, Section 19, of the Graduate Calendar http://calendar.carleton.ca/grad/gradregulations/
Assignments
|
Percent
|
|
Assignment#1: A story using numbers crunched in Excel. Deadline: Midnight Oct. 5 |
15% |
|
Assignment #2: A story using data analyzed using MySQL. Deadline: Midnight Nov 14. |
25% |
|
Assignment #3: Mapping assignment. Deadline: Midnight Dec 08 |
35% |
|
Three in-class tests with one at the end of the spreadsheet, MySQL and Mapping sections, respectively. |
15% |
|
Participation/professional conduct: For punctuality, informative in-class participation and professionalism displayed by actions such as prompt responses to emailed messages, and the prompt following up after emailed instructions regarding the use of certain software. |
10% |
|
GRADES
A+ 90-100 A 85-89 A- 80-84
B+ 77-79 B 73-76 B- 70-72
C+ 67-69 C 63-66 C- 60-62
D+ 57-59 D 53-56 D- 50-52
For undergraduates: The passing grade for this course is a grade of C
Questions or appeals about your grade on assignments or other graded components of the course should be raised with the instructor no later than seven business days after the grade has been issued, as explained in the university’s undergraduate calendar. Your final course grade is based on grades earned throughout the term on the assignments and other graded components listed in the syllabus. This means requests to raise an overall course grade at the end of the term or year cannot be considered.
Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the faculty dean. This means that grades submitted by an instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the dean.
*******
For graduates: The passing grade for this course is a grade of B minus
Informal questions or appeals about your grade on assignments or other graded components of the course should be raised with the instructor no later than seven business days after the grade has been issued.
For information about the formal Grade Review process, please see the graduate regulations: http://calendar.carleton.ca/grad/gradregulations/administrationoftheregulations/#15
Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by an instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean.
Ethics and Professional Standards
This is a professional school, and you’ll be held to professional standards in both assignments and conduct. As a student of journalism, you must read and adhere to the school’s policies.
- Our ethics policy sets out the rules of behaviour that you, as students and journalists, are expected to follow as you carry out your assignments for this course. One of the rules, for example, makes clear that you must not interview relatives or friends for your story, except in rare and special circumstances and with the advance permission of the instructor.
- Our publishing policy requires certain authorizations before journalistic coursework can be published outside of the class. In addition, your sources must understand that any assignments they are associated with may be published outside of class.
- Our policy on electronic media usage requires that you follow copyright regulations with respect to your use of all materials culled from the Internet. For example, you cannot use any pictures you find online in your assignments unless you get written permission from the copyright holder to use them and submit it to the instructor.
Undergraduates can find all three policies on this page https://carleton.ca/sjc/journalism/undergraduate-studies/resources-current-undergraduate-students/
Graduates can find all three policies here https://carleton.ca/sjc/journalism/graduate-studies/resources-current-students/
You are expected to be familiar with these policies and apply them to your work. Failure to abide by them will adversely affect your standing in the course.
Academic Advice
For undergraduates: If you have questions about the journalism program, degree requirements, your standing in the program or your academic audit, you should contact your Undergraduate Administrator Joan Thompson at Joan.Thompson@carleton.ca or Undergraduate Supervisor Randy Boswell at Randy.Boswell@carleton.ca
For graduates: If you have questions about the journalism program, degree requirements, your standing in the program or your academic audit, you should contact your Graduate Administrator Jena Lynde-Smith at JenaLyndesmith@cunet.carleton.ca or Graduate Supervisor Janice Tibbetts at Janice.Tibbetts@carleton.ca
COMMUNICATIONS WITH STUDENTS
This will be done primarily through email correspondence and phone calls — especially during a pandemic — given that I do not have an office at Carleton University. The protocol will dictate that emailed queries will be answered as promptly as possible, if possible within the hour. As such, it will be important for you to regularly check your email account for updates regarding assignments, new datasets or class work. You’ll also be required to use your Carleton University account, not a second account such as gmail.
PROFESSIONALISM
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, Instagram, 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 your absence is due to a medical reason, you may be required to provide a doctor’s note. If it’s for an internship, then you’ll have to provide details. You are expected to attend ALL classes. If personal reasons prevent you from attending a specific class, please let me know in advance via email.
REQUIRED SUPPORT RESOURCES
Because of the pandemic, the course will be taught online and synchronously, using Zoom. As the school possesses an ArcMap licence, we are be able to use the mapping software. We also use the open-source software, Qgis, and MySQL for our database work. You can use the licence that comes with your tuition to download the latest version of Microsoft Excel, a better option than Google Sheets.
The library’s Maps, Research Support Services is well positioned to provide support to faculties including journalism and communications.
Data Journalism Stories (TOP)
Examples stories using data journalism
CAJ Data Award Winners and finalists
Andreas Wesley, Anu Singh, Caitlin Taylor, Dan Taekema, David Common, Ellen Mauro, Jorge Barrera, Joseph Loiero, Sian Lloyd, Valerie Ouellet, David McKie
Peer-on-Peer Violence in Canadian Schools
CBC News
Inayat Singh, Naël Shiab, Romain Schué, Valérie Ouellet, Zach Dubinsky, Vincent Maisonneuve
Who’s behind Canada’s Most Active Airbnb Accounts?
CBC News / Radio-Canada – Investigative unit
Institute for Investigative Journalism and media partners
Tainted Water
IIJ / Toronto Star / Global News / Le Devoir / Regina Leader-Post / National Observer
Philippe Langlois, Sarah-Maude Lefebvre, Andrea Valéria
Combien gagnent vos élus?
Le Journal de Montréal – Bureau d’enquête
Bethanee Diamond, Ava Coulter, Ian Gibb, Piper MacDougall, Isabel Ruitenbeek, Julia-Simone Rutgers, Jane Sangster, Stacey Seward
Foreclosed
The Signal / University of King’s College, Halifax / The Coast / Pictou Advocate / Port Hawkesbury Reporter
Investintech — CAJ Data Journalism Scholarship
https://www.investintech.com/data-journalism-scholarship/winners/
2019 Philip Meyer Award winners
Winners announced
https://www.ire.org/archives/40165
First place: Hidden Injustice; How U.S. courts cover up deadly secrets
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/usa-courts-secrecy/
Reuters
Second place: Ahead of the Fire
https://www.azcentral.com/in-depth/news/local/arizona-wildfires/2019/07/22/wildfire-risks-more-than-500-spots-have-greater-hazard-than-paradise/1434502001/
The Arizona Republic and the USA TODAY Network
Third place: Forced Out: Measuring the scale of the conflict in South Sudan
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2019/south-sudan-forced-out/index.html
Al Jazeera, supported by Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, African Defence Review and Code for Africa
Honourable mention: Heat and Health in American Cities
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most
NPR
Code Red: Baltimore’s Climate Divide
https://cnsmaryland.org/interactives/summer-2019/code-red/index.html
The Howard Center For Investigative Journalism and Capital News Service at the University Of Maryland with additional work done by WMAR TV and Wide Angle Youth Media
Student Examples
Harbour Rising
https://signalhfx.ca/harbour-rising/
The Signal / University of King’s College, Halifax
The Fish You (Don’t Know You) Eat
https://globalreportingprogram.org/fishmeal/
Oscar Beardmore-Gray, Melanie Woods, Annie Rueter, Ryan Patrick Jones, Abi Hayward, Rehmatullah Sheikh, Dustin Patar, Monique Rodrigues, Rithika Shenoy, Stephan Kroener Hao Luo, Jonathan Ventura, Sebastian Romero Torres, Yuxian Wang, Shumin Wei, Dandan Dong, Thomas Smith, Cameron Bullen, Caroline Graham, Vito Zou, Paige Dean
Global Reporting Program, University of British Columbia / NBC Nightly Films
Left in the Cold: Canada’s First Internment Camps
https://clars377.wixsite.com/ukraine
Mount Royal University / Calgary Journal
Trafficked
http://doc.journalism.ryerson.ca/trafficked/
Sarah Chew, Katie Swyers, Martha Currie, Stephanie Liu
RSJ Doc / Ryerson University
To Die For
https://drive.google.com/a/ryerson.ca/file/d/1tC5XHPPjgVwIGcZBUHBCBck6S2TSLwys/view?usp=sharing
Trevor Green, Katie Li, Vartan Bzdikian, Daniel Drigo
RSJ Doc / Ryerson University
Canvas is tracking your data. What is UBC doing with it?
https://www.ubyssey.ca/features/double-edged-sword/
Zak Vescera
RSJ Doc / Ryerson University
General Investigations
Medical Disorder, parts one and two (Toronto Star)
http://projects.thestar.com/doctor-discipline/
http://projects.thestar.com/doctor-discipline/part-2/index.html
http://projects.thestar.com/doctor-discipline/part-3/index.html
People have a right to ‘as much transparency as possible’ when it comes to doctors’ pasts, health minister says
https://www.thestar.com/news/medical-disorder/2018/05/03/people-have-a-right-to-as-much-transparency-as-possible-when-it-comes-to-doctors-pasts-health-minster-says.html
Rachel Browne (Vice News)
https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/d35eyq/black-and-indigenous-people-are-overrepresented-in-canadas-weed-arrests
Jacques Marcoux and Katie Nicholson (CBC Manitoba)
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-custom/deadly-force
Nael Shiab (L’Actualité)
http://lactualite.com/societe/2017/06/28/un-canada-sans-immigrants/
http://lactualite.com/societe/2018/01/23/philippe-couillard-vous-fait-il-perdre-ou-economiser-de-largent-notre-robot-journaliste-repond-a-vos-questions/
Canada’s Highest Paid CEO’s (The Globe and Mail)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/executive-compensation/table-canadas-top-100-highest-paid-ceos/article30131636/?from=30171589
To gain access to a running, up-to-date list of the latest data journalism stories, please click here.
General Examples
Walmart: Thousands of police calls. You paid the bill.
http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/public-safety/walmart-police
Census-related stories
Report reveals alarming — and growing — racialized income divide in GTA
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/05/06/report-reveals-alarming-and-growing-racialized-income-divide-in-gta.html
Could devastate Rohingya camps
http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/MYANMAR-ROHINGYA/010062VK4VN/index.html?utm_source=The+Den+Bulletin&utm_campaign=ac556dbf53-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_05_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_01a9377b12-ac556dbf53-149972721
Is Canada ‘ripping us off’? Or is it the best U.S. trade partner?https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/business/us-canada-trade-balance/?utm_term=.5d06e66050de
Stories about data journalism
In the dark: The cost of Canada’s data deficit
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-in-the-dark-the-cost-of-canadas-data-deficit/
Divorce and marriage data crucial for understanding Canada’s public health, researchers argue
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-divorce-and-marriage-data-crucial-for-understanding-canadas-public/
Health-care data in the cloud? Early adopter took a giant leap, and it paid off
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-health-care-data-in-the-cloud-early-adopter-took-a-giant-leap-and-it/
The data game: How information on everything from flight patterns to parking lots can reveal valuable clues about where the market is heading
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/article-quandl-and-the-invasive-use-of-data/?intcmp=notifications
Morning Update: Canada’s firearm data gap; Trump’s new China trade threat
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-morning-update-canadas-firearm-data-gap-trumps-new-china-trade/
Poor flood-risk maps, or none at all, are keeping Canadian communities in flood-prone areas
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-poor-flood-risk-maps-or-none-at-all-are-keeping-canadian-communities/
Can digital government produce usable and useful data for non-expert users? Canada’s National Energy Board faced the challenge with data visualization
http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2019/data-visualization-government-can-empower-dialogue/
OUTLINE
Week One(TOP)
Sept. 8
Class recording
https://studio.youtube.com/video/e9YHk3CiqTo/edit
What we will cover:
Introduction to the course;
A discussion about open data;
A discussion of COVID-19 data;
An introduction to federal and provincial political party ads, voting and campaign donations;
Filtering and sorting.
LINKS:
Following the messaging: Mining Facebook’s ad library on Election 2021
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/09/08/analysis/mining-facebook-ad-library-election-2021
NFA attack ads target Trudeau as Tories shift gears on gun control
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/09/08/news/nfa-attack-ads-target-trudeau-tories-shift-gears-gun-control
Liberals ask election watchdog to investigate allegation of Conservative collusion with gun lobby
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-elections-watchdog-gun-lobby-1.6168265
Facebook Ad Library
https://bit.ly/3tocKnv
Éric Grenier’s Poll Tracker
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/
338Canada | Poll Analysis & Electoral Projections
https://338canada.com/polls.htm
Voter Turnout – Elections Canada
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=rec/eval/pes2019/vtsa&document=index&lang=e
Albertans donated the most to federal parties — and Quebecers the least — ahead of the 2019 election
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/federal-political-donations-2019-by-province-postal-code-1.5394104
Conservatives raise twice as much as Liberals in first half of year as election looms
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/conservatives-raise-twice-as-much-as-liberals-in-first-half-of-year-as-election-looms-1.5534316
Federal political financing
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=fin&&document=index&lang=e
Elections Ontario
https://www.elections.on.ca/en.html
A list of open-data portals
http://www.davidmckie.com/open-data-portals/
Federal government research
https://www.canada.ca/en.html
Information about programs and information holdings
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/access-information/information-about-programs-information-holdings/sources-federal-government-employee-information.html
Data on COVID-19 vaccination in the EU/EEA
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/data-covid-19-vaccination-eu-eea
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html?topic=tilelink#a1
COVID-19 vaccination in Canada
https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccination-coverage/
SANTÉ MONTRÉAL
https://santemontreal.qc.ca/en/public/coronavirus-covid-19/situation-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-in-montreal/#c41383
COVID-19: Status of Cases in Toronto
https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-latest-city-of-toronto-news/covid-19-status-of-cases-in-toronto/
Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510017701
Week Two(TOP)
Sept. 15
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcgvgH5qN_Y
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Given that we are in the middle of a federal election,
we will briefly discuss polling data and how to read the numbers
How to clean and analyse federal political donation statistics
A more detailed explanation about creating pivot tables
Working with Statistics Canada data tables – if we have time
Working with COVID-19 data – if we have time
Links
Éric Grenier’s Poll Tracker
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/
338Canada | Poll Analysis & Electoral Projections
https://338canada.com/polls.htm
Twitter analysis suggests ‘none of the above’ won Thursday’s debate
https://globalnews.ca/news/8179493/english-debate-twitter-reaction/
Conservatives raise twice as much as Liberals in first half of year as election looms
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/conservatives-raise-twice-as-much-as-liberals-in-first-half-of-year-as-election-looms-1.5534316
Albertans donated the most to federal parties — and Quebecers the least — ahead of the 2019 election
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/federal-political-donations-2019-by-province-postal-code-1.5394104
Federal political financing
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=fin&&document=index&lang=e
Population estimates, quarterly
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1710000901
Population estimates on July 1st, by age and sex
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000501
Labour force characteristics, monthly, seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle, last 5 months
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410028701
Labour Force Survey in brief: Interactive app
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-20-0001/142000012018001-eng.htm
Canada Revenue Agency – List of Charities
https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch?request_locale=en
StatCan release schedules
Statistics Canada’s data tables
Week Three(TOP)
Sept. 22
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Review the fundamentals of reading polling data
Review of Statistics Canada and Ontario sunshine list tables
A continuation of pivot tables
LINKS:
Election Results – Elections Canada
https://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?lang=e
Éric Grenier’s Poll Tracker
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/
Eric Grenier
https://twitter.com/EricGrenierTW
338Canada | Poll Analysis & Electoral Projections
https://338canada.com/polls.htm
Philipple J. Fournier
https://twitter.com/338Canada
Restaurants across Canada face labour shortages as growing number of hospitality workers leave industry
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-restaurants-across-canada-face-labour-shortages-as-growing-number-of/
Labour Force Survey in brief: Interactive app
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-20-0001/142000012018001-eng.htm
Ontario’s 2020 Sunshine List revealed. Here are the people who got paid the most
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-s-2020-sunshine-list-revealed-here-are-the-people-who-got-paid-the-most-1.5354551
Public sector salary disclosure 2020: all sectors and seconded employees
https://www.ontario.ca/page/public-sector-salary-disclosure-2020-all-sectors-and-seconded-employees
A list of open-data portals
http://www.davidmckie.com/open-data-portals/
Ontario COVID-19 Data Catalogue
https://data.ontario.ca/en/group/2019-novel-coronavirus
Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2016 boundaries
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1710013501
Calculating rates using Ontario COVID-19 case-count data and Statistics Canada’s population estimates, July 1, by census subdivision, 2016 boundaries
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1710014201
Facility greenhouse gas reporting: overview of 2019 reported emissions
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-emissions/facility-reporting/overview-2019.html
Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program data search
https://climate-change.canada.ca/facility-emissions/
Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) – Facility Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Data
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/a8ba14b7-7f23-462a-bdbb-83b0ef629823
Week Four(TOP)
Sept. 29
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5DTOAc9suw
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Brief discussion of assignment, now due on Oct. 5
Brief discussion of the federal election result;
Upload test posts to WordPress;
Using DocumentCloud;
Continuing with pivot tables using election results;
Review of pivot tables using Statistics Canada tables;
Brief discussion of next week’s installation of MySQL software.
LINKS:
Elections Canada
https://www.elections.ca/home.aspx
Gross domestic product (GDP) at basic prices, by industry, monthly, growth rates (x 1,000,000)
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610043401
Definition of the “chained dollars” reference in the GDP numbers
https://dictionary.university/Chained%20dollars
Real Gross Domestic Product definition
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/realgdp.asp
Trending Economics Publications: Scotiabank Economics
https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/economics.html
Open Ottawa
https://open.ottawa.ca/
COVID-19 in Ottawa Neighbourhoods
https://www.neighbourhoodstudy.ca/covid-19-in-ottawa-neighbourhoods/
Week Five(TOP)
Oct. 6
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xONJg2l49Es
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Excel test
Introduction to MySQL using datasets we have curated
Links
Canadian international merchandise trade, August 2021
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/211005/dq211005a-eng.htm?HPA=1
Canadian international merchandise trade by industry for all countries
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/cf26a8f3-bf96-4fd3-8fa9-e0b4089b5866
International trade monthly interactive dashboard
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2020013-eng.htm
Canadian International Merchandise Trade Web Application
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2021004-eng.htm
Variant of NAPCS Canada 2017 Version 1.0 – Merchandise import and export accounts
https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3VD.pl?Function=getVD&TVD=817415
Open Ottawa
https://open.ottawa.ca/
City’s call centre log provides snapshot of Ottawans’ top irritants
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/citys-call-centre-log-provides-snapshot-of-ottawans-top-irritants
Ottawa Service Monthly Requests
https://open.ottawa.ca/search?q=311
NFA attack ads target Trudeau as Tories shift gears on gun control
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/09/08/news/nfa-attack-ads-target-trudeau-tories-shift-gears-gun-control
Registry of Lobbyists – federal
https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/guest?lang=eng
MySQL
https://www.mysql.com/
MySQL Tutorial
https://www.mysqltutorial.org/
Week Six(TOP)
Oct. 13
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMk4ZZzC9sY
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Continuation of MySQL;
Queries using 311 data;
Introduction of Statistics Canada’s import-export data
LINKS:
EmEditor
https://www.emeditor.com/
UltraEdit
https://www.ultraedit.com/
Notepad++
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
TextWrangler
https://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
Week Seven(TOP)
Oct. 20
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moe-z5WLndY
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Feedback on first assignment;
A continuation of work MySQL
Links:
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada 2017 Version 2.0
https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3VD.pl?Function=getVD&TVD=380372
International trade monthly interactive dashboard
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2020013-eng.htm
Canadian International Merchandise Trade Web Application
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2021004-eng.htm
Week Eight (TOP) (Fall break)
Oct. 27
Have a good break!!
Week Nine (TOP)
Nov. 3
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E-ii8cILo8
MySQL Test
Scraping
Links
CEWS Registry Results
https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/cews/srch/pub/fllLstSrh?dsrdPg=411&q.ordrClmn=NAME&q.ordrRnk=ASC
Replit.com
https://replit.com/~
PYCharm Community Edition
https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/#section=windows
Week Ten(TOP)
Nov. 10
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL8gp9M4n4g
WHAT WE WILL COVER
An introduction to mapping
Links:
Mapbox
https://www.mapbox.com/
Ottawa Neighbourhood Study
https://www.neighbourhoodstudy.ca/
2,000 COVID-19 cases missing from Toronto’s map of hot spots
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-data-toronto-public-health-hot-spots-1.5598844
Why COVID-19 may come calling at your door but not your neighbour’s
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/why-covid-19-may-knock-at-your-door-and-not-others
These are the Toronto neighbourhoods that have the highest and lowest vaccination rates so far
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/05/16/these-are-the-toronto-neighbourhoods-that-have-the-highest-and-lowest-vaccination-rates-so-far.html
COVID-19 hits poorer Montreal boroughs hardest, data reveals, with Montreal North bearing the brunt
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/covid-19/covid-19-hits-poorer-montreal-boroughs-hardest-data-reveals-with-montreal-north-bearing-the-brunt-1.4935066
Decades after mercury poisoned the water, Grassy Narrows still searches for answers
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/06/16/decades-after-mercury-poisoned-water-grassy-narrows-searches-answers
Week Eleven(TOP)
Nov. 17
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGMqBNXf39c
WHAT WE WILL COVER:
A continuation for mapping.
Links
Second Qgis tutorial
Ottawa wards
https://open.ottawa.ca/datasets/wards-2010/explore?location=45.249387%2C-75.801086%2C1.59
2016 Census – Boundary files
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/geo/bound-limit/bound-limit-2016-eng.cfm
Ontario Electoral District Shapefiles
https://www.elections.on.ca/en/voting-in-ontario/electoral-district-shapefiles.html
OpenStreetMap
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=3/71.34/-96.82
Week Twelve(TOP)
Nov. 24
Class recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1itacQX22_Q
WHAT WE WILL COVER
Assignment feedback;
DocumentCloud demo;
A continuation of mapping.
Links:
Uploading documents to DocumentCloud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_d0zsw6hhQ&feature=youtu.be
DocumentCloud Tips and Tricks
https://www.documentcloud.org/help/tips
Canadian international merchandise trade by industry for all countries
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/cf26a8f3-bf96-4fd3-8fa9-e0b4089b5866
International trade monthly interactive dashboard
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2020013-eng.htm
Exports — Statistics Canada
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/2021004/exp-eng.htm
Week Thirteen (TOP)
Dec. 1
Class recording
What we will learn
A continuation of mapping with ArcGIS Online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcPaF2R2vfE
Brief assignment discussion
Links
Possible expert voices for your stories
Dalla Lana School of Public Health – Live Updates on COVID-19 from DLSPH
http://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/
University of Ottawa – Need an expert? COVID-19 and seniors
https://media.uottawa.ca/news/need-expert-covid-19-and-seniors
Dalhousie University – COVID-19 Expertise
https://www.dal.ca/news/media/experts/newsletter/2020/04/20/april_8__2020.html
State & Territorial Health Department Websites
https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/healthdirectories/healthdepartments.html
Assignment One(TOP)
Qs AND As:
What is the due date? Midnight Oct. 5
What do I submit?
- A 600-word story using a dataset discussed in class. If you want to use a dataset from an open-data portal that we have not discussed, you must run it by me. The story needs to be uploaded to the assigned category of our WordPress site, and kept in draft form until you receive permission to publish.
- A 500-word explanation in an emailed Word document of how you researched the story, including original documents, data and sources, complete with their phone numbers, email addresses and Twitter accounts.
- An emailed Excel workbook with the original table and worksheets containing subsets of your data?
- The actual story also emailed in a Word document.
Should I check with you before using the data? Only if it’s one discussed outside of class.
How should I analyze the data? Using the techniques that we’ve studied so far (filtering, sorting, pivot tables and perhaps percent increases if we get far)
What am I looking for in the story? A well-told yarn, with a sharp, crisp lead that makes the audience want to keep reading. Avoid using too many numbers. Think about the most important numbers (one or two), and concentrate on them. As writing coach Don Gibb once remarked, choose a number as carefully as you choose a quote. All your specific references (to studies, events, news conferences, etc.) MUST be hyperlinked to the PRIMARY source. For instance, if you are referring to a study that states a certain fact, then there should be a hyperlinked reference to the primary record. What I want to see is evidence of solid research. FOR INSTANCE, DO NOT LINK TO A NEWS REPORTS THAT REFERS TO THE STUDY IN QUESTION. MEDIA OUTLETS GET THINGS WRONG. YOU DON’T WANT TO REPEAT THEIR MISTAKES.
Should the story emerge from the data? Yes. Don’t make an assumption, and then use a dataset to try to test it. Have faith that you’ll be able to find newsworthy patterns in your dataset by using the techniques that we’ve learned. If there are no patterns, then perhaps you should keep looking for a new dataset. For example, mining the Statistics Canada employment data, we learned that young men in most provinces had higher unemployment rates than women in the same age category. Such a finding could lead to interesting stories, featuring compelling characters.
Should the story have any interviews? An interview with AT LEAST one expert who can put your data into context. So get the data work completed early enough to allow for enough time to find the right characters for your story.
Will I lose marks if I don’t have an interview? Yes, half a grade.
Should I have any visualizations? Absolutely. We’ll explore visualizations more in-depth as the term progresses. For this assignment, there should be at least two, including a picture of the subject of your story. Infogr.am or Datawrapper (you’ll have access to tutorials) with their shallow learning curves might be the easiest options for simple bar or line graphs. You will also be introduced to Tableau Public.
Will I lose marks for neglecting to submit visualizations, or at least the minimum number of them? Yes, half a grade.
Will I lose marks for failing to reach or exceeding the word limit? It’s not a big deal if you’re 20 or so words over or under the limit. However, anything longer than 650 is too long and should be trimmed. Anything less than 550 is too short.
Can I submit a draft? Yes. However, because this is a large class, I will accept ONLY ONE per student, and will only accept drafts up to 48 hours BEFORE the due date. Remember, a draft can be point form, or even an explanation of where you intend to take the story. What you submit should not be your first or second draft.
What is the deadline? Midnight Sept. 30. Anything after that will be considered late and docked half a mark. Extensions will be only be granted for exceptional circumstances. However, we must have a conversation.
Assignment Two (TOP)
What’s the due date? By midnight Sunday Nov. 14
What do I submit?
- A 600-word story using a dataset discussed in class;
- A 500-word emailed Word document containing the following: MySQL queries used to produce the data for your story and an explanation of how you researched the story, including original documents, data and sources, complete with their phone numbers, email addresses and Twitter accounts;
- An emailed csv file you that contains the table produced by your MySQL query;
- The actual story also emailed in a Word document.
Should I check with you before using the data? Only if it’s one discussed outside of class.
How should I analyze the data? Using the select queries we have learned so far. Once you export the data as a csv file and convert it into an Excel workbook to continue your analysis, you may end up using the techniques we learned during the Excel portion of the course: filtering, sorting, pivot tables, creating percentages and ratios, etc.
What am I looking for in the story? Same as the first assignment. A well-told yarn, with a sharp, crisp lead that makes the audience want to keep reading. Avoid using too many numbers. Think about the most important numbers (one or two), and concentrate on them. As writing coach Don Gibb once remarked, choose a number as carefully as you choose a quote. All your specific references (to studies, events, news conferences, etc.) MUST be hyperlinked to the PRIMARY source. For instance, if you are referring to a study that states a certain fact, then there should be a hyperlinked reference to the primary record. As was the case with the first assignment, I want to see is evidence of solid research. FOR INSTANCE, DO NOT LINK TO A NEWS REPORTS THAT REFERS TO THE STUDY IN QUESTION. MEDIA OUTLETS GET THINGS WRONG. YOU DON’T WANT TO REPEAT THEIR MISTAKES.
Should the story emerge from the data? Yes.
Should the story have any interviews? An interview with AT LEAST two experts who can put your data into context. So get the data work completed early enough to allow for enough time to find the right characters for your story.
Will I lose a half mark if I only have one interview? Yes
Will I lose a full mark if I don’t have any interviews? Yes
Should I have any visualizations? Absolutely. Repeating what you did for the first assignment, there should be at least two, including a picture of the subject of your story. Infogr.am or Datawrapper (you’ll have access to tutorials) with their shallow learning curves might be the easiest options for simple bar or line graphs.
Will I lose marks for neglecting to submit visualizations, or at least the minimum number of them? Yes, half a grade.
Will I lose a half marks for neglecting to provide cutlines and source citations for my visualizations? Yes, half a grade.
Will I lose marks for failing to reach or exceeding the word limit? It’s not a big deal if you’re 20 or so words over or under the limit. However, anything longer than 650 is too long and should be trimmed. Anything less than 550 is too short.
Can I submit a draft? Yes. However, because this is a large class, I will accept ONLY ONE per student, and will only accept drafts up to 48 hours BEFORE the due date. Remember, a draft can be point form, or even an explanation of where you intend to take the story. What you submit should not be your first, second or even third draft.
What is the deadline? Midnight Nov 30. Anything after that will be considered late and docked half a mark. Extensions will be only be granted for exceptional circumstances. However, we must have a conversation.
Assignment Three (TOP)
What’s the due date? By December 8, midnight
What do I submit?
- A 600-word story using a dataset discussed in class;
- A 500-word emailed Word document explaining your methodology.
Should I check with you before using the data? No, because we’re using datasets we have mapped in class.
How should I analyze the data? Using the Qgis join techniques that we have learned.
What am I looking for in the story? Same as the first two assignments. A well-told yarn about a neighbourhood you have chosen to profile based on your map. It must be a story with a strong central character, with a sharp, crisp lead that makes the audience want to keep reading. As was the case with the previous two assignments, avoid using too many numbers. Think about the most important numbers (one or two), and concentrate on them. As writing coach Don Gibb once remarked, choose a number as carefully as you choose a quote. All your specific references (to studies, events, news conferences, etc.) MUST be hyperlinked to the PRIMARY source, which for the most part excludes media reports.
Should the story emerge from the data? Yes.
Should the story have any interviews? An interview with one central character and AT LEAST one expert who can put your data and neighbourhood into context. So get the data work completed early enough to allow for enough time to find the right characters for your story.
Will I lose a half mark if I only have one interview? Yes
Will I lose a full mark if I don’t have any interviews? Yes
Should I have any visualizations? Absolutely. Repeating what you did for the first assignment, there should be at least three, including an embeddable map created in ArcGIS Online, picture of the subject of your story and a visualization using Infogr.am, Datawrapper or Tableau
Am I required to have an embeddable map? Yes
Will I lose marks for neglecting to submit visualizations, or at least the minimum number of them? Yes, half a grade.
Will I lose a half marks for neglecting to provide cutlines and source citations for my map and other visualizations? Yes, half a grade.
Will I lose marks for failing to reach or exceeding the word limit? It’s not a big deal if you’re 20 or so words over or under the limit. However, anything longer than 650 is too long and should be trimmed. Anything less than 550 is too short.
Can I submit a draft? Yes. However, because this is a large class, I will accept ONLY ONE per student, and will only accept drafts up to 48 hours BEFORE the due date. Remember, a draft can be point form, or even an explanation of where you intend to take the story. What you submit should not be your first, second or even third draft.
What is the deadline? Thursday, midnight Dec. 8. Anything after that will be considered late and docked half a mark. Extensions will be only be granted for exceptional circumstances. However, we must have a conversation.
Readings(TOP)
Week One:
The Data Journalist: Chapters 1, 2 and 3
Week two:
The Data Journalist: Chapter 4
Week three:
The Data Journalist: Chapters 8 and 11
Week four:
The Data Journalist: Chapters 6 and 7
Week five:
To be assigned
Week six:
To be assigned
Week seven:
To be assigned
Week eight:
To be assigned
Week nine:
To be assigned
Week ten:
Chapter 7 of The Data Journalist
Week eleven:
to be assigned
Week twelve:
Additional Reading (TOP)
Week one:
Writing coach’s Don Gibb’s do’s and don’t’s column
10 principles for data journalism in its second decade
https://medium.com/@paulbradshaw/10-principles-for-data-journalism-in-its-second-decade-3b45e08a4793
Tutorials(TOP)
From week one:
Search for federal political donations tutorial.pdf
Instructions for downloading 2020 federal political donations
Data Journalism Academy: Writing with data
https://sites.google.com/view/mj-basic-data-academy/data-state-of-mind/writing-with-data?authuser=0
The Quartz guide to bad data
https://github.com/Quartz/bad-data-guide
From week two:
To obtain the Statistics Canada tutorial on using data tables, please click here.
Professional Skills Data Storytelling, Sept 16 StatCan pivot table 2
To download the Windows version of MySQL installation tutorial, please click here.
To download the Mac version of the MySQL installation tutorial, please click here.
Instructions for accessing MySQL on the computers in the Carleton computer lab.pdf
Setting up your own personal MySQL server in the cloud with Microsoft Azure
CH5 – Making Tables and Importing Data into MySQL.pdf
CH5 – Getting Started with Queries in MySQL.pdf
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