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Data Access Through APIs: Using Census API to Gather Data for Your Business

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Interested in DataGeek Workshops?

Contact Mary Hamman regarding future opportunities.

Data Access Through APIs:
Using Census API to Gather Data for Your Business

Two schedules are offered for your convenience. The same content is provided via each schedule. You choose which schedule works best for you!

4 Weeks 
~5 hours/week 

1 Week 
~20 hours/week

October 11–November 6 November 1–6

Workshop participants will meet virtually for a Live Project Day:
10 a.m.–4 p.m., Central Time, Saturday, November 6

Application Programming Interface (API)The way we access public data is changing. Fewer data providers offer bulk download of data files. Instead, many offer an application programming interface (API) through which users can query and extract the data they want. In fact, following the 2019 passage of the Evidence Act, the Federal Government has vastly expanded its tools for data access—including APIs. Want to know the demographics of consumers by zipcode? The wages of employees in an occupation you’re looking to hire? All of this information can be accessed using Census APIs. In this workshop we’ll explore how and offer skills that will transfer to other APIs you may work with.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand what an API is in general and become familiar with the etiquette and ethics of data access via API.
  • Use R to browse available data via Census American Community Survey APIs and write an API call.
  • Prepare the resulting data for analysis.
  • Write loops to manage multiple API calls and prepare the resulting data.

Who should attend:

Anyone seeking upgrade and expand their data skills—whether you’re just beginning or you’re already a bit of a data geek—can benefit from DataGeek Workshops. Workshops are open to all skill levels and job roles because content is personalized to fit your goals. No data analysis or prior experience with analysis software is necessary. Those already using R or Tableau can set goals to expand proficiency. 

This workshop is for anyone who wants to:

  • Feel more confident when working with data
  • Handle large data sets more efficiently
  • Save time and reduce errors in data management
  • Document data workflow
  • Clean messy data
  • Automate reports and save time
  • Provide clear visuals and dashboards to accurately convey insight 
  • Understand Application Programming Interface (API)
  • Create API calls and prepare the resulting data

Those already using R or Tableau can set goals to expand proficiency.