A separate ticket is required to attend this masterclass. If you would like to attend but haven't yet purchased a ticket, please contact us at info@dataharvest.eu
R is one of the most useful programming languages in data journalism. You may have heard of it, maybe even tried it a little and found the learning curve too steep. If so, this session is for you.
We are going to spend the day looking at European Environment Agency’s EPRTR (European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) data – it’s a lot of data, and some of it is quite messy. It contains dozens, probably hundreds, of potential lines of investigation to be explored – and that’s what we’re going to do.
By the end of the day, you will know how to import data in an R environment, filter it, reshape it, and interrogate it. You will be able to make some basic graphs. Above all, you will be on the way to finding stories in the day’s chosen data, and be able to take your script away and use it again, or adapt it to other datasets. And, we hope, you will have the beginnings of a story idea.
We will assume that you are familiar with spreadsheets, but that you have no knowledge of R. You will not need to install anything – everything will be run on cloud instances of R.
If you’re already advanced with R, it is still worth coming along to use and share what you know, to support others, and to learn something new.
(If you already have a dataset you want to work with – bring that too!)
A separate ticket is required to attend this masterclass. If you would like to attend but haven't yet purchased a ticket, please contact us at info@dataharvest.eu
R is one of the most useful programming languages in data journalism. You may have heard of it, maybe even tried it a little and found the learning curve too steep. If so, this session is for you.
We are going to spend the day looking at European Environment Agency’s EPRTR (European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) data – it’s a lot of data, and some of it is quite messy. It contains dozens, probably hundreds, of potential lines of investigation to be explored – and that’s what we’re going to do.
By the end of the day, you will know how to import data in an R environment, filter it, reshape it, and interrogate it. You will be able to make some basic graphs. Above all, you will be on the way to finding stories in the day’s chosen data, and be able to take your script away and use it again, or adapt it to other datasets.
We will assume that you are familiar with spreadsheets, but that you have no knowledge of R. You will not need to install anything – everything will be run on cloud instances of R.
If you’re already advanced with R, it is still worth coming along to use and share what you know, to support others, and to learn something new.
(If you already have a dataset you want to work with – bring that too!)
A separate ticket is required to attend this masterclass. If you would like to attend but haven't yet purchased a ticket, please contact us at info@dataharvest.eu
R is one of the most useful programming languages in data journalism. You may have heard of it, maybe even tried it a little and found the learning curve too steep. If so, this session is for you.
We are going to spend the day looking at European Environment Agency’s EPRTR (European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) data – it’s a lot of data, and some of it is quite messy. It contains dozens, probably hundreds, of potential lines of investigation to be explored – and that’s what we’re going to do.
By the end of the day, you will know how to import data in an R environment, filter it, reshape it, and interrogate it. You will be able to make some basic graphs. Above all, you will be on the way to finding stories in the day’s chosen data, and be able to take your script away and use it again, or adapt it to other datasets.
We will assume that you are familiar with spreadsheets, but that you have no knowledge of R. You will not need to install anything – everything will be run on cloud instances of R.
If you’re already advanced with R, it is still worth coming along to use and share what you know, to support others, and to learn something new.
(If you already have a dataset you want to work with – bring that too!)
The EU hands out over a third of its budget to the agricultural sector every year. Under EU law data on subsidies are publicly available via the individual member states. However, the information is often difficult to access, analyze and compare across borders. The Farmsubsidy.org website contains fresh and searchable data on farm subsidies, obtained from national government agencies. In this session, you will learn: - what's in the farm subsidy data ,- how to look through millions of recipients of farm subsidies; - crossmatch with other data to find story leads; - how to classify types of recipients (person/company/etc.) using machine learning models.
Digital hygiene, security awareness and understanding how and where data (including personal data) is exposed is more important than ever. We face the proliferation of spyware, the widespread use of LLMs (AI) and intrusive surveillance practices which are 'on steroids' with advances in computing power.
In this session we will give you the tools and knowledge you need to up your digital security and anti-surveillance game.
We will start the session by checking your own current digital security in a fun and interactive way. We will look at what your answers tell us and share practical tips to improve your security game and better secure your computer(s), encrypt confidential information or communicate securely with your team. The second part of the session will dive deeper into big tech and state surveillance. Targeted and mass surveillance practices will be deconstructed and we will share useful tools and practices to counter surveillance.
After this session you will have a better security profile and will be able to do your investigative work more securely. You will also receive a tip sheet in order to go on implementing the measures at your own pace.
One of the biggest threats to a small newsroom is being faced with legal claims or lawsuits that will block publication, soak up all your energy and potentially empty your bank account. Claims may allege violations of privacy, defamation, or breach of confidentiality. In recent years attention has focused on SLAPPs (Strategic Legal Action against Public Participation) that aim to stop you in your tracks, prevent lawful investigations and halt discussion of matters of public interest. How can you prevent this tactic and be prepared if it's used against you? Where can you go for support and help? Senior legal advisor Flutura Kusari from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, who has advised media and journalists pre- and post- publication, gives her advice and takes your questions.
Understanding how companies are owned, controlled and managed is crucial for investigations. To reveal the real human owners with the right to share in a company’s income or assets, or the ability to control its activities, you need beneficial ownership data. Open Ownership drives the global shift towards beneficial ownership transparency and in this session we will share where to find and make use of up-to-date data on company ownership. We will also explain how journalists can find such information in unstructured data in a range of places.
Data is the beating heart of many cross-border investigations. But how do you build a data team capable of delivering groundbreaking work? In this panel, we will discuss how to manage complex, multinational collaborations, juggle deadlines, and push back on unreasonable demands. We'll also explore best practices for leading data-driven investigations across multiple jurisdictions while navigating technical and editorial challenges. This panel will also explore the relationship between a data editor and their team, as well as their role in embedding data journalism in newsrooms of different sizes. This session is geared toward data journalists, editors (of all stripes), newsroom decision-makers, and cross-border organisations seeking to explore new investigative data stories or strengthen their existing offerings.
As global tensions continue to rise amid shifting security dynamics, the need for transparent, reliable, and impartial data has never been greater. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has been at the forefront of independent research on conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament since its founding in 1966. Its comprehensive datasets serve as essential tools for policymakers, researchers, and analysts seeking to understand military spending patterns, arms industry developments, and their broader geopolitical implications. In this session, SIPRI's researcher will share the methodology, scope, and significance of SIPRI's data on Military Expenditure and Arms Production. Understanding the databases reveals trends and stories within two of the most topical subjects of the past years.
Did you know there is a tool which can set aside the protection of business secrets? Journalists have used it to access details on Russian bitcoin-mining near a Nato-exercise, from privately owned salmon farms and overseas fracking-operations. In this session you learn about the Aarhus Convention. The beauty of this tool is not only that it in some cases overrules secrecy of business interests but also the vague or wide defintion of environmental information. Welcome to learn how this can be done, and how to argue in order to open otherwise closed doors.
In this session, we'll explore the methodology behind Newtral's data-driven investigation of flood-prone buildings and areas in Spain, which allowed the data team to find that at least 200,000 buildings in the country are vulnerable to flooding. The investigation didn't only reply on traditional soil or urbanistic studies to identify flood-prone areas, but also used the information from Spain's National Cadastral to gather the data, city by city and street by street, of all the buildings constructed in vulnerable or hazardous zones. We will share the model that can be replicable and/or scalable to other European countries, particularly those in the Mediterranean region. Through this session, attendees will learn how to source, process, and visualize cartographic data of urban typology to identify threatened areas. This session is suitable for beginners. Attendees should Python installed, along with a code editor like Visual Studio Code. No coding knowledge is necessary - the code will be shared with you, and you can just follow along. If you use Windows, please install Ubuntu (on Mac, this is not necessary).
