Hacks/Hackers Toronto

Shut Up and Code with BuzzData

January 15, 2012 · 11:00 AM
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Every Sunday, from 11am to 3pm at the Linux Caffe is when Shut up and Code gets together. The name speaks for itself - this is a hands-on, at-your-own-pace geek-out :)

Beginners welcome! This is the time you can get answers from people who know their stuff.

We also have a public chatroom where anyone can check in to talk, share funny videos, informative links and ask for help without disturbing others at the cafe or having to get up and move around. You can login at this link or stay connected via Twitter:

Shut Up and Code chatroom:

www.hipchat.com/ghnfGs6n0

Twitter #hashtag:

#suac

Update: Current details on the Google-sponsored Data Journalism Awards for 2012 are below. (Doesn't look as though the competition has gone live yet, and I've emailed their PR contact about when to expect to be able to apply.)

http://www.globaleditorsnetwork.org/djawards/

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Bringing your own laptop, power cord, and learning materials is up to you, but you can find stuff below for some starter materials beforehand to get you on a path.

1. If you would like to attend, please comment below what you would like to learn and/or what projects you are currently working on before RSVPing.

If you RSVP and don't explain your plans, I may politely bug you via email and ask you what they are. If 5+ peeps respond with projects and/or plans in mind, I will be there to help coordinate & guide. Otherwise, my presence will not guaranteed unless we arrange personally (sorry, but I like my afternoon leisure time, too!)

Here are some great coding reference guides for people to pick from if you need material:

(NEW!) 30 free programming e-books:

http://citizen428.net/blog/2010/08/12/30-free-programming-ebooks/

(NEW!) How to replace yourself with a very small shell script by data scientist Hilary Mason:

http://smarterware.org/6172/hilary-mason-how-to-replace-yourself-with-a-small-shell-script

Learn Python the Hard Way:

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/

Everyday Scripting for Ruby

http://media.pragprog.com/titles/bmsft/intr...

BuzzData Blog Tutorials (check the archives, yo)

http://blog.buzzdata.com/

There are also lots of free visualization tools and guides to experiment with, that don't require coding ability, such as:

ManyEyes:

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos...

Tableau Public (very popular with WSJ and other U.S. newspapers right now):

http://www.tableausoftware.com/public

Google Fusion Tables:

http://www.google.com/fusiontables/Home/

And of course, if you need clean data to play with, search on BuzzData!

www.buzzdata.com

Pick something and I'll see you there. Rock!

-Momoko Price

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dann

Hey folks, I won't be able to make it this Sunday, sorry. Maybe next time. Have fun!

0 · January 12, 2012
A former member

@Graham Very cool, thanks for pointing me to Mapnik. Will take a look!

0 · January 12, 2012
Graham R.

@Matt I used TileMill a while back... it's really good if you already have all of your data and you need to export it as a layer whether it be to MapBox or your own solution. I believe you're the one learning Python, so it might be worthwhile for you to look into Mapnik which is written in Python and it's what MapBox is built upon. http://mapnik.org/

0 · January 12, 2012
A former member

@Momo, cool. I'll look for an opportunity to play with it. Here's another one I just found for extracting text and metadata:

http://juicer.herokuapp.com/

0 · January 12, 2012
momoko p.

@Matt I came across Tilemill a while back but never actually tried it. So ... no :P

0 · January 12, 2012
momoko p.

Sounds good, Leslie :) I'm have a couple of website scrapers I want to try writing using python as well as studying some regular expressions. Also, I'm going to track down the details for the Google Data Journalism Award contest this year so we can figure out if we're eligible and/or if we want to participate :)

0 · January 12, 2012
Leslie Y.

Think I've decided what I'll be working on: how to analyze and look for patterns in huge piles of documents using DocumentCloud.

0 · January 12, 2012
Duncan

Presentation by commercial entity, but might still serve as a source of inspiration: http://www.meetup.com/NTEN-Toronto-Tech-Club/events/47384982/?a=ea1_grp&rv=ea1

0 · January 11, 2012
A former member

Hey, has anyone worked with TileMill? http://mapbox.com/tilemill/

0 · January 8, 2012