Overview
A comprehensive workshop handout demonstrating how to use AI coding agents like Claude Code and OpenAI Codex for data journalism tasks. The guide shows data journalists how to leverage AI agents to automate complex data workflows from exploration to visualization without requiring advanced programming skills.
What You'll Learn
- Ask natural language questions against databases to explore data without writing complex SQL
- Use AI agents to automatically clean messy data like decoding neighborhood codes and standardizing formats
- Generate interactive visualizations by having agents write JavaScript code directly in your project folder
- Scrape data programmatically using AI-generated Python scripts tailored to specific websites
- Combine Datasette with static file serving to let agents create dynamic visualizations that integrate with your database
- Use existing code as templates by showing agents your preferred data analysis patterns
- Leverage budget-restricted API keys to safely distribute AI access in workshop environments
Prerequisites
Basic familiarity with data journalism concepts. Access to Claude Code or OpenAI Codex. Some exposure to Python, SQLite, and web technologies helpful but not required.