InfoTimes kickstarted the first week of its ongoing Data Journalism Diploma in partnership with the Canadian Embassy in Cairo on February 16 and it is taking place until February 20.
The program will consist of 120 hours credit hours, which are divided into 40 hours per academic week. This equates to an average of 8 hours per day over a period of 5 days per month.
This is the first of a two-level course, which will cover the fundamental skills journalists need to produce a data-driven story. During the first week trainees have learned data gathering, data scraping and data cleaning techniques
The diploma sees the participation of 10 trainees from different background including computer science, journalism, data science, research and academia.
Journalist Rehab Eliawa joined InfoTimes’ programs to gain “the ability to analyze data and use it in journalistic stories that transcends the traditional form.”
Moreover, Nesma Thaqeb, a media analyst, believes that “It would also be very interesting to learn about using Excel in a more advanced way since I only use it in a very basic way.”
Researcher Yasmin Osama echoed Thaqeb’s by saying she”expect(s) to be familiar with advanced and simple data tools, as well as collect and analyze data. I want to be trained on how to deal with data professionally.”
Similarly, fourth year Al-Azhar University student Youssef Mohammed hopes to learn the basic skills a journalist needs to produce a data-driven story.
Computer science freshman student Nada Swelem aims to develop her skill sets in data-driven reporting and to guide her through her educational experience.
Participants will also be able to find and use data in: live news coverage, in-depth reports, and analysis features and investigative stories in the upcoming weeks.
“I want to take my writing career a step further and use my Computer Science knowledge in journalism,” participant Maha Fagal says.
Reporter Iman Nabil wants is to be able to write in-depth reports and investigations using data and to simplify data using infographics.
Tarek Galal, who is a researcher in the political science field, believes that this experience will help him create data-driven reports.
The program is led by InfoTimes’ founder, Amr Eleraqi, who is a consultant at the World Bank, the author of ‘Data Journalism Handbook for Covering Human Rights‘ and university professor advocating for the integration of data analytical skills in journalism.
InfoTimes is the leading data journalism team and award-winning international editors ’award for the best data team in the small newsroom category of 2018. It has trained hundreds of journalists in cooperation with BBC Media Action, Free Press Unlimited, Deutsche Welle and Internews.
This initiative aligns with InfoTimes’ mission to establish a generation of data journalist as a data journalism pioneering platform in Egypt.
