IS40740 Data Investigation & Storytelling

Academic Year 2021/2022

This module provides an introduction to data-driven investigation and storytelling. The module focuses on how data and related data analysis and visualisation skills can assist a wide range of communications professionals.

In this module, you will learn how to find and collect data, how to investigate the data through exploratory data analysis, and how to visualise the data for effective communication. Students will be equipped with a set of skills and tools that enable them to create high-quality stories that are informed by rigorous data investigation.

The students in this class have consistently produced professional-level data stories that are published on the UCD Data Journalism Studio website (newslab.ie/ddjucd), as well as being occasionally co/re-published by news organisations, such as RTÉ, the Irish Times, and the Irish Independent.

Designed to include students without a technical background, this module is primarily aimed at training journalists, but it is equally useful to those in other fields interested in learning to work with data to create data-driven stories, and to communicate those stories to the public or to specific audiences, including business professionals and policymakers.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Understand the role of data in communication, journalism, and news production.
Describe and evaluate opportunities that data and computational tools and methods bring to journalism and communication.
Determine and source the best combination of data sources according to the story in hand.
Source, manipulate, clean, analyse and visualise data.
Apply appropriate tools and techniques to create effective data stories.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

20
Specified Learning Activities

46
Autonomous Student Learning

54
Total

120
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module is designed as a dynamic and practice focused experience, where the students are part of the production life-cycle of producing data-driven stories. In addition to covering the theoretical aspects, this module encourages real-life hands-on practice to put the theory into practice. Teaching in this module includes lectures, hands-on practices, active and task-based learning, problem-based learning, peer and group learning, and student presentations.
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

Journalism experience


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
:
-

Additional Information:
If a student has successfully completed IS40730 or an equivalent module, upon approval from the programme director, they will be offered to choose one from the following online modules instead: STAT40830 STAT40800 STAT40750


 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Continuous Assessment: Active contribution Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

20
Presentation: Tool presentation Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

15
Project: Data Storytelling project Week 12 n/a Graded No

65

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Name Role
Marko Bralic Tutor