The “Data for Public Good” Project
Application deadline: Friday, November 16, 2018

This year 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 working with code, while at the same time producing a project for the public good. The “Data for Public Good” fellows as a group will select one public-interest dataset and work together 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, Ruby, or other programming language. 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 $500 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 16 at 5:00 PM with the subject: Data For Public Good Application.  Applications must include:

1. A 2-page letter of interest stating:
   • why you would like to join the project,
   • what Python or other programming experience (short courses, classes, tutorials, projects) you have,
   • what skills you wish to develop,
   • and how working on collaborative, public scholarship would help you achieve your academic and professional goals.
2. 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.)

Questions can be directed to Steve Zweibel (szweibel@gc.cuny.edu) or Lisa Rhody (lrhody@gc.cuny.edu).