The Urban Big Data Centre at the University of Glasgow's next data skills training course will be held on Monday 11th June 2018.

Collecting and Storing Data from Internet-based Sources will be an afternoon session providing researchers with the essential skills required to effectively use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for downloading data from a variety of online data sources. It will then cover the use of databases for storing and retrieving data and demonstrate how to automate the collection processes. Full course details below.

Please contact keith.maynard@glasgow.ac.uk with any related queries.

Collecting and Storing Data from Internet-based Sources

Course instructor: Peter Smyth, Reasearch Associate, University of Manchester

Course duration: half day (Monday 11th June, 2018, 1:15pm – 4:45pm)

Course location: Jura teaching lab, Level 4 Annexe, Glasgow University Library

Audience: Researchers who need to collect Internet based data, e.g. social media and store it over a period of time

Fees:

£25 - For UK registered students
£35 - For staff at UK academic institutions, Research Council UK funded researchers, UK public sector staff and staff at UK registered charity organisations
£50 - For all other participants

Pre-requisite knowledge: Some knowledge of Python would be useful but not essential as all code used will be provided.

Course summary:

Many websites allow researchers and developers to download data using their Application Programming Interface (API). This data is often in formats that social scientists are unfamiliar with (e.g. JSON). Downloaded data can be processed immediately or stored in a database for later processing in a package like R or Stata. Data can be collected at regular intervals over a period of time, using the built-in functionality of the Windows or Linux operating systems.

Course content:

Course participants will be introduced to the following:

• Understand the JSON data format
• Understand how to use APIs to collect data
• Data storage and retrieval using a database (SQLite)
• Ability to set up automated procedures to collect data

Short Presenter Bio:

Peter Smyth is a Research Associate at the University of Manchester, based in the Cathie Marsh Institute. He has spent 35 years working in IT at various large and small commercial organisations before taking an MSc in Big Data Analytics at Sheffield Hallam University and moving into academia. In his previous roles he used any convenient programming environment to hand to solve problems. Now he teaches a variety of programming languages to help others to do the same.

He is a qualified Data and Software Carpentry instructor.

Payment and registration:

Payment by card preferred.

If you are unable to pay by debit or credit card we are able to accept payment by invoice. Please supply the following information by e-mail to keith.maynard@glasgow.ac.uk within 14 days of registering on Eventbrite in order to confirm your place on the course:

• Contact name for invoice
• Purchase Order number (note that the supplier is University of Glasgow)
• Contact e-mail address for payment correspondence
• Full name of organisation/department
• VAT registration (if applicable)
• Currency
• Address for Invoice to be sent and telephone number

To cancel your place and request a refund, please email keith.maynard@glasgow.ac.uk. Please note that a refund of course fees less 10% administrative charge can only be issued if you cancel your place in writing at least 7 days prior to the course after which time fees will be non-refundable. Substitutes can be made at no extra charge up until 5pm on the last working day before the course.