CAJ and King's College offer extensive summer data journalism training

OTTAWA, April 2, 2015 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists and the University of King's College School of Journalism are teaming up to provide an outstanding two weeks of data journalism training from June 5-20 in Halifax.

As part of the CAJ national conference in Halifax, on June 5, there will be a wide variety of hands-on sessions in data and mapping skills, on site at the luxurious Atlantica Hotel. The conference continues on June 6 with a full-day introductory session at the nearby University of King's College. You'll learn what's possible, and some basic skills to boot, from two of Canada's top data journalists, Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen and Fred Vallance-Jones from King's.

Starting on Monday, June 8 and running to June 12 is the 8th annual University of King's College Summer School in Data Journalism. This weeklong course teaches you everything you need to analyze data and find stories in data and maps. The course will be led by Vallance-Jones and McGregor, along with David Weisz, digital journalist with the Toronto Star.

Then, from June 15-19, it's the first annual King's Coding School for Journalists, which picks up where the basic school leaves off—covering basic programming for journalists using Python, accessing APIs, and more. It's the place to take your data skills to the next level. The coding school is led by William Wolfe-Wylie, one of Canada's most prominent data journalists, who now works as an interactive developer for the CBC.

Since it started in 2008, the King's data school has trained dozens of journalists from large and small outlets across Canada, including some of Canada's leading data reporters. The combination of intensive instruction over five days, a limit of 10 in each class, and plenty of time for practice has proven effective for mastering these skills. We look forward to seeing you in Halifax.

The best news is that you can get 10 per cent off both your CAJ registration and registration for one or both of the data schools, if you sign up for both by May 6.

The CAJ is Canada's largest national professional organization for journalists from all media, representing over 600 members across the country. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide public-interest advocacy and high-quality professional development for its members.

SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists

For more details go to www.caj.ca and www.kingsdataschool.com.