[OpenSpending] name of channel for freenode? and question over content/structure/materials for workshop

Tue Sep 3 18:53:25 UTC 2013

Hi Anders, at al,

I took a free webinar on data-wrangling at Poynter News University and it
was about the software called Overview which works with something called
DocumentCloud. Overview is capable of mining *text* documents using
algorithms and other recognition and frequency patterning methods.

I sent off an email to register for the service/software, which is
ostensibly free to journalists, and I was asked to see if OpenSpending
would be interested in registering as an organisation. (This I find a bit
off, to be honest, as the website states that the software is also
available for 'non-newsroom based' journalists.)

However, I thought I'd throw this into the ring. Users within an
organisation get individual accounts. But I've written back to the rep to
say that I find their website a bit misleading and that I would plan to use
it for freelancing as well.

Still, I think it definitely worth a look, Anders.

Cheers, K.

On Sun, Sep 1, 2013 at 12:47 AM, Anders Pedersen
<anders.pedersen at okfn.org>wrote:

> Hi Karen,
>
> Great points on the workshop all around, and looping in the data
> wrangling. My comments below:
>
> On 31 August 2013 02:50, K. Brzezinska <kfbrzezinska at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Anders,
>>
>> I've got three points to ask on this rainy morning:
>>
>>    1. could you please re-send the name of the channel for the freenode
>>    chat environment? That was the info I missed.
>>
>> All the details about freenode chat are on the contact page:
> http://blog.openspending.org/about/contact/
>
>
>>
>>    1.
>>    2. I am planning to start puzzling out my workshop ideas this
>>    weekend. I will bounce some ideas off of a teacher friend but I have a
>>    question about the content and the materials, because I'm guessing that not
>>    everyone has a journalism background. For me a big factor in writing is
>>    ethics, of course, and that's part of what the open access to government
>>    information is about, the ethics of making spending and other information
>>    available. How to do it in a way that accurately presents the situation.
>>    I've found some materials from the Knight Foundation at Poynter's
>>    Journalism University site, and wonder if those would be acceptable to use
>>    as a basis. OKFN is funded by Knight Foundation, if I"m correct? If you
>>    agree on this choice, I'd need to get permission, anyway, I guess, if I'm
>>    going to use the materials for a workshop.
>>
>> The material from Poynter could be great use (though we'll need to check
> the license:-). However we might also want to think about how we can build
> and expand on some of the financial journalism resources<http://blog.openspending.org/research/> eg.
> on taxation and the EU budget, which have already been written at
> OpenSpending. We should try and see how we can expand our resource guides
> on other topics such as "how to find and understand GDP data?"
>
>
>>
>>    1. I think it would be worthwhile to have the workshop span two
>>    meetings, at least, perhaps even three, as that would give people (hahha,
>>    and me) the time to work out the use of data in their writing, perhaps even
>>    with the inclusion of visualations. If we had even one script to work with,
>>    we could practice feeding the data -or omitting some aspect of the data so
>>    as to influence the outcome- in in different ways to see how emphasizing
>>    different aspects of a story changes the message.
>>
>> A multiple day workshop sounds really great! As you start developing the
> content for the workshop, we can decide how we want to go about this :-)
>
>>
>>
>> That's my idea. Everyone involved seems to be of a generally thinking and
>> writing level, so I don't have any worries about the group's ability to
>> follow me -or to outdistance me, for that matter.
>>
>
>> I was also thinking about the number of people involved who are
>> functioning outside of their mother tongue. The multi-meeting might help
>> with that too, by providing more time. Perhaps one of the native Spanish
>> speakers would like to assist -by checking over the written assignments- so
>> that any interested Spanish speakers, who might be on a higher level of
>> comprehension but feel more comfortable writing in Spanish, could also take
>> part.
>>
>> Oh, one other thing: I've been thinking about scrubbing data, how that
>> gets done. Not sure I'm wrangler material, but scrubbing sounds like it
>> might be instructive in it's own way. How would I find out more about
>> getting started with that?
>>
>
> I like the term scrubbing data! You can find several data cleaning courses<http://schoolofdata.org/handbook/courses/>over at School of Data, which can help you get started.
>
> P.s. Scrubbing vs. cleaning: I guess it depends on how much wrangling the
> data will need. Potato-data might need a thorough scrub, while delicate
> raspberry-data might just need a gentle rinse :-)
>
>
>>
>>
> that's all for now,
>>
>> Cheers, Kati
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:25 PM, Anders Pedersen <
>> anders.pedersen at okfn.org> wrote:
>>
>>> http://webchat.freenode.net/
>>>
>>>
>>> On 29 August 2013 14:23, K. Brzezinska <kfbrzezinska at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anders, i was actually in a different chat space: people were talking
>>>> about getting their laundry out of the washing machine....
>>>>
>>>> Please could you send me the link again? (a tiny bit embarrassed now)
>>>>
>>>> Going to spend this weekend looking at the datasets. Perhaps I will
>>>> contact Micheal as soon as I realise I need a data-cleaner expert.
>>>>
>>>> the meetings are good. I"m thinking about how to do a workshop. It's
>>>> exciting. and writing about spending, about money, about the stuff people
>>>> don't want to have out there, it's so important.
>>>>
>>>> fijn weekend, Anders!
>>>>
>>>> grtjes, K.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> *
>>>
>>> Anders Pedersen
>>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *
>
> Anders Pedersen
>
> Community Coordinator  |  skype: anpehej  |  @anpe <https://twitter.com/>
>
> The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
>
> Empowering through Open Knowledge
>
> http://okfn.org/  |  @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN>  |  OKF on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork> |
> Blog <http://blog.okfn.org/>  |  Newsletter<http://okfn.org/about/newsletter>
>
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>
> OpenSpending | http://openspending.org | @openspending<http://twitter.com/openspending>
>
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