Google News Lab Training Set for Feb. 22

The University of Scranton’s Department of Communication and Media will host the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and Google News Initiative Training on free tools that can be used for data journalism. Searching for datasets, pivot tables, web scraping and other topics will be covered in this free, hands-on training session. Frank Bi, an editorial engineer for Vox Media’s SB Nation in New York City, will lead training, which will run on Saturday, Feb. 22, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Kane Forum of Leahy Hall on the University’s campus.

The Google News Initiative aims to help journalists and news organizations use new technology to meet their needs in the digital age. SPJ and the Google News Initiative partnered in 2015 to provide training to journalists looking to apply Google’s tools in their reporting. Since then, more than 21,000 journalists have been trained at more than 550 locations across the United States and Canada. 

At Vox Media, Bi works on the storytelling team, designing and developing interactives and longform features. He also teaches data literacy and visualization at Fordham University and is a Google News Initiative trainer. He serves as the president of the Asian American Journalists Association’s New York chapter.

The Google News Lab training session is free and open to the public. Registration is required. University students, journalists and members of the public can register online. For additional information, call 570-941-6333 or by email communication@scranton.edu.