Public Affairs Data Journalism, Fall 2017

This Week

Week 10, Day 19: 2017-12-05

Exam Part #1

Homepage for the exam, right here:

https://github.com/dannguyen/padjo-2017-sql-exam

Project Check-In #1

About COMM 273D

Homepage: 2017.padjo.org

About this class

Location and Time

McClatchy Hall (Building 120), Room 410

Tuesdays and Thursdays

1:30 to 2:50PM

September 26 through

December 7, 2017

Instructor

Dan Nguyen, Lorry I. Lokey Visiting Professor in Professional Journalism

• Email: dun@stanford.edu
• Twitter: @dancow
• Website: http://stanford.edu/~dun

Office Hours

Room 342, McClatchy Hall

Monday and Wednesdays

2 to 4PM, or by appointment

Description

Accountability journalism has always relied on efficient and purposeful observation, analysis, and investigative drive. The ubiquity of high-powered networked computers today makes the work both easier and yet even more necessary for the modern journalist.

Students are expected to become proficient in research and database programming and, as a result, attain the practical experience and wisdom necessary for real-world empirical journalism projects.

Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student or permission of the instructor.

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Full syllabus

• Syllabus
  • Week 1, Day 1: 2017-09-26
    • What is data journalism? (class discussion)
    • What is public affairs? (class discussion)
    • Assignments
  • Week 1, Day 2: 2017-09-28
    • Assignments
    • The Type of People You Chose to FOIA
    • Stanford’s Tuition Rates
  • Week 2, Day 3: 2017-10-03
  • Examples of reaction to the Vegas shooting
  • Anecdotes as data: NYT on Human Toll of Terror
  • Naming things is hard
  • Week 2, Day 4: 2017-10-05
    • Assignments
    • Data wrangling and research
    • Raw text as data
    • The importance of delimiters
  • Week 3, Day 5: 2017-10-10
    • Prep
    • Guest lecture: Lena Groeger, Investigative Journalist & Developer; ProPublica
    • Thoughts about collaborative data
  • Week 3, Day 6: 2017-10-12
    • Assignments
    • About SQL and SQLite
    • Categorical vs. Continuous data
  • Week 4, Day 7: 2017-10-17
  • Working through SQL together
  • As class starts
    • Assignments
    • In-class work/demo
  • Week 4, Day 8: 2017-10-19
    • More SQL
    • Next week
  • Week 5, Day 9: 2017-10-24
    • Assignments
    • Guest lecture: Jeremy Singer-Vine, Data Editor; BuzzFeed Investigative Unit
  • Week 5, Day 10: 2017-10-26
    • Can-Viz voting
    • Assignments
    • Topics
  • Week 6, Day 11: 2017-10-31
    • Assignments
    • SQL joins, simply
  • Week 6, Day 12: 2017-11-02
    • Readings about data and data-issues
    • SQL readings on LEFT JOIN
    • Readings before class
    • Answers to previous homework
    • Real-world SQL data
  • Week 7, Day 13: 2017-11-07
    • SF Health Inspection Data
    • Quick review of JOINs
    • Just trying out Carto
  • Week 7, Day 14: 2017-11-09
    • Introduction to Map Design
    • Introduction to Carto
    • Geospatial analysis with PostGIS
    • Shapefiles and the Census
  • Week 8, Day 15: 2017-11-14
    • Carto fun
    • SQL review
  • Week 8, Day 16: 2017-11-16
    • Project Thinking
  • Week 9, Day 17: 2017-11-28
  • Week 9, Day 18: 2017-11-30
    • Guest lecture: Phillip Reese, Computer-Assisted Reporter; Sacramento Bee
  • Week 10, Day 19: 2017-12-05
    • Exam Part #1
    • Project Check-In #1
  • Week 10, Day 20: 2017-12-07
    • Project Check-In #2
• About this class
  • Rubric
  • Grading policy/penalties
    • Attendance
  • The pace and the goal

• Assignments
  • CanViz: Stanford’s Historical Tuition Rates [2017-09-27]
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Hints and Caveats
    • Purpose
  • Homework: Researching Your First FBI FOIAs [2017-09-27]
    • Objectives
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Discussion
    • Resources about FOIA and the FBI
  • Homework: Send Your First FOIA Letters [2017-09-29]
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Hints and Caveats
  • CA’s Autonomous Traffic Accident Reports [2017-10-02]
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Hints and caveats
  • CanViz: Popular surnames as recorded by the U.S. Census [2017-10-11]
    • Background
    • Directions
  • CanViz: SFPD Incidents Involving Robberies or Narcotics [2017-10-18]
    • Background
    • Directions
  • Palo Alto Pay Aggregated, 2014 vs 2016 [2017-10-16]
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Other notes
    • Answers with pivot tables
    • Answers in SQL
  • INNER JOINs with CA schools, poverty, and tests [2017-11-01 23:59]
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Hints
    • Answers to SQL joins on CA schools
    • Other questions
    • Visualization isn’t everything
    • Other queries
  • Logging a Catalog of Public Data Catalogs [2017-10-09]
    • Background
    • Directions
    • Random notes
  • Project: Data-Expanded Story
    • Background
    • Examples

• References
  • Articles
    • Longform

• Index of all lessons

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