Schedule

Please consult Smith’s academic calendar.

Part I: What Is Data Journalism?

1. Tue, Jan 27

• Complete Pre-course questionnaire
• What is Data Journalism?
• In-class exercise:
  1. Choose one: What’s Going On in this Graph?
  2. Discuss the prompts
  3. Write a 6–12 word headline
  4. Draft a paragraph
  5. What data would you need to draw this graphic?

NoteHomework

• Finish Pre-course questionnaire
• Read Steier, J. (2025). The playbook used to “prove” vaccines cause autism. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/19/opinion/vaccines-autism-evidence.html
• Read Gabbert, E. (2022). A poem (and a painting) about the suffering that hides in plain sight. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/06/books/auden-musee-des-beaux-arts.html

2. Thu, Jan 29

• Scrollytelling
• Major assignment 1 - Short Article

NoteHomework

• Start Major Assignment 1

3. Tue, Feb 3

• Intro to Github
• Collaborating/Branches/Github

NoteHomework

• Read Schick, T., & Samayoa, M. (2025). How the pacific northwest’s dream of green energy fell apart. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/12/oregon-washington-green-energy-bonneville/
• Read Schick, T., & Samayoa, M. (2026). Our reporting showed washington ranks last in green energy growth. Now the state is working to speed it up. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/washington-renewable-energy-projects-grid-upgrades
• Read Dailey, K., Prakash, A., Norman, Z., Nguyen, J., Luo, Z. S., & Cenziper, D. (2026). “A godsend”: ProPublica’s rx inspector tool is helping people find critical safety information on generic drugs. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/rx-inspector-reshaping-decisions-generic-drugs
• Read Roberts, B. (2026). ProPublica publishes unreleased data on the origins of generic prescription drugs. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/rx-inspector-generic-drugs-data

4. Thu, Feb 5

• Journalistic Style
• Discussion of ProPublica articles

NoteHomework

• Read Joel K. Bourne, Jr. (2010). Is another deepwater disaster inevitable? National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/gulf-oil-spill0
• Complete Deepwater Horizon assignment
• Post idea for Major assignment 1 to Slack

5. Tue, Feb 10

• Pull requests
• Writing with Numbers

6. Thu, Feb 12

• Major Assignment 2 - Investigative piece
• Nu-Way Homes
• Idea list from last time
• Data Sources

NoteHomework

• Major assignment 1 draft due Sunday at midnight
• Read Christensen, D., & Jochem, G. (2026). Hampden DA wiretaps suspects far more than other prosecutors, records show. The Shoestring. https://theshoestring.org/2026/02/01/hampden-da-wiretaps-suspects-far-more-than-other-prosecutors-records-show/
• Read Christensen, D. (2024). Corporate cash still flows to McGovern. The Shoestring. https://theshoestring.org/2024/09/13/corporate-cash-still-flows-to-mcgovern/

Part II: Investigative Journalism

7. Tue, Feb 17

• Introduction to The Shoestring (with Dusty Christensen)

8. Thu, Feb 19

• Peer workshop
• FOIAs and investigation

NoteHomework

• Major assignment 1 final draft due Sunday at midnight
• Post 1-2 ideas for your investigative piece on Slack

9. Tue, Feb 24

• Class discussion on ideas

10. Thu, Feb 26

• RALLY DAY – NO CLASS

11. Tue, Mar 3

• Sourcing & Interviewing 1
  • Interviewing tactics and ethics
  • multimedia collection
• Teams assigned

12. Thu, Mar 5

• Sourcing & Interviewing 2
  • Journalistic attribution
  • fact checking
  • data validation
• Team Charters teamwork

13. Tue, Mar 10

• Exploring Property Records
• Data Wrangling Workshop 1

14. Thu, Mar 12

• Data cleaning
• Visit from Carmen Drahl
• Data Wrangling Workshop 2

NoteHomework

• Team Charter due Friday by 5 pm

Spring Break

15. Tue, Mar 17

• SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS

16. Thu, Mar 19

• SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS

Part III: Data Journalism

17. Tue, Mar 24

• Workday

NoteHomework

• Zhou, Y. (2026). What does it cost to die in america? Search your zip code. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2026/death-retirement-expenses-funeral-taxes/
• Gupta, S. (2026). Why we fail to notice climate change. ScienceNews. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-binary-frozen-weather
• Drahl, C. (2019). Here’s how long the periodic table’s unstable elements last. ScienceNews. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/periodic-table-life-spans-unstable-radioactive-elements

18. Thu, Mar 26

• Jen Christiansen ’95

NoteHomework

• Write down questions for Jen

19. Tue, Mar 31

• Jen Christiansen ’95
• Data visualization principles

NoteHomework

• Prepare draft of lead and nutgraph

20. Thu, Apr 2

• BEN ABSENT
• Lead and nutgraph workshop and peer review

NoteHomework

• Prepare draft of data visualization

21. Tue, Apr 7

• Data visualization workshop and peer review

NoteHomework

• Data Visualization due Wednesday at midnight

22. Thu, Apr 9

NoteHomework

• Major Assignment 2 - Long article draft due Sunday at midnight

23. Tue, Apr 14

• closeread

24. Thu, Apr 16

• closeread workshop and peer review

NoteHomework

• Major Assignment 2 - closeread draft due Sunday at midnight

25. Tue, Apr 21

• Long article feedback

26. Thu, Apr 23

NoteHomework

• Major Assignment 2 - Long article due Sunday at midnight

27. Tue, Apr 28

• closeread feedback

28. Thu, Apr 30

NoteHomework

• Major Assignment 2 - closeread due Sunday at midnight

References

Dailey, K., Prakash, A., Norman, Z., Nguyen, J., Luo, Z. S., & Cenziper, D. (2026). “A godsend”: ProPublica’s rx inspector tool is helping people find critical safety information on generic drugs. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/rx-inspector-reshaping-decisions-generic-drugs

Roberts, B. (2026). ProPublica publishes unreleased data on the origins of generic prescription drugs. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/rx-inspector-generic-drugs-data

Schick, T., & Samayoa, M. (2026). Our reporting showed washington ranks last in green energy growth. Now the state is working to speed it up. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/washington-renewable-energy-projects-grid-upgrades

Christensen, D., & Jochem, G. (2026). Hampden DA wiretaps suspects far more than other prosecutors, records show. The Shoestring. https://theshoestring.org/2026/02/01/hampden-da-wiretaps-suspects-far-more-than-other-prosecutors-records-show/

Gupta, S. (2026). Why we fail to notice climate change. ScienceNews. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/climate-change-binary-frozen-weather

Zhou, Y. (2026). What does it cost to die in america? Search your zip code. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2026/death-retirement-expenses-funeral-taxes/

Schick, T., & Samayoa, M. (2025). How the pacific northwest’s dream of green energy fell apart. Oregon Public Broadcasting. https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/12/oregon-washington-green-energy-bonneville/

Steier, J. (2025). The playbook used to “prove” vaccines cause autism. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/19/opinion/vaccines-autism-evidence.html

Christensen, D. (2024). Corporate cash still flows to McGovern. The Shoestring. https://theshoestring.org/2024/09/13/corporate-cash-still-flows-to-mcgovern/

Gabbert, E. (2022). A poem (and a painting) about the suffering that hides in plain sight. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/06/books/auden-musee-des-beaux-arts.html

Drahl, C. (2019). Here’s how long the periodic table’s unstable elements last. ScienceNews. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/periodic-table-life-spans-unstable-radioactive-elements

Joel K. Bourne, Jr. (2010). Is another deepwater disaster inevitable? National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/gulf-oil-spill0