As governments and institutions release more data, complex numbers have become an important part of many stories. Data journalism is now a skill that can set you apart in a competitive job market.

Course tutor: Kevin Anderson (read our Meet the Trainer feature)

Date: 28 May
Time: 10:00-17:00
Venue: Royal Society of Medicine, London W1
Number of places: 10 max
Cost: £200 + VAT

This course is aimed at journalists and editors who want to understand data and how to use it in on-going features and standalone stories.

This course will cover:

• The basics of data files and formats
• Sources of data
• How to collect your own data
• Free and low-cost tools to analyse and visualise data
• Editorial planning for data

You will leave with an understanding of:

• How to design news features with data in mind
• How to extract data from PDFs
• How to use Google Docs for data collection
• How to visualise data, including charts, graphs and maps

About Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson has been an online journalist since 1996. In 1998, he became the first online journalist for the BBC outside of the UK, becoming the BBC News website's first Washington correspondent. In 2005, he came to London to write BBC News' blogging strategy and to launch Pods and Blogs on 5Live. He was part of the launch team for World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service.

In 2006, he became The Guardian's first blogs editor, a position he held until 2009 when he became Digital Research Editor, working with editors to develop data-driven and social media projects. He was also a contributor to The Guardian's Datablog. He is now a freelance journalist and digital strategist. He also speaks at journalism events in the UK and abroad, and he frequently appears on the BBC, Sky and ITV as a media and technology analyst.