Dhrumil Mehta
Database Journalist, Politics @ FiveThirtyEight
(1) Join this Slack:
https://code4policy.slack.com/
and join the following channels:
#section-a or #section-b
#agile, #python and #setup
(2) Fill out your bio
Instructions are in the #section-a slack channel
(3) Open a copy of the syllabus
Pinned to the top of #general in Slack
If you have any questions or feel free to just raise your hand ✋ or speak up in class 🗣️ at any time!
Welcome! Let's get rolling!
Hello, my name is...
Dhrumil Mehta
Visiting Associate Professor in Public Policy @HKS
Associate Professor of Journalism @Columbia U.
dhrumil_mehta@hks.harvard.edu
@datadhrumil
@dmil
About Me:
- Harvard Kennedy School
Visiting Associate Professor of Public Policy
- Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Associate Professor of Journalism
Assistant Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism
- Formerly:
- Database Journalist, Politics @ FiveThirtyEight
- Software Development Engineer @ Amazon
- Education
- BA in Philosophy
- MS in Computer Science
Database Journalist, Politics
Building Software
Polls Database [Internal]
Scrapers
Open Data
https://www.datajournalismawards.org/project-listing/?project_id=2082
Research
About the Class!
#Code4Policy
Slack: Our primary mode of async communication
https://code4policy.slack.com/signup
GitHub: Lecture notes and assignments will be here
https://github.com/code4policy/2022
Panopto: Videos will be available on Panopto, links are embedded into the GitHub lessons.
Gather.town + Zoom: Class! Check Slack to know where we're meeting.
Daily Standup Meeting: At the start of class, daily.
Communication
GitHub: Lecture notes and assignments will be here
About You!
Please take a moment to find the slide with your name on it and fill out your bio. Link will be provided in Slack.
...as your classmates introduce themselves, make a mental note if you might be interested in forming a project group with them
Remember, Scrum teams are:
- self organizing
- cross functional
Tell us your name and (very quickly) a bit about yourself... then the following three things:
-
What have you been working on since the last meeting?
-
What are you working on between now and the next meeting?
- What are your blockers?
We will do this daily. Keep it short and sweet!
STANDUP!
Dhrumil will assign a "product owner" and "scrum master" for the day.
Academic integrity
The class is highly collaborative. Academic integrity for this class means making a good-faith effort at learning the material. Collaboration is always allowed.
Privacy
-
Do Not record your classmates without explicitly obtaining permission. You can record me if you want, but don't post it publicly.
- Class is a space for exploration and understanding, everything said is off-the-record.
Expectations
Time Commitment
- As a J-term course, this class is compressed into two weeks. That means it is a bit of a bootcamp. It will be hard to take other classes during this time, expect to be doing a lot of homework daily and working on projects over the weekend.
- Front-loading technical learning - Week 1 will be busy. Week 2 is more flexible.
Flexibility
I will check in with everyone daily. During standup, via slack, etc...there will be lots of polling. Please let me know if the class needs to slow down or be sped up. I will be responsive to your collective needs.
Expectations
Syllabus Review
Project
brainstorm.md
project.md
- Final Project (40%)
- Product (30%)
- Process (10%)
- For both parts you will be graded as a team. Smaller individual adjustments may be applied.
- Assignments (40%) - GitHub & Coding
- Class Participation (20%) - Slack participation and collaboration, demonstrating engagement with learning materials. Reflections and readings.
- Usually on the HKS grading distribution
Grading
- Video on whenever possible
- Standup meetings / async participation.
- Slack
- GitHub Tickets
- Reflections
Participation & Reflection
Need help async?
- Dhrumil - Always on Slack / by appt / hanging out in gather.town or in-person after classes or on weekends
- Patrick - Remote, on Slack!
- Jacob - Slack!
- You can file a ticket in the 2023 repo: https://github.com/code4policy/2023/issues/new/choose
- You can ask in a Slack channel!
Office Hours
Patrick's "Office" is in Gather Town!
This is YOUR space!
Before you go there... let me show you around!
Stay glued to Slack
If we run into any technical issues, that is where I will be communicating with the class.
A Scrummy Class!
Let's talk about Agile and Scrum
User Stories Workshop
Agile J-term Expectations Setting
Copy of Instructor Intro (Harvard)
By Dhrumil Mehta
Copy of Instructor Intro (Harvard)
Saying hello to students
