Applications due by 5:00 PM EST on Tuesday, November 8, 2023. 

For the fifth year, GC Digital Initiatives and the Mina Rees Library are accepting applications from Graduate Center students who have achieved an introductory fluency with the Python programming language to participate in a collaborative project designed to provide experience working with public-facing data and programming to produce a collaborative project for the public good.

This year, applications will be accepted as collaborative proposals from groups of 3-8 students. Applications will consist of a proposed dataset and project plan. Successful proposals will present a publicly engaged research question, a dataset (or datasets) the team will work with, a work plan that includes a timeline with deadlines the team will use to measure their progress, a 1-paragraph biographical statement from each team member describing their intended contribution to the project, and a set of stated project objectives for completion. Project proposals should articulate how the team will use a public-interest dataset of their choice to create a project that makes that dataset useful and informative to a public audience.

Successful teams will have the opportunity to work with advisors, draw on local expertise– in project management, outreach, development, Python programming, website design, data visualization, and more– and each team member will receive $1,000 stipends to support the realization of their project. 

Why participate?
Students will benefit from hands-on experience working with their chosen dataset, learning how teams collaborate to solve open-ended data problems. Through participation, fellows will become familiar with 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. Fellows will each receive a $1000 stipend in Spring 2023.

What do I need to know?
Skills required for participation include: familiarity with Google sheets and basic Python programming. The Data for Public Good project has the opportunity to grow based on the talents and skills fellows have to share. Additional desired skills may include but are not limited to: JavaScript, Tableau, ArcGIS or QGIS, social media, science communication, and/or R. Project proposals should clarify what skills each member of the team brings to the project and how each member of the team intends to contribute to the project as a whole. 

What is the commitment?
Fellows will be expected to: attend meetings at least one group meeting weekly, 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 at the GC Digital Showcase. 

Who is eligible?
Applicants should be Graduate Center master’s or doctoral students who will be enrolled in Spring 2023 and who are in good standing. To apply, complete the online application form.

What should be in your proposal?

We want to know:

• What type of data will you be using?
• What question will you attempt to answer?
• Do you have an approach in mind?
• What will you need as far as materials and/or mentoring?
• How does the proposed project serve the public?
• What gap will the research fill?

How do I apply? 

Please fill out this form (http://cuny.is/d4pg22-23) with your answers to these questions by Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 5:00 PM. 

 

Questions about the application and program should be directed to Lisa Rhody, Deputy Director of Digital Initiatives (lrhody@gc.cuny.edu) or Stephen Zweibel, Digital Scholarship Librarian (szweibel@gc.cuny.edu).