Medill and the Dance Data Project® will offer “Arts & Entertainment by the Numbers: A One-Day Data Journalism Workshop,” a free one-day virtual workshop taking place on Zoom from 9 am to 5 pm ET on Feb. 18. The virtual workshop will cover:
- What “data journalism” means for arts and entertainment
- Spreadsheets 101: Sorting, filtering, and summarizing basic data in Google Sheets — no math required.
- Cleaning Practice: How to fix messy artist names, genres, and labels — and why consistency matters.
- Quick Analysis: How to find simple story patterns (Patterns, Trends, Outliers).
- Visualization Basics: Building a visualization in Flourish, focused on storytelling.
- Finding Credible Data: Where to get trustworthy arts and culture data
- Writing with Data: Turning your finding into a “nut graf” that connects the number to people and context.
- Using AI Responsibly: How to use tools like ChatGPT to speed up cleaning, analysis, and writing while staying accurate.
The workshop will be led by Jill Blackman, Medill lecturer and director of data journalism.
“The goal is for arts and entertainment for journalists to walk away not as data experts, but as data-curious storytellers — ready to use simple tools and clear thinking to make culture reporting deeper, sharper, and more original,” said Blackman.
Registration is now open for the free workshop.