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JEAA Presentation - Why Should Communicators Learn to Code?
The document discusses why communicators should learn to code. It argues that coding is becoming an important literacy that teaches algorithmic thinking and problem solving. It notes that computers and data will be a major part of any media career. Several job postings from media companies are presented that require coding skills. The document then provides an overview of computer programming, common coding languages, and ways for communicators to start learning coding skills.
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JEAA Presentation - Why Should Communicators Learn to Code?
- 1. Why Should Communicators Learn To Code? @CindyRoyal Associate Professor Texas State University Stanford Knight Journalism Fellow 2013-2014 slideshare.net/cindyroyal
- 3. “Learning these skillsisn’t just important for your future, it’s important for our country’s future.” Barack Obama
- 4. “Everyone should learna computer language, because it teaches you how to think.” Steve Jobs
- 6. Coding is becomingan important literacy • Supports algorithmic thinking • Develops a problem-solving mindset • An expression of innovation and creativity • Provides a perspective on the tech environment
- 7. Computers will bea part of any media career and most other careers
- 8.
- 9. People will getinformation in a variety of embedded and atmospheric ways
- 10. Storytelling has becomeinteractive
- 12. Retrieving data: Scrapingand APIs
- 14. We have ahigh % of women in the mass communication discipline An opportunity to address the digital divide
- 15. Jobs! • NewYork Times, Interactive News Developer “The job requires solid coding skills and the ability to execute.” “Expert-level of standards-driven CSS, HTML, JavaScript.” “Experience with Ruby, Python or MySQL is a plus.” • Quartz, Reporter on “Things” Team “Quartz seeks a reporter to help us commit acts of journalism with code.” “Chiefly responsible for our data-driven and visual journalism, from charts to interactive graphics to news apps. Background in “front-end Web development, systems administration, statistics, data science, design, writing or information architecture.”
- 16. Jobs! – BuzzFeed,Data Journalist for Investigative Reporting Team “Track record of using data to find, tell and reinforce powerful stories.” “Be proficient in at least one modern programming language.” – Austin American-Statesman, News Application Specialist “Programming skills to develop apps for HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript.” “Familiarity with Web APIs and common data visualization libraries.” “Experience with a web development framework such as Rails or Django is preferred.”
- 17. Work with aCMS
- 18. The rise ofthe media platform • The content management system defines a media company’s business • Who can publish, participate and share? • What kinds of stories can be told? • What kind of analytics are available?
- 24. What is ComputerProgramming? • Problem solving using computer code • Working with and developing algorithms to accomplish specific tasks • Web development is a type of computer programming • Combination of content, design, functionality and data • Computers are dumb, but obedient –will do what you tell them. • It’s fun! Provides a sense of accomplishment.
- 25. Types of Languages • Markup languages – HTML/CSS • Interpreted languages – JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP • Data-oriented languages – SQL • Web Development Frameworks – Bootstrap, Django, Rails • Libraries - JQuery
- 26. Coding Syntax •HTML/CSS – foundation of the Web, provides structure and styling of Web pages. • Logic-based languages: – Data types and variables – Logic via if statements and loops – Functions
- 27. Coding in theCurriculum • HTML/CSS • Bootstrap • Wordpress • JavaScript/JQuery • Charting Tools • Python Web Scraping/API • Web Frameworks
- 28. Tech in theCurriculum • History of computers, Internet and Web • Social and cultural effects of technology • New business models/platforms • Network effects • Technology entrepreneurship • Social media • Data • Tech news • Communication skills introduced in these contexts
- 29. New Major Proposal • Digital Media Innovation – a digitally immersive major for a subset of students. • Same core as other majors: Intro. to Mass Comm, Media Writing, Media Law and Digital Fundamentals • 15-18 hours in digitally focused courses – Web Design, Programming, Multimedia, Advanced Social Media, Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Mobile Reporting/Development • 6-9 hours in traditional courses
- 31. How? • Partnerwith computer science or other technology departments • Find community resources • Allow and encourage faculty to seek these competencies • Prioritize when hiring • General faculty development around technology awareness and literacy
- 32. Get Started •Codecademy.com • Lynda.com • Google Charts, MyMaps and Fusion Tables • Chart.js or HighCharts • Coding meetups/hackathons in your community, like Girls Who Code, Hacks/Hackers • CodeActually.com
- 33. Get Started •Introduce technology concepts: – Agile Methodologies – Design Thinking – Prototyping • Spreadsheet basics • Chartle/Wordle • Review great work
Editor's Notes
- #2 I’m Cindy Royal, and I am delighted to be here in Sydney to speak with you about Why Communicators Should Learn to Code. When Jenna Price sent me an email about six months ago, asking me if I’d “pop over to Sydney in November” I thought it was a joke. But it was no joke, here I am, in this beautiful city that I never thought I’d get the chance to visit, so I am exceedingly grateful. I teach Web design and digital media concepts at Texas State University a large university in Central Texas in San Marcos, just south of Austin. I have been integrating programming skills as they became relevant in graduate classes, and most recently in an undergraduate class. I spent my year at Stanford (as a Knight Fellow) studying the ways that programming is taught in Computer Science, to see what we could keep and what we needed to do differently in mass comm. I began working on Code Actually, which is still a work in progress, but have implemented many techniques in my teaching that I plan to add to Code Actually soon. My fellowship was a fantastic year of immersion in the culture of Silicon Valley. I don't have a traditional journalism background. Became fascinated by the Web and the ability for anyone to communicate and share. PHD. I don't have a programming background. – Pascal in undergrad, dabbling here and there, some courses during my phd, some workshops, mostly diy
- #3 Now, you have probably been hearing a lot about coding. Last year, celebrities and technologists, like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ashton Kutcher and Shakira, encouraged everyone to take part in an Hour of Code. Since then, more than 45 million people have participated, with another Hour of Code event being planned during Computer Science Week next month.
- #4 Our President, Barack Obama said “Learning these skills isn’t just important for your future. It’s important for our country’s future.” And I know that your Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced a program to include technology education in high schools.
- #5 As far back as 1996, tech visionary Steve Jobs was saying “Everyone should learn a computer language, because it teaches you how to think.”
- #6 And musician Will.I.am of the Black-Eyed Peas, when asked what’s cooler, music or programming, “Coding. By about 10 times. A trillion times. It’s the most creative space.” He says great coders are today’s rock stars. So, why should you, as journalists, journalism students and educators, why should you learn to code?
- #7 Coding is becoming an important literacy. It supports algorithmic thinking and problem solving and is the basis for creativity and innovation in media. These have always been characteristics of journalists - problem solving and creativity. We just have to adapt to new tools that allow us to do this.
- #8 Computers will be a part of any media career and most other careers. We know how visual skills support journalism, and we are learning how mobile devices are influencing the kinds of stories we can tell. But increasingly, stories are supported by or consist solely of data. So, journalism will need people who can work with and present data in meaningful ways.
- #9 Speaking of data, it’s everywhere. We are drowning in data. How can we make it more relevant to people and how can we help them use data to improve their lives? We see data in official sources, but data is constantly being created via social media and through a range of analytics and is an important aspect of understanding how media businesses are run. Making sense of data can become journalism’s unique proposition.
- #10 People will get information in a variety of embedded and atmospheric ways. There will be wearable devices like Google Glass (and even if not Google Glass, other devices will emerge) like the Apple Watch, FitBit, etc. There are drones, there are sensors. All this will create lots more data.
- #11 Storytelling has become interactive. There are many outstanding projects that visualize data and let users interact with it, and more are being developed every day. Coding provides ways to make a story meaningful to a user: Allow user engagement with a story Find, use and present data Visualize a story Create tools to help users To education and engage users Organizations like NY Times, the Guardian, Propublica, the Texas Tribune, National Public Radio and more are on the forefront, but other organizations are looking to participate in this type of storytelling. This is an opportunity for your students. The demand exceeds the supply. Here are some notable projects: Propublica’s Dollars for Docs – which let’s you look up a doctor to see what types of financial contributions they have received from pharmaceutical companies. (for talks, consulting, research) NYT Where Were You on 9/11- people’s recollections of where they were on 9/11, organized on a map. Texas Tribune Public Schools Explorer – allows Texas to research and compare information about their school districts.
- #12 Ya’ll, Youse and You Guys – a quiz, that maps your dialect preferences. In the US, you see we all talk differently, refer to things differently. I took the quiz, and this is my map, and I found it interesting to see that even though I moved away from NY when I was 10, many of my dialect preferences come from there. You can almost track my migration of the places I have lived through this easy quiz and map. It was the most visited “story” at the NYT in 2013 and it was created by an intern.
- #13 Retrieving data: Scraping and APIs (application programming interfaces). Getting your hands on data can be challenging. But if you have some programming skills, this opens a whole world of data to you. You can grab data from websites and access data from Application Programming Interfaces provided by various services, including Twitter, Facebook, Spotify and more. So you can use a little code, grab the data, pop it into a spreadsheet and turn out a visualization. This code visualized all the tweets from an event we had recently in my program - Mass Comm Week.
- #14 Visualization of tweets from Mass Comm Week
- #15 And the opportunity that I am most excited about is that we have a high percentage of females in Mass Comm. This is our opportunity to address the digital divide. I have spent years in computer labs watching young women work on digital projects. I know that they are competent in their technology skills and get very excited about what they are creating, when these skills are taught in context and with support.
- #16 And most importantly, there are jobs for people with these skills. Journalism jobs. Reporting jobs. If this is journalism, then this is something we need to be teaching in J-Schools.
- #19 The role of the media platform is what defines media businesses. It defines who can publish, participate and share. It dictates what types of stories can be told. It provides important analytics for decision-making. In order to understand media businesses, you have to understand media platforms. And that means understanding something about how they are developed. Emily Bell, of Columbia University, spoke about this at the Reuters Institute at Oxford just a few days ago. Her talk was titled: Silicon Valley and Journalism: Make-Up or Break-Up. I say assimilate. Or to push the relationship metaphor, have a baby together, raise it and let it take over. Just do it quickly. That’s the real convergence. Bell said: "We need a platform for journalism built with the values and requirements of a free press baked into it. This means education… we need many more journalism schools to change their missions to match.” This is the business we are in. As I said in a Nieman Lab piece several months ago, we work in tech. The sooner we recognize this the better. We need to be able to speak the language. The distribution platforms belong to other companies. We need to understand the dynamics. For media, it’s platform or perish.
- #20 Let’s look at some examples of industries that have been disrupted by tech and are now considered tech companies. Amazon - we used to go to bookstores, and we loved our bookstores, but amazon came up with a way to allow us to search and explore and share our interest in books, it gave us access to a range of titles, and improved shipping. The technology platform became the book business.
- #21 Let’s look at some examples of industries that have been disrupted by tech and are now considered tech companies. Amazon - we used to go to bookstores, and we loved our bookstores, but amazon came up with a way to allow us to search and explore and share our interest in books, it gave us access to a range of titles, and improved shipping. The technology platform became the book business.
- #22 Uber – like it or not, and it has come under fire recently for remarks about dealing with some unfavorable journalistic coverage. But has become the go-to term for innovation, the Uber for Laundry, Uber for maid service, for grocery delivery, the Uber for Tacos. Uber changed how we think about transportation. It used to be about cars. Now it’s the platform that connects drivers and riders, lets you see where your car is, how much it will cost and handle the entire transaction through the app.
- #23 News – For news, we know this all too well. The business, in terms of distribution, used to be printing and delivering papers.
- #24 Now it includes a range of options, news upstarts and social media platforms. The ecosystem is vibrant and complicated. News breaks on Twitter, people share photos, they join the conversation. And while producing content is still the primary objective, it exists within an ecosystem of unprecedented sharing and participation. The role of journalist in this ecosystem has forever changed and will continue to evolve. It is helpful to understand programming if you want to understand what is possible in terms of media innovation. Media professionals will have to work on collaborative teams or guide technology resources. If you don’t speak the language, it would be like working for Telemundo without being able to speak Spanish.
- #25 So, what is computer programming? It’s all these things:
- #26 Types of languages – there are a range of computer languages that perform different functions in the technology world. Some you need to know well, others you might just need to know about. Markup languages – HTML/CSS Interpreted languages – JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP Data-oriented languages - SQL Visual languages – like Scratch for kids Web Development Frameworks – Bootstrap, Django, Rails Libraries – Jquery Other languages - Compiler languages – Java, C, C++ - used for large systems
- #27 Basic Coding Syntax HTML/CSS –provides the foundational structure and styling of a website. HTML Hypertext markup language – provides the structure, marking up text. What is it? Heading, paragraphs, etc. CSS provides the style and layout. And having a central stylesheet allows you to make quick modifications across an entire site. The ability to store information and apply logic comes with the logic based languages, that introduce variables, logic via if statements and loops and functions. These are common elements of all programming languages, although the exact syntax may be different.
- #28 Where can you introduce coding in the curriculum? I have been experimenting with these concepts for years. First in a web design class and then in more advanced courses that introduce the logic-based languages. We even introduce HTML/CSS in a required course called The Fundamentals of Digital/Online Media. And we use Wordpress blogs for many classes and events.
- #29 Not only are these important topics for curriculum, but they are important directions for research.
- #30 The goal of this major is to prepare students for jobs in media that require advanced technology skill, media jobs in tech companies and to work in and launch media startups. We also have a concentration in Digital Media for existing majors (9 hours) And a digital concentration in our graduate program. – graduates work at NYT, NPR, Spredfast, HomeAway, Aiston American Statesman, SXSW, Blackbaud and more.
- #31 This is being proposed. Has been approved by my faculty, curriculum committee, college committees and dean. Getting feedback on the University level. Hopeful that we will be able to start offering this next Fall.
- #32 I am working with a Computer Science person right now. Rob Quigley at UT hired a local mobile app developer, developed a course for comp sci and journo students. Different kinds of conferences; different kinds of events
- #33 Here are some resources to help you get started. There is help and support out there if you seek it.
- #34 New York Times Propublica WNYC NPR Texas Tribune My Pinterest board
- #35 What are you doing in your program to introduce, and more importantly immerse students in the technology field that they will enter? This is an exciting time to be studying media and we must convey enthusiasm, passion and opportunity to our students. They will respond. The future Nate Silvers and Ezra Kleins are sitting in our classes right now, but so are the future Zuckerbergs and Mayers. Let’s give them the skills and perspectives they need to lead, disrupt, and innovate, not just work. Be innovative within an organization or have the perspective to start their own. We’ll never be able to fully achieve a digital, technology-based curriculum until we have faculty who are committed to preparing students for the digital, technology-based world into which they are graduating. This is where we start.