Harvard community members hone their data skills at DataFest

Over a hundred researchers from across Harvard braved the elements to attend this year’s edition of DataFest. The two-day event offered a series of workshops centered around the data lifecycle and focused on building practical research skills. Besides the customary R, Python and GIS themed workshops, this year’s offerings included a greater variety of training in text analysis, network analysis and visualization.

DataFest is a two-day workshop held during J-term and developed by data practitioners and researchers from across the University, with the purpose developing participants' skills in working with data. Offered to faculty, post-doctorates, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff, DataFest is structured around the data lifecycle, includes lectures and hands-on sessions focused on data concepts, project planning and data science workflows, processing and analysis, and finally data dissemination. It is offered to faculty, post-doctorates, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff at Harvard University.