Data and telling the immigration story at Migrahack
Data is the start of a great story.
But it’s only the beginning. Behind the data are real people and real communities. Often, there are expert analysis and academics who have already examined the data on a macro level.
They combine to tell stories that enrich our knowledge and our lives.
Data may be the beginning for teams participating in Migrahack at University of Denver Sept. 27–28.
Or general questions such as how many immigrants live in Colorado and where do they come from and where do they work may be your starting point.
Such questions can be answered by data and illuminated by people living the immigrant life, as well as experts and academics.
Behind the data are real people and real communities. Often, there are expert analysis and academics who have already examined the data on a macro level.
Migrahack will bring together students, journalism, community members, developers, data analysts, experts and academics to examine immigration data or questions about immigration that can be informed by the data. Registration is open for this free two-day event.
As Migrahack nears, we’re posting data for teams to use on Colorado Media Project’s GitHub site. So far, there’s lots of demographic data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as data about Colorado employers participating in the E-Verify program. Some of the information is specific to counties or metropolitan areas, from Greeley to Grand Junction, from Pueblo to Fort Collins.
More data will be added virtually up until late September with documentation and links for teams to use as they build interactive stories about the state of immigration in Colorado.
In addition to demographics, we’ll include data about K-12 and higher education, wage theft, ICE contractors, visas, and more.
There’s also a great opportunity on Sept. 27 to work with freedom of information experts from Open the Government to formulate more complex immigration-related information requests. They have many ideas about how various communities, including faith-based groups, can seek out immigration information that is relevant to informing our society.
If you have ideas about data you’d like to work with, you may share them in this survey or email me at fishnette (at) gmail.com.
The Migrahack planning group is looking forward to seeing how participants collaborate to tell interactive stories using this data. It’s an opportunity to meet and work with those outside your classroom, newsroom, office or community organization.
We hope you can join us!
Sandra Fish is a Colorado data journalist specializing in politics. She’s working for Colorado Media Project to gather data to use in Migrahack.
