Short course

Skills Bootcamp in Data Skills for Creative Industries

Skills Bootcamp in Data Skills for Creative Industries. Acquire in-demand data skills and learn how to apply them in the creative industries. Study over 2 weeks, and benefit from our expertise and careers support to boost your prospects.

Start date
6 November 2023 or 29 January 2024
Duration
2 weeks (plus optional 2 weeks: independent project work)
Time commitment
35 hours per week intensive in-person bootcamp
Mode
In person
Cost
Free
Subject
Data Skills for Creative Industries
Level
CPD
Credit
Non-credit

Endorsed by

Acquire in-demand data skills and learn how to apply them in the creative industries. Join our Skills Bootcamp to gain valuable expertise that will enhance your career prospects in the dynamic world of marketing, design, publishing, web production, film, gaming, and more. The creative industries are driven by data, but they also require a deep understanding of society and culture. As such, the ability to present socially and culturally informed analyses of reliable and representative data is highly valued within this sector.

Our flexible hybrid study format offers two weeks of intensive in-person learning and teaching, totalling 70 hours. Following this, you can choose to continue working independently for two further weeks, on optional personal or group data projects, empowering you to excel in your chosen field.

This Skills Bootcamp is designed to make you data literate, equipping you with the sought-after "soft data skills", needed to thrive in the creative industries. These skills bridge the gap between digital and creative realms, enabling individuals with data expertise to enter the creative industries and empowering those with creative talents to leverage the opportunities offered by data.

You'll have the opportunity to learn from leading academics at the University of Birmingham, along with guest panellists from the industry. Throughout the Skills Bootcamp, you'll receive support from our Careers Network and Gradcore. If you are currently unemployed, we will assist you in securing a job interview upon completion of the course. If you are already employed, we will support you in achieving a promotion and/or taking on more data-related responsibilities in your current role.

What you will learn

The Skills Bootcamp will equip you with the skills to identify trends and provide valuable insights from data, all while fostering data and digital awareness. Throughout the course, you will explore the following areas:

  • Data Literacy and Fluency
  • Data Inclusivity
  • Data and Culture
  • Data Legitimacy and Law
  • Data Ethics

By the end of this course you will be able to:

  • Understand how qualitative information is translated into numbers and tables, and vice versa, how tables and data summaries can be made accessible, relatable, and inclusive for all members of society
  • Curate data to facilitate effective traffic and communication
  • Extract valuable insights from data
  • Analyse data to identify trends
  • Apply data-driven insights to fuel innovation within the creative industries

Fees and funding

This course is free to study.

How to apply

Applications for this programme will open soon.  Please register for updates below.

For details of entry requirements and how to apply to the Skills Bootcamp, please see the Requirements tab. As part of the application process, you will need to complete a personal statement. Further information can be found on the Requirements tab.

Entry requirements

In order to enrol on the programme:

  • You must live in the West Midlands
  • You must be aged 19 or older on the first day of learning 
  • You must have a GCSE grade A-C or 9-4 in Maths
  • You must have a GCSE grade A-B or 9-6 in English or equivalent (see English Language proficiency requirements below)

 To prove English Language proficiency, we accept the following tests:

  • TOEFL - 88 overall with no less than 21 in Reading, 20 in Listening, 22 in Speaking and 21 in Writing
  • IELTS - 6.5 overall with no less than 6.0 in any band
  • Pearson Test of English (PTE) - 67 with no less than 64 in all four skills

Priority will be given to:

  • Unemployed learners moving into data/digital roles
  • Those in employment looking to re-train to move into data/digital employment in the creative industries
  • Low-waged residents to enable them to enter new digital occupations and careers (household income is below the national average of £42,875)
  • Under-represented groups (BAME students, women, refugees and carers)

Please note: Students with Overseas status who are in the West Midlands on a student visa are not eligible for funding to study this course. 

How to apply

Applications for this programme will open soon.  Please check this page for updates. 

When clicking on the Apply Now button, you will be directed to an online application specific to the Skills Bootcamp in Data Skills for Creative Industries. You will then need to complete the online application to apply for the bootcamp.

As part of the application process you will need to complete a personal statment. The personal statement is a chance to make the application stand out. It should, amongst other things confirm how you meet the eligibility criteria, outline your interest in the course and explain how participation will enable you to achieve your ambitions of entering a data/digital role in the creative industry which interests you. (Max 750 words)

Please also upload your latest academic qualification certificate, if available.

 

The Skills Bootcamp in Data Skills for Creative Industries is a two-week intensive bootcamp of 60 hours of in-person teaching (9am-1pm and 2-5pm) followed by two further optional weeks, on personal or group data projects.

Please note: There is a compulsory in person induction event on Wednesday, 1 November 2023 (or Wednesday 24 January for the January intake). The optional project presentations will take place in the week commencing 4th or 11th December (or in March for the January intake).

The two-week in-person bootcamp will include presentations, including guest lectures from industry experts, and hands-on workshops.

The Skills Bootcamp is informed by and based on real-world requirements of local employers in the creative industries. This simulates the working environment and exposes you to real-world challenges typical of working in the creative industries.

This course will enable you to:

  • Understand what we mean by data across Humanities and Creative Industries
  • Gain detailed knowledge of data types, their properties, and how they relate
  • Learn how to interrogate data, and text data in particular
  • Learn how to prepare and curate data, and how to communicate results of data analysis, including use of visual means

The skills you will gain

Data Literacy

Data Fluency

Data Inclusivity

Data and Culture

Data Legitimacy and Law

Data Ethics

Week

1

Monday 6 November 2023 or Monday 29 January 2024

In-person intensive learning

Every day this week, we will cover the following topics and skills in a series of interactive presentations and hands-on workshops:

Day 1: Data Science in Arts & Humanities

  • Using Data Science to ask and answer relevant questions in your area of expertise
  • Panel discussion between experts from different fields (Computer Science, Creative Arts, Law, History, Languages, Literature, Culture)

Day 2: Introduction to R and RStudio

  • Essential skills for productive use of R and RStudio, software environment for statistical computing and graphics

Day 3: Broader picture

  • What is Data Science: demystifying Machine Learning, Data Mining, and other buzzwords
  • Data planning and data selection
    • Searching data repositories; reusing/recycling existing data to answer new questions and/or
    • Introduction to social media scraping and text mining

• Planning for the data project

Day 4: Describing data

  • What is data, and what data can be analysed
  • Different types of data, and how they come about
  • Visualising data and visual data inspection
  • Further on data values, tendency, and variability (and tidiness)

Day 5: Basic data relationships

  • Discovering systematicity in how values of two (or more) variables relate to one another
  • Using systematicity in relationship to predict values of one variable from another (or a few)

Duration: 5 days

|

Time required: 35 hours

Week

2

Monday 13 November 2023 or Monday 5 February 2024

In-person intensive learning

Every day this week, we will cover the following topics and skills in a series of interactive presentations and hands-on workshops:

Day 1: Revision and lookahead

  • Overview of the topics covered and issues resolution
  • Working on data project proposal, with focus on
    • the topic/question and its motivation
    • target audience (experts and non-experts)

Day 2: Communicating Data and Analysis

  • Understanding data and its analysis and communicating that for others to understand
  • The importance of using visual means (and infographics) to convey information

Day 3: Revisions and work on chosen projects

  • Practical workshop
  • Further work on proposal, with focus on
    • data availability and, if data is not available, possible approaches to data collection

Day 4: Work on chosen projects 2

  • Practical workshop
  • Further work on proposal, with focus on
    • e.g., possible and preferred analyses

Day 5: Towards project completion

  • Communicating data and results of data analysis
  • Finalising work on projects

Duration: 5 days

|

Time required: 35 hours

Week

3

Monday 20 November 2023 or Monday 12 February 2024

Weeks 3-4: Optional independent project work

Following the 10-day intensive bootcamp, featuring 60 hours of in-person teaching, there is an optional two-week period for independent work on your chosen personal or group data projects. You will then present your project in the week commencing 4th or 11th December (or in March if you start the course in the January intake).

Duration: 2 weeks

|

Time required: Variable

You will receive:

A Certificate of Completion from University of Birmingham, showcasing your accomplishments to future employers

Use your Skills Bootcamp certificate as evidence of your specialised skills and progress further in your career.

Careers services

You will have access to careers services that will help you secure a job interview or progress in your current role. Support includes online careers events with industry professionals, training in presenting and communication skills, interview advice and practice sessions, and 1-2-1 career coaching.

Example roles include digital marketing assistants, social media content creators, communications officers, marketing executives, fundraisers, junior Arts administrators, podcast producers and many more. 

Culture and collections

Schools, institutes and departments

Services and facilities