Campaigns and elections generate a lot of data. Prepare yourself by registering now for a half day of training with New York Times journalists Griff Palmer, Kevin Quealy and Derek Willis

On Jan. 14, Hacks/Hackers NYC is partnering IRE to present a half-day workshop focused on campaign financing. You'll learn:

• about the various campaign finance data available from the FEC, what's important, and how to find it and what it means 
• about a deeper understanding of the uses, benefits and pitfalls of FEC data.
• FTP data vs. electronic filings, the FEC's new CSV files and how they figure in reporting
• how to use libraries like Fech for presidential filings, and The New York Times' Campaign Cash and Campaign Finance APIs
• You'll get hands-on experience working with independent expenditures data via spreadsheet, as well as an opportunity to code a skeleton app for presidential filings.

Minimum knowledge requirements:

• Know how to work with CSV files in Excel
• Familiarity with Ruby/Rails/Sinatra or similar
• Must be comfortable using the command line

To join this half-day workshop, RSVP today ($55, payable in advance) to attend. Seating is extremely limited to ensure personalized instruction, so be sure to sign up right away. Further instructions will be sent to registered students before the class.

Schedule:

9 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.: Registration

9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Workshop instruction

Have an idea for future Hacks/Hackers topics, speakers and events that meet the at the intersection journalism, technology and innovation? Let us know at j.mp/hhnycInput.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from some of New York's best practitioners!

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Make data accessible at February's Journalism Data Camp Play a part in keeping Wall Street and NYC government agencies accountable by making data accessible for analysis. ScraperWiki, along with the Knight Foundation, is hosting a free Journalism Data Camp at the Tow Center at Columbia University School of Journalism on Feb. 3 – 4 to do just that. It doesn't matter if you're a novice or pro programmer or an investigative journalist with no programming experience: this unique event has three tracks to choose from so you can use your skills to make the biggest impact, and even pick up some more along the way. Find out more and sign up today.

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