Finding big stories in huge data sets with Google Cloud

This month we'll be learning how to find stories in huge data sets with Google Cloud.

Once you've got more than a million rows of data, Excel won't work. Once you've got hundreds of millions of rows, other data analysis tools might not work either. Or it might just be frustratingly slow, depending on your computer. But some stories are hiding in datasets of this size -- and using a cloud platform can unlock them.

We'll be using Google Cloud, one of the major cloud platforms, used by many news organisations. Specifically, we'll be using BigQuery, their system for working with databases in the cloud. Working with truly gigantic data can cost money, but Google Cloud lets you do a lot for free.

In this session we'll be following tutorials taking us through how to load a big dataset into BigQuery. We'll then look at Connected Sheets, an easy-to-use way to get answers from data stored in BigQuery using Google Sheets. For those that get that far, we'll also have some space to play with Google's library of giant datasets -- from detailed World Bank statistics, to blockchain data, to lightning strikes -- which you will now have the skills to work with.

All of our events are suitable for beginners, and no programming experience is required. Bring a laptop along as this a practical, hands-on workshop. Please also sign up for a Dropbox account if you don't already have one so you can edit the shared doc we'll be using during the event.

Schedule
7:00 🚪 Doors open
7:30 🗣 Show and tell
7:40 💻 Tutorial
9:00 🍺 Drinks at the George

If you can't make the main event, you're also welcome to just join us in the pub!

What is Journocoders? We are a community and monthly event for journalists and other people in the media who want to learn technical skills for use in their reporting -- and meet likeminded others.

Our events do often fill up, but if it's full please do join the waitlist as spaces do typically become available. And if you find you can no longer make it, please update your RSVP so someone else can take your spot.