Student journalists will learn best practices for reporting on science and data during a Grady College Stats Camp.
Sense About Science USA, which promotes a better understanding of scientific evidence, is presenting the event from September 22-23. The James M. Cox Jr. Institute for Journalism Innovation, Management and Leadership at Grady is hosting the program, which has sessions scheduled to coincide with Grady classes.
“Twentieth century journalism was all about ‘following the money.’ Twenty-first century journalism is all about following the numbers,” said Trevor Butterworth, director of Sense About Science USA. “The more you understand about data and statistics, and the better you are able to communicate what they mean, the higher the probability is that you’ll never be unemployed.”
The two-day event will focus on using data and statistics in sports, health and medical journalism, and will also include basic and intermediate statistics trainings for all journalists.
“We partnered with Sense About Science USA for this training because student journalists need to develop skills that give them confidence to report on complex topics,” said Keith Herndon, director of the Cox Institute. “Understanding how to approach data and statistics is an essential tool for all reporters, and we see this program as a way to jump start that training process.”
Stats Camp sessions will be led by Butterworth, Welch Suggs, a Grady professor; Rebecca Goldin and Patrick McKnight, two George Mason University professors; Jacob Pomrenke, editorial director at the Society for American Baseball Research and Dash Davidson, a sports data analyst with Tableau.
Additionally, Davidson will host a training session on Tableau Public, the company’s free version of its data visualization software. Those interested in attending this breakout session should email klhern@uga.edu to register.
Stats Camp attendees will be encouraged to share their experiences from the sessions using the hashtag #GradyStatsCamp.
