Virtual Data Expedition – August 2020
Join Open Data Manchester and 360Giving this August for a free, two-week Virtual Data Expedition to improve your data skills.
Would you like to feel more confident using data? Do you want to use data to better inform what you do?
Whatever your data skills, wherever you are, you’re invited to join a Virtual Data Expedition being led online for the first time by Open Data Manchester, with the support of 360Giving. Over two weeks in August 2020, you’ll work with a team of fellow travellers from different walks of life, to learn how to use data by taking on real-life challenges.
This Virtual Data Expedition is intended for people working in funding organisations.
What is a Virtual Data Expedition?
A Data Expedition is a way of working with data from ‘start to finish’ – from identifying a question you have, to finding and using data to try to answer it, to telling a story with it.
The two-week expedition involves a series of guided workshops led by trained facilitators where participants, who may be from the community, policy or technical backgrounds, go on a journey of discovery together.
The very first Virtual Data Expedition is an online version where people can take part at their own pace. There will be four two-hour sessions over two weeks, plus a final presentation session where teams will share what they’ve done. Teams will work together outside of these times to make sure they’re making progress.
Who is the Virtual Data Expedition for?
Data Expeditions are intended to support people from funding organisations who want to improve their data skills. It doesn’t matter your level of experience – Data Expeditions are designed for mixed-ability groups, from total beginners to experienced data users. Each person is given opportunities to contribute in ways that play to their strengths.
For the first Virtual Data Expedition, we are looking especially for people from the north of the UK to participate, since it will focus on local issues. But if you are from further afield and you want to join in, you are also welcome.
What can I expect to get out of it?
- New data skills
- Things you can show off or use, such as visualisations and stories
- An understanding of how to address your personal data knowledge gaps
- Getting to know new people
What do I need?
- 4-6 hours a week for two weeks, including workshops and time to meet as a team
- A laptop or a PC (you will struggle to do this on a tablet)
- A good, stable internet connection for video calling software, such as Zoom
- Access to Google Docs
- A desire to collaborate and learn
- Optional: a data-based problem or question that you want to explore
When will it happen?
- Workshop 1: Tuesday 11 August, 10am-12pm BST (GMT+1).
- Workshop 2: Friday 14 August
- Workshop 3: Tuesday 18 August
- Workshop 4: Friday 21 August
- Final presentations: Tuesday 25 August
Apart from the first session, times for the workshops will be decided by the group as a whole. Participants will then work in teams at their own pace.
How do I sign up?
You can register via the Eventbrite page.
Questions
If you’re interested in taking part and have any questions, get in touch with Mor@threesixtygiving.org.
Open Data Manchester is a not-for-profit formed from a diverse group of open data advocates in 2010 that supports organisations to release data and helps people use it.