The “Data for Public Good” Project

Deadline: Friday, November 15, 2019

cuny.is/data4good2020

For the second time, GC Digital Initiatives is accepting applications from GC students who have achieved an introductory fluency with the Python programming language to participate in a semester-long collaborative project designed to improve their familiarity and comfort with programming, while at the same time producing a project for the public good.

The “Data for Public Good” fellows as a group will work together on a public-interest dataset to create a project that makes the dataset useful and informative to a public audience. Participants will work with project advisors to realize their projects.

Students who participate in the program will benefit from hands-on experience working on an open-ended problem in order to improve their familiarity and competency with Python, R, or other programming language. Basic familiarity with Python is required so that all members of the group can begin their work together. Through building their project, they will learn skills such as project management, project design, and collaborative coding. By the end of the semester, fellows will present their work to the GC community during the GC Digital Showcase. Final projects will be made publicly accessible.

Participants will be expected to: attend all weekly meetings, set and meet weekly group and individual goals, write brief blog posts about their work, and present a completed project–ranging from a digital narrative to a visualization to a web application–in May. Participants will receive $750 stipends to support their semester-long efforts.

To apply, students should be current Graduate Center students in good standing and submit their application in a single PDF file to gcdi@gc.cuny.edu by Friday, November 15 at 5:00 PM with the subject: Data For Public Good Application.

Applications must include:

  • A 2-page letter of interest stating:
    • what programming experience (short courses, classes, tutorials, projects) you have;
    • what skills you wish to develop;
    • a short list of data-oriented projects that you admire and would like to emulate;
    • how working on collaborative, public scholarship would help you achieve your academic and professional goals;
    • ​and a description of what you hope to gain by participating.
  • ​​​A CV with a list of workshops, tutorials, or projects that demonstrate some familiarity with a programming language such as Python.
  • (Participants from previous GC Digital Research Institutes are encouraged to apply.)

About the Author

Stephen Zweibel is Digital Scholarship Librarian at The Graduate Center.