Despite the fact, that it is facing “devastating” funding issues, according to President Ann Weaver Hart, the University of Arizona will host the free Arizona Migrahack from Friday through Sunday, bringing together computer programmers, Web designers, journalists, nonprofits and community members on the topic of immigration.
The free event will be held at the UA Science and Engineering Library, where participants will work on Web-based projects that focus on the U.S.-Mexico border and migration issues in Arizona-Sonora.
Arizona Migrahack is organized by the Institute for Justice and Journalism, the UA Center for Border & Global Journalism and the UA School of Journalism, and will focus on immigration. Previous Migrahacks have been held in Mexico City and Chicago.
The first day of the weekend event will include training sessions on a variety of production and online technologies, such as mapping, data animation, big-data analysis and interactive graphics. On days two and three, participants will split into teams to produce Web content using online open data. “The teams will try to uncover the trends and stories hidden in immigration data,” according to a statement released by the University.
Teams will pitch their final projects to a team of judges, and winners will receive cash awards. Projects will be shared online.
According to the statement, the organizers’ goal “is to put aside the heated rhetoric surrounding immigration and drill down to actual data, examining what the numbers show about the impact of immigration and laws such as SB1070 on Arizona and the border.”
“Immigration is such an important topic in this region of the country,” said Celeste González de Bustamante, associate professor at the UA School of Journalism. “This is an excellent opportunity to look at the open data that are out there and tell stories about migration in ways that improve public knowledge.”
Community members are encouraged to participate in the hackathon; technical skills are not required.
Arizona Migrahack also is sponsored by the Border Journalism Network; the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; the UA Department of Mexican American Studies; and the UA Office of Student Engagement. Partners are UA Libraries, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Southwest Center, the National Institute for Civil Discourse, and the Graduate Program in Rhetoric, Composition and the Teaching of English.
Parking is available in the Second Street and Cherry Ave. garages, which are the closes to the Science-Engineering Building. Cost is $8/per entry to Cherry Ave., $10/per entry to Second Street. Parking is FREE on the weekends.
9-9:30 a.m.
Use Google’s map engine to create maps from your data and give you powerful insight into your information. You can start to visually answer questions such as what parts of the region has the most English-language needs but the least resources? By using Google’s free tools, you can add compelling visuals to your websites and reports. Trainer: Joe Ferguson, Arizona Daily Star.
This workshop will introduce you to the basics of Tableau Public. You will learn everything you need to know to connect to data (we will use some data provided at the Arizona Migrahack event) build interactive visualizations and publish them to your website. No previous experience with Tableau is necessary. You should already have a copy of Tableau Desktop installed on your computer. Please also see this google doc for more useful links and info. Trainer: Ken McBride, InterWorks.
Learn about resources, findings and methods related to Census 2010 and American Community Survey. This training can help journalists find key data and dig up information on population, housing, economic, and geographic details to back up any story, investigative report or community profile. Trainer: Jens Krogstad, Pew Research Center.
Learn about news resources available through the University of Arizona Libraries. This workshop will introduce you to newspaper databases such as the Libraries’ Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press Digital Collection, which is freely available online, as well as current and historical access to thousands of newspapers from around the state, country, and world. Trainers: Verónica Reyes-Escudero and Mary Feeney, University of Arizona Libraries.
We know that images have always been a great way to send a message. In this storytelling workshop, you will learn the importance of visual storytelling and discover how to highlight the best practices and common errors in data visualization. A guide to designing data with Infogr.am a great way of creating your own beautiful interactive infographics to make your reports stand out. Trainer: Mikko Järvenpää, Infogr.am.
This session focuses on tips on how to navigate Mexico’s data public records, find immigration statistics and become familiar with Mexico’s key national data sets to produce high-impact stories. Trainer: Margarita Torres, Periodistas de a Pie/Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
In this workshop, you will learn how to process geographic-based data to produce stunning 3D visualizations via Power Map, a free downloadable extension to Microsoft Excel. Workshop attendees should download and install Power Map prior to the workshop. Trainer: Michael Palermo, Microsoft.
Tarbell is an open source publishing tool that emphasizes simplicity, fundamental skills, and low maintenance for published projects. Tarbell has been used for dozens of projects at the Chicago Tribune. Tarbell combines Google spreadsheets for data management with powerful project creation, templating, and publishing tools. Trainer: David Eads, NPR Visuals.
Animations can be a powerful form of data visualization but they aren’t used often enough for fear they are too advanced. This dynamic visualization workshop will help you identify the necessary ingredients to quickly produce visualization projects without having a lot of technical skills. Trainer: Wilson Lievano, Wall Street Journal.
Learn about resources, findings and methods related to Census 2010 and American Community Survey. This training can help journalists find key data and dig up information on population, housing, economic, and geographic details to back up any story, investigative report or community profile. Trainer: Jens Krogstad, Pew Research Center.
In this workshop, you will learn how to process geographic-based data to produce stunning 3D visualizations via Power Map, a free downloadable extension to Microsoft Excel. Workshop attendees should download and install Power Map prior to the workshop. Trainer: Michael Palermo, Microsoft.
Tarbell is an open source publishing tool that emphasizes simplicity, fundamental skills, and low maintenance for published projects. Tarbell has been used for dozens of projects at the Chicago Tribune. Tarbell combines Google spreadsheets for data management with powerful project creation, templating, and publishing tools. Trainer: David Eads, NPR Visuals.
Animations can be a powerful form of data visualization but they aren’t used often enough for fear they are too advanced. This dynamic visualization workshop will help you identify the necessary ingredients to quickly produce visualization projects without having a lot of technical skills. Trainer: Wilson Lievano, Wall Street Journal.
We will focus heavily on advanced techniques for manipulating your data and building visualizations.You will learn everything you need to know to connect to data, build interactive visualizations and publish them to your website. You should already have a copy of Tableau Desktop installed on your computer. Please also see this google doc for more useful links and info. Trainer: Ken McBride, InterWorks.
Use Google’s map engine to create maps from your data and give you powerful insight into your information. You can start to visually answer questions such as what parts of the region has the most English-language needs but the least resources? By using Google’s free tools, you can add compelling visuals to your websites and reports. Trainer: Joe Ferguson, Arizona Daily Star.
This session focuses on tips on how to navigate Mexico’s data public records, find immigration statistics and become familiar with Mexico’s key national data sets to produce high-impact stories. Trainer: Margarita Torres, Periodistas de a Pie/Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
Eat, brainstorm project ideas and form teams. The hacking begins!
Food and drinks provided.