Docs

Documentation for my lesson plans and open-source software

Lesson plans

First Athena Query • Analyze millions of records in seconds with Amazon Web Services and SQL

First Automated Chart • Learn how you can use Python and the Datawrapper API to create a limitless number of charts and maps.

First Django Admin • A guide to creating a web application for enlisting reporters in data entry and refinement

First GitHub Scraper • An introduction to free, automated web scraping with GitHub Actions

First LLM Classifier • Learn how journalists use large-language models to organize and analyze massive datasets

First Pull Request • How to propose changes to open-source software using GitHub pull requests

First Python Notebook • A guide to analyzing data with Python and the Jupyter notebook

First Visual Story • A guide to publishing a standalone story from a dataset

First Web Scraper • A guide to writing a web scraper with Python

Go big with GitHub Actions • Scale up your data pipelines using GitHub’s powerful Actions framework

Open-source software

air-quality-index • Download air quality index data from AirNow

atcf-data-parser • A Python parser and command-line utility for the “a-deck” data posted online by the Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System

bln-python-client • Python client for the biglocalnews.org API

calfire-wildfires • Download wildfires data from CalFire

censusbatchgeocoder • A simple Python wrapper for the U.S. Census Geocoding Services API batch service

census-data-aggregator • Combine U.S. census data responsibly

census-error-analyzer • Analyze the margin of error in U.S. census data

census-map-consolidator • Combine Census blocks into new shapes

census-map-downloader • Easily download U.S. census maps

cpi • A Python library that quickly adjusts U.S. dollars for inflation using the Consumer Price Index

Datawrapper JSON bookmarklet • Quickly access the JSON configuration of your Datawrapper chart

django-anss-archive • A Django application to archive real-time earthquake notifications from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Advanced National Seismic System

django-bakery • A set of helpers for baking your Django site out as flat files

django-greeking • Django template tools for printing filler, a technique from the days of hot type known as greeking

django-internetarchive-storage • A custom Django storage system for Internet Archive collections

django-postgres-copy • Quickly import and export delimited data with Django and PostgreSQL

django-yamlfield • A Django database field for storing YAML data

inciweb-wildfires • Download wildfire incidents data from InciWeb

ipsos-credibility-interval • A Python tool that calculates Bayesian credibility intervals for online polling using the Ipsos method

nasa-wildfires • Download wildfire hotspots detected by NASA satellites and the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)

news-homepages • A bot that gathers, archives and shares screenshots of news homepages

noaa-wildfires • Download wildfires data from NOAA satellites

nws-aurora • Download forecast data for Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis from the National Weather Service

nws-wwa • Download watch, warning and advisory data from the National Weather Service

prefect-flow-template • A template repository with all the fundamentals needed to develop and deploy a Python data-processing routine for Prefect pipelines.

python-googlegeocoder • A simple Python wrapper for Google’s geocoder API

python-muckrock • A simple Python wrapper for the MuckRock API

Refinitiv Data Python Cookbook • Practical examples for users of the Refinitiv Data Library for Python

reuters-style • A Python library that format dates, numbers and text to conform with the Reuters Style Guide, the standards that guide the world’s largest independent newsroom

savepagenow • A Python wrapper and command-line interface for archive.org’s capturing service

storysniffer • Inspect a URL and estimate if it links to news story

upload-data-to-biglocalnews-org • Upload comma-delimited files to biglocalnews.org in your GitHub Action

warn-github-flow • GitHub Action workflow for automating a WARN Act notice ETL pipeline

warn-scraper • Command-line interface for downloading WARN Act notices of qualified plant closings and mass layoffs from state government websites

warn-transformer • Consolidate, enrich and republish the data gathered by warn-scraper