Note: Currently the school is full, but we are taking a waiting list. Please email kingsdata@ukings.ca to be added to the waiting list. We are at capacity at the reduced rate for freelancers, small publications and journalism students. If you go on the waiting list, you will need to pay the regular journalist rate unless someone who paid the special rate cancels.
You can now sign up for the 2022 King’s Summer School in Data Journalism. This is the 15th consecutive year for Canada’s best and longest-running data journalism training program and it will run from June 27 to 30.
Once again this year, we will be online, due to the lingering uncertainties caused by COVID-19. We look forward to offering the in-person school again, starting in 2023.
This year’s school will be led by David McKie, deputy managing editor of Canada’s National Observer and co-author of The Data Journalist, who also teaches in the graduate and undergraduate programs at King’s.
You’ll learn the basics you need to find, understand, analyze and visualize data to find and tell important stories. The focus is on data literacy and basic analysis techniques using spreadsheet, mapping and visualization tools. This is the course you need if you’ve been wanting to get started with data journalism but don’t know where to begin. You’ll learn the basics of working with data, how to obtain data, prepare and clean it and find the patterns and trends that lead to stories.
Because we are online, we don’t have all the usual costs, nor can we offer everything we could in person. As a result, we can pass the savings on to you. Early bird rates are only $220 for students/freelancers/employees of small outlets with under 30,000 weekly circulation and those making under $30K a year, $290 for other journalists, $500 for journalism faculty and $800 for all others. Rates increase after June 5. Full rate details are on the signup form. Numbers are limited, so sign up early.
Instruction will be conducted using a mix of video modules and live sessions using video conferencing, with your classmates, instructors and guest experts. You’ll need to purchase an e-book version of The Data Journalist, by Vallance-Jones and Mckie.
You’ll need a Kobo device, or you can download the Kobo app to your computer or mobile device in order to use the version linked above. You will also need an internet-connected computer, either PC or Mac and a copy of Microsoft Excel (Chromebooks will not work and the Apple Numbers spreadsheet will not be sufficient). Everything else will be done using open-source tools or in the cloud. Before the school begins, you will receive instructions for downloading any software.
All data we use will either be online or made available for secure download.
We are proud to announce that once again, the school is sponsored by our partners at Investintech Inc. All registered participants will receive a free license for Able2Extract Professional, which makes it easy to extract data from PDF files. This is an approximate $200 value.
Esri Canada is also back again as a sponsor.
We prefer payment by credit card, but will accept cheques. Please contact kelly.porter@ukings.ca if you wish to pay by cheque. Please fill out, scan and send the signup form to kelly.porter@ukings.ca.
Your spot will be reserved once you send the form and confirmed when your payment goes through (or the cheque has cleared). We will keep a waiting list once the school is full.
Note that there are limited spots at the student/freelance/small outlet price. Students must prove eligibility with a letter from their school (see signup form for details). To establish freelance status, please send a list of links to at least five stories published by professional media organizations within the past six months to kingsdata@ukings.ca (personal blogs to do not qualify and determination of qualifying freelance status will be at the sole discretion of the King’s data school).
Please see our frequently asked questions page for more details, including information about the cancellation policy.
