The Lede Program

An intensive, post-bac certification program from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and Department of Computer Science designed to equip journalists and storytellers of all kinds with the computational skills needed to turn data into narrativebreak out of Excelperform in-depth investigationsharness APIsexplain complex subjectswrite data-driven storiesprocess document dumpsfind insights and leadsperform in-depth investigations

Lede 12 + 24

Columbia Journalism School’s Lede Program features Lede 12, a summer intensive on coding and data analysis, along with an optional fall continuation called Lede 24 that helps flesh out your coding skills in the fields of your choice.

Not just for journalists

Pulling insights from data isn’t just for journalists — our tools and skills are equally valuable to social scientists, policymakers, and academics of all stripes.

No Prerequisites

We start from square one, with no prior experience in data or coding necessary. You’ll learn the ins and outs along the way.

Real-World Skills

We balance practical, real-world skills with the computer science theory you’ll want to take your coding further.

Summer 2019 application period now open!

Apply Now

The Lede 2019 final application deadline is March 1

What will you learn?

“Data” isn’t just one simple thing. You’ll acquire a plethora of skills, tools and programming languages to make you a more effective storyteller. Let’s review a few of the possibilities:

Python

Programming language

SQL

Data

JSON

Data

OpenRefine

Data Cleaning

APIs

Data

QGIS

Mapping

ChartBuilder

Charts and Graphs

git

Version Control

BeautifulSoup

Web Scraping

R

Programming language

NLTK

Language processing

Adobe Illustrator

Charts and Graphs

CSS

Styling the web

Leaflet

Mapping and Interactives

IPython Notebook

Accountable Coding

d3.js

Interactives

…and that’s not all, either.

With coverage ranging from an hour of introduction to a semester-long deep dive, you’ll return to the workplace with sharp new analytical, investigative, and storytelling skills.

Applications

The Lede Program is open to applicants with a bachelor’s degree, strong academic record and demonstrated interest in data technologies. The 2018 primary application period is now open. Learn more here

Dates

For 2019, Lede summer classes begin Tuesday, May 28 and continue through August 15. Orientation is on Friday, May 24. For those in the Lede 24 program, the fall semester then continues until late December.

Tuition

As certification programs at Columbia University, Lede programs cost less than a formal degree. Scholarship aid is also available. For more information on tuition and scholarship aid opportunities, see our Tuition and Fees page.

Questions?

If you’d like to know more, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at jrncomputation@columbia.edu
Email us now

Application Details

The 2019 application period is now open, with a final application deadline of March 1

Apply now

Student Work

If you’re curious about the work we do, visit our Student Work page to see examples from assignments and projects, as well as published pieces by Lede Program graduates.