Data is an indispensable part of any news story and it is the skill of every journalist to analyze a data set in such a way that sets their story apart.

Today, data journalism is not only a means to present boring numbers or figures, but also to present the given information in an interactive and fun-storytelling manner.

R, a popular programming language, is exceedingly being used by journalists to not just process data but also to make graphs that can be easily embedded or printed on a website or a newspaper.

Alumna, Rangoli Agarwal, led a training session for the students to familiarize them with the basics of R programming.

The online lecture titled, ‘Introduction to R for data journalism’ focused on the basics of this freely available programming language and how young journalists can use this software as opposed to using other in-built softwares that are not designed to harness heavy data.

Agarwal led the students with a step-by-step introduction to the software and familiarized them with its functions and advantages.

Agarwal, a Data Consultant at How India Lives, acknowledged that learning R in a single class is difficult but is also hopeful that this can introduce the trainee journalists to the world of data journalism and analysis, a skill that they can then build over the years.

By Kivleen Sahni