Media Studies

Ding Miao specializes in data journalism at China’s Caixin Media Company. She is an alumnus of USCET’s Data Journalism Workshop.

Q: How did you become interested in data journalism?

A: Caixin’s Center of Data Journalism had a workshop at my school, and I attended it and thought it was interesting. Later, I went to Caixin Shuzishuo to intern, and I became more acquainted with data journalism. I thought it was so interesting I decided to work there. Data journalism allows me to be creative, and it is an exciting, fast-paced field.

The US-China Education Trust (USCET) recently came back from a visit to China, where two of its major programs concluded for 2017 in Shanghai and Wuhan. USCET held a Data Journalism Workshop at Fudan University, and co-organized the annual Media Education Consortium (MEC) Conference at Wuhan University, where the winners of the Third Data Journalism Competition were announced.

USCET just completed a 5-week intensive data journalism boot camp at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School on August 24! This comprehensive summer program is the first of its kind in China. Thirty journalists and students were selected from over 80 applicants from across the country. The participants, through participatory methodologies, learned how to gather large quantities of data, clean and organize the data using sophisticated coding system, interpret and find newsworthy stories within the numbers, and bring the numbers to life through images and interactive visualizations.

What do you get when you mix USCET’s programming skills with great journalistic minds, a room packed with 500 attendees and an online audience of over 5000 viewers? The supremely successful TED-style talk that was held on February 19^th at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, that’s what.  USCET’s Training of Trainers Conference ended on a high note with public talks discussing the latest trends in data journalism in China and globally.