Donald to train journalists at GIJC

By: David Donald

Posted: Oct. 6, 2015 | Tags: journalism

Photo by Lesia Olesnyckyj, Investigative Reporting Workshop

David Donald will lead data training sessions at the global conference in Norway this week.

At the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, I'll be doing a series of hands-on data journalism sessions called "Stats for Stories." The idea is to take data journalists already comfortable in basic data analysis and advance their skills — and hence — insight into their data through the use of inferential statistics. I'll co-lead this series with Andy Lehren from The New York Times.

Next up is a three-session series again of hands-on data journalism covering structured query language for reporters. SQL is the lingua franca of databases. Becoming skilled in SQL helps reporters open up many investigative trails in all kinds of databases. I'll co-lead these sessions with Luuk Sengers, a Dutch investigative journalist, trainer and consultant.

Finally, I'm moderating a panel on teaching computer-assisted reporting at universities. Panel members include Brant Houston, Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois; Nils Mulvad of Kaas & Mulvad and associate professor at The Danish School of Media and Journalism; and Giannina Segnini of Columbia University. The panel will incorporate decades of experience in teaching students, faculty and professionals in more than 30 countries how to use data for journalism. The session will review how the teaching has evolved, what fundamentals still apply, how to ensure that integrity and credibility are maintained, dealing with ethical questions of what is public and what is private, and constructing a sensible and practical syllabus and curriculum.