Workshop: Digging Data and Spreadsheet Survival Skills
Hate math? Drowning in data without the right tools to organize it? Want to learn more about mining online sources to develop compelling data-driven stories?
SPJ/LA has a solution: a free, half-day, two-part workshop to expand your reporting skill set.
WHAT: Digging Data and Spreadsheet Survival Skills
WHEN: Saturday, November 7 — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
WHERE: Cal State Los Angeles, King Hall, Room B3020 Parking is $3 for 4 hours
WHO: Los Angeles Times Senior Writer Doug Smith, who spent the last 11 years as The Times’ database editor, will give a big picture overview on how to use database manipulation; GIS mapping; web scraping; and statistics to create stronger, more authoritative stories and bring new issues to light.
Ron Campbell of the Center for Health Reporting will present a beginner’s workshop on Excel with lots of tips for reporters new to spreadsheets or less comfortable than they’d like to be using this valuable reporting tool. (For more background on our experts, see below.)
RSVP: Space is very limited. Reservations for this free workshop are available on a first-come, first-serve basis by emailing spjlosangeles@gmail.com with your name, phone number and reporting affiliation. A confirmed reservation is required to attend.
EQUIPMENT: You MUST bring a laptop to the sessions with Excel already downloaded and ready to use.
CONTACT: Elizabeth Marcellino, SPJ/LA eliz.marcellino@gmail.com
More on our experts:
Doug Smith has been at The Times since 1970, covering local and state government, criminal justice, politics and education. He was the lead writer for Times’ coverage of the infamous North Hollywood shootout, winner of a 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Between 2005 and 2008, Smith made five trips to Iraq on loan to the newspaper’s foreign desk.
Ronald Campbell is a data journalist at the Center for Health Reporting. He has written extensively about the census, immigration, white-collar crime and the trade in human body parts. He has won the Gerald Loeb Award, the IRE Award and placed third in the Philip Meyer Award.